What Is The Hardest Place You Have Ever Maneuvered A Truck Through?

Some jobsites I've been to have been tricky, especially when dropping structural steel in the middle of the "building" where the dirt work and concrete footings with rebar sticking out are done. One place in Missouri (I think), I had barely enough room to get through the 9' entry, then had to circle around and blindside to where they wanted me to unload, dodging footings by inches all the way.

Another recent one was along the Rio Grande in New Mexico. I had bags of bentonite on a 53' stepdeck. A gravel road ran parallel to the levee they were building, with a canal in between. They had built a temporary truck crossing over the canal to a dirt road next to the levee by dumping lots of dirt into it. I tried to make a left hand turn into it since the forklift guy told me to try it, but had to back out when it was clear that either my tractor or the rear of the trailer was going to end up in the canal. I figured out a way to get turned around and cross it straight, then had to back 1/4 mile through a mess of trucks and supplies and equipment on either side of the road. I was happy to get out of there.

Another job site was in a very swanky neighborhood in Albuquerque right next to the Rio Grande. Had to go over a tiny stone bridge, followed by very tight left and right turns followed by backing a block into a cul-de-sac. I kept finding crabapple tree twigs on the catwalk for a week after that.

There's a steel place in Laredo (right next to the Rio Grande - something about that river) where you drive through a building, three-point turn to get turned around and nose into the building you just came through, then back into the building behind it to get loaded. Here's a picture of it. You drive through he building with the gray roof and back into where the red pin is.

Metro NYC. Jersey City, NJ (the "other" NYC borough).

The Swift terminal in Denver on a weekend. What a mess! LOL

JJ

A forklift dealer in Knoxville, TN. it's situated right on the river smack dab in a residential neighborhood. What's worse is to get in their dock, you ha e to go about 1/2 mile south of the place and do a U turn in a residential culdesac and come back to it. Now they're building 300 apartments right next door. The last time i was there i had to squeeze by a huge construction crane in the already narrow streets only to get to the turn around which was full of construction company vehicles lol. They moved them out ofthe way so i could do my turn then i had to go back past the crane.. Literally running over the base of the support legs to squeeze by. I get back to the dock and there is a huge sink hole (that has swallowed signs and barricades) right by their drive/dock. I had to get up on this tiny "sidewalk" with a straight drop into the river 30ft or so below it to avoid that sinkhole. All in all it took about an hour to get docked. I was about to give up and tell them I'd take the forklifts to their other location in Bristol, TN and they could semd one of their short class b flatbeds after them, thinking omg im either gonna lose my truck in the river or the sinkhole. I took a deep breath, prayed, and turned 6 inches or so at a time and managed to get docked without losing my truck.

The dealer says they will probably have to close that location when the apartments/condos are completed. I took photos and gave them to my company explaining I would not want to go back to that location because with the construction and sinkholes. It's just too dangerous and they agreed.

A forklift dealer in Knoxville, TN. it's situated right on the river smack dab in a residential neighborhood. What's worse is to get in their dock, you ha e to go about 1/2 mile south of the place and do a U turn in a residential culdesac and come back to it. Now they're building 300 apartments right next door. The last time i was there i had to squeeze by a huge construction crane in the already narrow streets only to get to the turn around which was full of construction company vehicles lol. They moved them out ofthe way so i could do my turn then i had to go back past the crane.. Literally running over the base of the support legs to squeeze by. I get back to the dock and there is a huge sink hole (that has swallowed signs and barricades) right by their drive/dock. I had to get up on this tiny "sidewalk" with a straight drop into the river 30ft or so below it to avoid that sinkhole. All in all it took about an hour to get docked. I was about to give up and tell them I'd take the forklifts to their other location in Bristol, TN and they could semd one of their short class b flatbeds after them, thinking omg im either gonna lose my truck in the river or the sinkhole. I took a deep breath, prayed, and turned 6 inches or so at a time and managed to get docked without losing my truck.

The dealer says they will probably have to close that location when the apartments/condos are completed. I took photos and gave them to my company explaining I would not want to go back to that location because with the construction and sinkholes. It's just too dangerous and they agreed.

That's precarious. I would have been extremely concerned with the fill under the sidewalk giving way. Run!

I hear ya GTown.. I was definitely praying. That sidewalk was only 2' wide and dropped straight to the river. I was terrified the whole time. The forklift dealer did have 2 guys spotting the sinkhole on my steers and my blindside up on that sidewalk.

I sent the photos to our safety director. I was driving my volvo at the time and had moved the 5Th wheel all the way forward. A freightliner would have never made it in there is what i was told. Sinkholes are some scary stuff.

The Swift terminal in Denver on a weekend. What a mess! LOL

JJ

In 11 months solo this is the only time I couldn't avoid a blind-side back.

The Swift terminal in Denver on a weekend. What a mess! LOL

JJ

In 11 months solo this is the only time I couldn't avoid a blind-side back.

That yard isn't very forgiving to begin with. On this particular weekend people had dropped trailers in nearly every isle. I'm driving and my mentor is telling me to go for it. I didn't hit anything but you literally couldn't see daylight between the side of my trailer and a couple of the other's as I squeaked by. LOL

JJ

The Swift terminal in Denver on a weekend. What a mess! LOL

JJ

I hear people complain about that terminal every few weeks haha. I don't think it's that bad but maybe that's because it's my home terminal. After a while you just learn how to get around in there.

Although...I almost hit a yard dog last time I was there because he was in too big of a hurry and I wasn't checking my mirrors enough.