Bay Bridge Clearance: The San Francisco Oakland Bridge Height
RVs are not exactly short. Some can stand fairly tall. This makes knowing the amount of clearance you have on a given bridge very important. The last thing you want to do is damage the roof of your RV or worse, damage a bridge. Keeping track of any clearance is vital for a good vacation.
There is a minimum height for almost all major roadways and interstate highways. That minimum is 13 feet 6 inches but the Bay Bridge is a little larger than the minimum. Westbound is 14 feet and eastbound is 14 feet 6 inches.
To learn more about the clearance height on this and other bridges, just continue to read our article. it has the information you need so that you can have a safe and happy holiday time when your route takes you over these bridges.
What is The Clearance Of The Bay Bridge?
The clearance is above the minimum set for all major roads and highways. You will find that if you go to the back roads, you may come across bridges that are not as high as the national minimum for bridges.
The Bay Bridge is a major road and has over 250,000 cars and other vehicles using it every day. Those other vehicles include RVs and trailers. So far no accidents have been reported where the RV was too high for the clearance on this bridge.
The Bay bridge is supposed to have 14 feet of clearance when you are heading toward San Francisco. You get a little more space when you are heading towards Oakland. That clearance level reaches 14.67 feet.
But that does not mean that every bridge in the nation is going to be that tall. The national limit is 13 feet 6 inches which tells you that your RV needs to be a little bit lower than that figure to travel the interstates.
We cannot speak for the lesser highways and back roads some RV owners like to travel. You may find that the bridges on those roadways are a lot shorter than the Bay Bridge.
San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge Clearance Below
The eastbound traffic lanes for this bridge are on the lower deck. When the bridge was retrofitted in 2013, the clearance for those lanes measured 14 feet 6.7 inches. Most RVs do not come close to that height so you should be good to go when you want to visit Oakland and are traveling from San Francisco.
It is one of the larger clearances you will find across America. We have not checked all states yet, but Colorado & California seem to have the highest clearances in the nation.
If you are traveling on roads that do not lead to the Bay Bridge in California, you should receive warnings well ahead of time that the bridge clearance may be too low. That should give you time to turn around if the bridge is too low for your RV or trailer.
Bay Bridge Height
The western span of this bridge is a little taller than the eastern span. It stands at 220 feet above the bay and has a clearance of roughly 14 feet for motor vehicles. The eastern span stands at 191 feet above the water and has a 14-foot 6.7-inch clearance for all motor vehicles.
When it comes to federal highways, there are no federal regulations governing the height of commercial vehicles. But most bridges on the federal highway system do not provide much more clearance than what is on the Bay Bridge.
You have to be careful as the standard clearance minimum is not uniform across the nation. Some states set it at 13.6 feet while other states set it at 14 feet. How much clearance you get will depend on the state you are driving in.
Each state sets its own rules for this issue. Also, if you get off the major highways, do not be surprised to find bridges listed as 9 or 10 clearance. You will need to do some research on the route you want to take to make sure your RV will make it across any bridge you come across.
What is The Average Bridge Clearance?
According to the federal highway administration, the clearance levels are set between 14 and 16 feet high. However, the federal highway administration also lets individual states set their own rules. The state with the highest clearance is Alaska at 15 feet.
The eastern portion of the United States has set the clearance minimum at 13 1/2 feet while the western portion has set it at 14 feet. Colorado and Nebraska set theirs at 14 feet 6 inches.
But these are not going to be accurate all the time. When a state or the federal government resurfaces a highway, they do not raise the bridge. You will lose at least 2 inches of clearance when they resurface roads.
Then local and state governments are not bound by the federal regulations thus you will find that many bridges are a lot lower than you want them to be the further you get away from larger cities.
The key to all of this is for you to know the exact height of your RV or trailer. That way you will know if you can pass under a given bridge no matter where it is located. Plan your route according to the height of your RV or trailer to be safe.
Some Final Words
Bigger may be better, but it is not always the best when you have a low bridge on your route. Then because you never know when the local or state officials will repave the road on the bridge, you should take 6 inches off the clearance sign just in case.
The signs may be old and not give you accurate information anymore. Clearance is a complicated issue when RV makers start to build taller RVs and trailers.
