Sprinter height

[brokcanadian]

Before I make an ass of myself, are there any low bridges that I'd have to worry about in a Sprinter in the US or Canada? as a long time 4 wheeler i pay no attention to height signs, do I have to learn a new habit?

I was mostly reading about drive-thrus but I found some info about car only highways in NY and an 8ft 6" bridge?

 

[Turtle]

Mostly it's very old RR overpasses, drive thrus and certainly parking garages, but there are a few where you have to be careful. In NY and NJ, a few other places in the east, stay off any Parkway. They're for passenger cars only. The signs either say No Trucks or they say Passenger Cars Only. They mean it. You'll get a ticket, and there are a few bridges, especially arched pedestrian walkovers, where the far right lane can be less than 9 feet on the right side of the lane.

A lot of the roads in and around Boston, especially the ones downtown along the river near Harvard and MIT, will say No Trucks, but it doesn't really say why. It's because of the low overpasses. If you have nothing attached to the top of your Sprinter you can squeeze under them. Storrow Drive, for example, is the major crosstown parkway running east and north along the Charles River. It has a 10-foot clearance along the entire length of the parkway.

But generally, none of the main roads you're likely to be on will have such low clearances to be concerned about. It's pretty much the same as Ontario in that respect. Sitting so high in a Sprinter, any low bridge, even one that's 12 feet, will look like you're about to slapped in the forehead as you approach it. That will more than likely prompt you to slow down, look at the clearance sign, and make a decision whether or not to trust the sign. If the sign says 8' 6" I would give it the benefit of the doubt and look for an alternate route.

 

[brokcanadian]

Thanks Turtle, didn't know i'd get a ticket on the NO TRUCKS either, under 10,000 lb and all

 

[tknight]

And in ny it's an expensive ticket too!

 

[LDB]

I never trusted any of the signs so I'd lay a 2x4 on it's side across the roof at the highest point and measure that clearance. That the minimum the signs had to promise for me to take that route.

 

[Perioodic]

I was in Detroit and I was trying to visit the MGM Grand casino and I go up to valet and ask him if there's any parking for my van. He said just got in the parking garage you can get in on the right and he proceeded to tell me that all the big vans go there so I said okay why not, let me trust this guy. Well I couldn't get in and I had to back out of a parking garage on a semi busy road, took me about 30 minutes just so I didn't hit anyone. Just decided to share.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

I've run into a few low bridges in my time thro out the US...not many but some...it happens....Its when you come across a bridge with a 4T weight limit that gets me more....with a 2,000 lb load I am right about the 8,000 lb mark....

 

[Ftransit]

I got hit on Katy Freeway in Houston, by a ladder it came untied at the front and swung around like a boom....passed over all other cars not my midroof Transit. The guy finally pulled over when he noticed it ...we stopped and got his insurance info.
It was like how Gibbs smacks Denoso in the back of the head on NCIS

 

[Greg]

I've run into a few low bridges in my time thro out the US...not many but some...it happens....Its when you come across a bridge with a 4T weight limit that gets me more....with a 2,000 lb load I am right about the 8,000 lb mark....

How many would you say that you "ran into"?

 

[tknight]

Trevor pa 11-6 sign on the other side of the intersection one of those rounded bridges had to back out and turn around
Some one plowed down the sign before that cross rd. City hadn't fixed it yet

 

[Turtle]

Thanks Turtle, didn't know i'd get a ticket on the NO TRUCKS either, under 10,000 lb and all

Oh, yeah, and like tknight says, it's not cheap. It was $120 back in 09. Don't know what it is now. The citation is "NO CMV ON PKWAY NYC". And it happened in the Sprinter.

I used to live in central Jersey (back in the 80s) and would go to JFK fairly often, flying in or out myself, or picking up my dad from the airport. You just run up hwy 9 to Woodbridge, cross the Outerbridge to Staten Island, then 440 to the Staten Island Expressway, cross the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, and take the Belt Parkway to JFK. Easy peasy. Despite the name, it never dawned on me that the Belt Parkway was an actual parkway. I mean, not all roads named "Boulevard" are actual boulevards. Belt Parkway was just the name of the road.

So when I started expediting I never gave it a second thought, Verrazano-Narrows to Belt Parkway and to JFK. Ran that several times in the E-350 as well as the Sprinter. Then one day I got pulled over and got a ticket. Looked carefully at the law, and it was like the law was written for my van. No way I could get out of it.

New York City
Commercial vehicle.

(i) For purposes of parking, standing and stopping rules, a vehicle shall not be deemed a commercial vehicle or a truck unless:

(A) it bears commercial plates; and
(B) it is permanently altered by having all seats and seat fittings, except the front seats, removed to facilitate the transportation of property, except that for vehicles designed with a passenger cab and a cargo area separated by a partition, the seating capacity within the cab shall not be considered in determining whether the vehicle is properly altered; and
(C) it displays the registrant's name and address permanently affixed in characters at least three inches high on both sides of the vehicle, with such display being in a color contrasting with that of the vehicle and placed approximately midway vertically on doors or side panels.​

(ii) For the purposes of rules other than parking, stopping and standing rules, a vehicle designed, maintained, or used primarily for the transportation of property, or for the provision of commercial services and bearing commercial plates shall be deemed a commercial vehicle.
(iii) Vehicles bearing commercial or equivalent registration plates from other states or countries shall not be deemed trucks or commercial vehicles unless they are permanently altered and marked as required in (i)(B) and (C) of this definition, above.
​

So, just stay off the parkways, and if you see signs for No Trucks or especially Passenger Cars Only, stay off it. Don't let a Garmin take you on one of them, because GPS devices really REALLY want to take those, because they're always shorter and quicker. Hutchinson River Parkway, man, my Garmin loves that road. I finally went in and had it Avoid that road for the entire length of it.

 

[brokcanadian]

My route to the CNG station in Buffalo says NO TRUCKS on part of it, been taking it two or three times a day since 2012, who knew

 

[xmudman]

I also love how your GPS will send you halfway across Creation to put you on a toll road

 

[brokcanadian]

My next thread will be sprinter-compatible GPS my 10 year old TomTom won't do height

 

[tknight]

My next thread will be sprinter-compatible GPS my 10 year old TomTom won't do height

Just get a garmin and be done with the shenanigans , better money spent if it's made for a truck here's mine....garmin Dezi 760 lm got it on fleabay for 175.00 worth every penny

 

[robin280]

If you set your GPS to the truck setting, you will avoid all of these problems. My Garmin that is not truck abled tried to send me on a gravel road that had a sign that said to travel at your own risk.. My Rand McNally keeps me on main roads and out of residential neighborhoods.

 

[Turtle]

If you set your GPS to the truck setting, you will avoid all of these problems.

Most (maybe all) of the newer models no longer have a Truck setting. I guess they figure if you need Truck routing then you should get the truck-specific Dezl units. My old Garmin had Faster/Shorter settings for Car, Truck, Taxi, Emergency (would take you the wrong way on a one-way street). I really miss the Truck routing option, as I would often run both Car and Truck to see which would be better routing, and I used Truck almost exclusively when around NJ/NY area as it would keep me off any Parkway.

 

[brokcanadian]

I drive a van, therefore my miles are based on shortest route, not truck routes...I've heard too many stories about "But my GPS said..." think I'll simply have to pay attention...unfortunately not tuning out leads to thoughts on how much the load is paying and am I making money and is this worth it

 

[Turtle]

With car routing, it will often have me zig-zagging through a residential area to cut off the angle when it really would have been faster just to stay on the main road, go down to the corner and turn right. It will sometimes take you down busy shopping districts with lots of red lights, when a truck routing would miss all that. Sometimes it will have you exit the Interstate and continue on the frontage road for a couple of miles and then get right back on the Interstate. One time on I-65 just north of Mobile, AL it had me get off, drive around the block and then get right back on. As I was heading back up the on ramp it giggled a little.

You do have to pay attention. Sometimes I'll run the route on the Garmin and then run it on Google Maps on the phone. Sometimes the Garmin can't find an address, so I'll look it up on Google, find it on the map, and then select that point on the Garmin and have it route me to it. Sometimes I'll fire up Streets & Trips and/or PC Miler and check the routings there against Google and the Garmin. Streets & Trips is good for "big picture" planning and for quickly choosing alternate routes and checking mileage, which can either confirm the Garmin is correct, or you can translate the S&T routing to the Garmin manually via waypoints. It's all a matter of what works best for you. But you will eventually get burned one way or the other regardless of what routing method you use, whether it is one the above mentioned methods, a trucker's atlas, directions from a local, or following your own instincts.

 

[BigBadBen]

agreed turtle. even if its cutting 5 minutes off the trip but i have to go through 20 lights and turn 15 times its not worth it.
i usually look over the route carefully and adjust it as needed.