Driving our "oversized" load into NYC

**Streakn1** · 10-18-2009, 06:01 PM

Did our first oversized or over-dimensional load into the city this past week. It was an interesting experience for us and we learned a lot about how NYC and its people deal with getting the large loads around their streets.

The load began in NJ where you are only allowed to travel between 1/2 hr before sunrise and 1/2 hr after sunset. Since we loaded after dark we could not leave the shipper until the next morning. NYC would only allow us to transport our oversized load between 10:00pm and 5:30am. So we drove the 17 miles from the shipper to the stagging area on the NJ side of the Goethals Bridge. There we waited until 10:00pm. Then the bridge was completely shut down to traffic while the several police cruisers escorted us along with three other oversized trucks as a caravan across the bridge and into New York. As soon as we cleared the other side, they reopened the Goethals.

Oversized loads are currently being routed off of I-278 at Atlantic and back on at Grand which required us to travel down several narrow streets. They had tight turns at most of the intersections along this route. This 37 mile trip from the Goethals to our destination would end up taking an hour and a half to complete at our reduced speeds.

The people of Staten Island, Brooklyn, and Queens were quite patient and understanding as we made our slow trip and meticulous turns to avoid hitting corner street light poles and parked cars with our load that hung 21" past the sides of our trailer.

Way to go NYC drivers!!! We appreciate your patience when its needed the most.

**Doggie Daddy** · 10-19-2009, 06:05 PM

Originally Posted by Streakn1

Way to go NYC drivers!!! We appreciate your patience when its needed the most.

Do you think Deville will believe ya, LOL.

**pelicn** · 10-20-2009, 12:54 PM

Streakin, Hat's off to you and your co-driver. I hate doing city streets in a straight truck, I can't even imagine an oversize. A few years ago, one trip to NYC in a T/T was enough for me.

**Deville** · 10-21-2009, 03:19 AM

The SI XPWY has been under going a much needed re-paving the past 3 weeks. Last week they started milling the inbound GB side. It's been a mess.

The Re-route off of the BQE at Atlantic is such a silly thing UNLESS you are over 15' high than you will hit the Manhattan or Brooklyn Bridge. The Signs over there say 12' 9" I think...it's BS, but itr scares all the out of towners TT drivers & forces them to get off at Atlantic & drive down some very narrow busy streets at any given time of the day. The low hanging trees don't help either.

**Streakn1** · 10-21-2009, 10:44 AM

[QUOTE The Re-route off of the BQE at Atlantic is such a silly thing UNLESS you are over 15' high than you will hit the Manhattan or Brooklyn Bridge. The Signs over there say 12' 9" I think...it's BS, but itr scares all the out of towners TT drivers & forces them to get off at Atlantic & drive down some very narrow busy streets at any given time of the day. The low hanging trees don't help either.[/QUOTE]

Anytime we are running a regular sized load, plus knowing we can clear the bridges on the BQE, we simply stay on it. But when you are on an oversized load you travel under a route specific permit issued by NYC and the state. As silly as their routing can be at times, if you are caught off route the fines can be in the hundreds of dollars. If you are involved in an incident off route, the fines can be in the tens of thousands of dollars, plus you can be jailed and your rig impounded by NYC. If you stay on route and have an incident, you are still held responsible, but are less likely to be jailed and impounded.

You pretty much pick your poison as to what route you choose to take. We run compliant as silly as it may seem at times, just to be on the safe side.