Inches too tall for tunnel, rig plies it anyway

[C_eh_N_eh_D_eh]

It was just six inches.

That was what made the difference at 4:40 a.m. yesterday as Gilberto Cantu, a truck driver from Texas, approached the New Jersey entrance of the Lincoln Tunnel in his big rig, loaded with bathtubs, toilets and plumbing fixtures. The truck was 13 feet 6 inches high. The tunnel has a height limit of 13 feet. Six inches can make a big difference.

Mr. Cantu drove the entire 1.5 miles of the tunnel from Weehawken, N.J., to Manhattan, tearing his way under the Hudson River in the tunnel’s center tube and peeling back the roof of his tractor-trailer as if it were a tin can. No one was injured, but an undetermined number of decorative tunnel ceiling tiles were ripped off.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/01/nyregion/01truck.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion&oref=slogin

I know this reinforces an admittedly unfair stereotype, but is anybody surprised to learn this guy's from Texas?

[Mojambo]

1. Somebody wasn't paying attention during the "weights and measures" module in school. n/t

[usaftmo]

2. I guess sometimes "Git R Done" doesn't quite apply!

It's bad enough the driver was ignorant of the height situation, but why drive the entire length of the tunnel knowing something was seriously wrong? :wtf:

[Sanity Claws]

3. Can't back out

In fact, you're not even allowed to change lanes in the tunnel.

[usaftmo]

4. Lower the air pressure in the tires.

That way backing out or continuing forward are both options. Depending on how much air is released could ruin the tires; but that's still a small price compared to the other options.

[DS1]

13. Cute answer to a grade school riddle

but those tires wouldn't support losing enough air to drop the truck six inches.

[usaftmo]

21. Six inches is borderline, but I still think it's possible.

The tires would likely be ruined, but not punctured. It's possible the truck couldn't be driven; unsure if a tow truck would be able to lift/tow the truck.

This would be a good segment on my favorite show "Mythbusters"!

[billyskank]

17. I'm sure they would have allowed it

if you drove your thirteen foot six trailer into a thirteen foot tunnel.

:crazy:

The only "correct" thing to do, under the circumstances, would surely be to just STOP and call the police. Let them figure it out.

[texanwitch]

5. We had a bridge here in Houston called the Hazard Street Bridge over a freeway here.

Trucks that were to tall were always running into it, the name of the bridge was just right.

The bridge has been rebuilt higher.

[Gormy Cuss]

6. This was a semi-annual event on Storrow Drive in Boston.

Storrow Drive has a number of crossover bridges and not all of them have enough clearance for some trailers.

Hey nitwit! If you hit the warning flaps, turn off to a side road.

[Inchworm]

7. Looks like he muscled thru the tunnel?

Go Driver!

:hi:

[Suich]

8. I want to hear what Droopy and LiberalTrucker have to say about this!

:)

[Orsino]

9. But I think the American public is with him.

Withdrawing early would have made a real mess of things. It's hard work!

[Deja Q]

10. Well, it looks like size really does matter after all!

:wow:

[doggyboy]

11. A truck driving right next to me did that once

I was headed south on the Meadowbrook Pkwy (Long Island, NY) in the middle lane. There was a small box truck on my right. As we went under the overhead passage, I heard an explosion and looked out my rear view mirror to see the truck smashing up into the wall of the overpass. Pretty scary

[DS1]

12. Suck it, Texas

What a moron.

[Schema Thing]

14. Locking

No sex threads.

[billyskank]

15. I guess he figured the tunnel was "plenty big enough"

But he drove through the whole thing? Most SANE people would have stopped when they realised the error... :wtf:

[Aristus]

16. "Ah ain't much about no limits. Ahm fr'm TEXAS, GOL-DANGIT"

On the other hand, why would a Texan be so cruel to his truck?

[prole_for_peace]

18. i live in texas and these kinds of stories make me just shake my head.

it seems like most stupid things that are reported are done in texas or by texans.

this guy....it just isn't easy to choose words for this... he says he didn't know that he was opening his truck like a can or sardines. he didn't FEEL anything as it tore tiles from the roof and ripped his truck? THIS is the kinds of drivers i like. the ones that pay attention to warning signs and are just trying to do their job.

as my brother said about this guy "he got her don'd"

[Forkboy]

19. Don't worry...we know there's a least a few sane people in your state.

:D

[Flaxbee]

20. you know, it was a very stupid thing to do, but he'd probably

been driving all night, it was 4:40am, and I'm guessing he just didn't even look at the bridge measurements ---

[camero]

22. Happens all the time

That's why you take the expressways in NYC. It happens somewhere in NYC at least once a week. What a moron.