Routing onto Long Island

[jeff1981]

I have a load of 2 large boulders going to Southampton Tuesday early am. I have never been out to long island before, and was hoping for some advice on route- looking at maps i'm thinking 80e to 95n over GW bridge to 295 and throgs neck to 495 to 27e

How bad is the island? Is it just congested, or a dangerous area like the Bronx? (no offense intended, but i am not a city boy, and don't know what to expect)

260" wheelbase w900 and 45' spread axle flatbed if it makes any difference. My height is about 12'9"

Any advice would be great, thanks. I'm coming out of New Milford PA

Jeff

[mike3fan]

With out looking at a map that sounds about right, the Long Island Expressway is a bit of pia usually with alot of contstruction and narrow lanes, but I will take the island over the Bronx/Brooklyn anytime.

[Biscuit Lips]

Your route seems fine, just be prepared for some rough ***** roads. Secure everything in your cab well, I had a can of pork-N-beans come out of one of the storage bins one time and struck me in the head. Just follow the signs and you will be alright, especially at the toll booths. Don't go thru the ones marked "NO TRUCKS" and if you have the EZ-PASS thing go thru that one-I know that probably seems like common sense but it is easier said than done sometimes with the congestion and the rudest drivers in America. I have done both before in the past, luckily in the middle of the night, and for the "NO TRUCKS" one they just simply made me back up and try it again but the after ending up in a toll booth that does not accept EZ-Pass and not having the 10 million dollars for the toll the toll booth attendant made me give her my drivers license and truck registration then go up to the next exit and make a u-turn, come back and wait before the toll booth on the side of the road for a NYPD to bring me my license and registration back and then I had to follow him to get back thru the original direction I wanted to go. The whole ordeal took longer than one hour. Don't drive tired, LOL ! One more thing, don't take the Van Wyck down to the Sunrise Hwy and take 27 all the way to Southhampton, it will take forever.

[Sabine]

make sure your log book is good to go. They like to do checks after you come out of the toll booth after some of the bridges. The Whitestone and Throgsneck and Verrazano anyhow.

[vavega]

the island is nice, especially as far out as you're going, so no.......it's not like the bronx at all. :)

the only advice i can give that hasn't been mentioned is if you have ez pass, and the bridge is backing up at the hill, get in the left lane. then go over the bridge in the middle lane. the right will get a lot of merging, and you'll still be in good shape to get off onto the clearview (295). and try to hit the bridge before 5 if you can. :roll: you'll hit a lot more traffic coming back depending on the time.

every once in a while suffolk county cops like to sit in the 2 little pull offs near deerpark. they finished the construction from the clearview to the north hills area so that's not a concern.

i've only been as far out as medford, so i envy your ride. enjoy!

[jeff1981]

I appreciate all the advice- i'm feeling a bit better about this run now. Having never been there but heard so many horror stories about NYC it had me worried. Does anyone know of any places to pull off for a few hours along 27? I have been told it's best to get on the island in the middle of the night, but I can't actually get into the construction site until 8am.

Thanks again for all the help

Jeff

[GMAN]

I usually take 287S to 440 E to 278E to 495 to Long Island and take I295 over the Throgsneck and come out over the GW. I save some tolls going that way. Every time you turn around they are going up on tolls. If you go over the Throgsneck you pay a toll both ways. If you go in on the lower side as I do then you only pay one way on the Throgsneck. There aren't many places to pull over to rest. It would be better if you can get to your consignee and sleep there. That is not a very friendly place for trucks. By the way, there is a weigh station on the east side of 495 and they have been staying very busy lately.

[jeff1981]

I usually take 287S to 440 E to 278E to 495 to Long Island and take I295 over the Throgsneck and come out over the GW. I save some tolls going that way. Every time you turn around they are going up on tolls. If you go over the Throgsneck you pay a toll both ways. If you go in on the lower side as I do then you only pay one way on the Throgsneck. There aren't many places to pull over to rest. It would be better if you can get to your consignee and sleep there. That is not a very friendly place for trucks. By the way, there is a weigh station on the east side of 495 and they have been staying very busy lately.

Are they open all night? I am not overweight (73,240) but boulders are often scary looking to DOT guys

[mbozz282]

Are they open all night? I am not overweight (73,240) but boulders are often scary looking to DOT guys They are closed at night.If open during day you can run 135 south to 109 east to sunrise hwy and they will never bother you.If you have low side 19 on cb someone will tell you if their closed or not on they are good for directions.

[jeff1981]

They are closed at night.If open during day you can run 135 south to 109 east to sunrise hwy and they will never bother you.If you have low side 19 on cb someone will tell you if their closed or not on they are good for directions.

thanks for the help- i should be good in that case.

jeff

[GMAN]

Just make sure everything is in good order when you get to the island. I would suggest getting out there at night or very early in the morning. There is a lot of construction going on and traffic is very heavy. You need to allow extra time coming out as well. It is slow going at times coming out, too. So I would allow plenty of time to get to your next load unless it is on the island. And unless you want to haul trash out there isn't much coming out. And that is REAL trash they haul over to Ohio and pay about $1/mile.

[jonp]

Route sounds good. I always head in early in the am as in 0300 or so to avoid having to sleep on the island. Without a gun I'm not spending the night anywhere in NY Metro and that includes the Island.

[Sabine]

I feel so much safer in NYC then lets say Detroit or Atlanta. I would rather go into NYC too. I don't think it is all that bad, but then, what do I know, right?

[firebird_1252]

Route sounds good. I always head in early in the am as in 0300 or so to avoid having to sleep on the island. Without a gun I'm not spending the night anywhere in NY Metro and that includes the Island.

why? the island is safer then alot of places i live in west palm beach now and i feel alot more unsafe here then i do back on the island. especially south hampton.

parkways are a no no!!! you'll rip the roof off your truck. if you dont have a ez pass mistake or not be ready for a ticket.


the route looks good. there is one portable weigh station around exit 39ish on the LIE (495. ) i've seen it open maybe 5 times over a few years.

the only problem is 495 will not take you to south hampton. it ends in riverhead (exit 73). what i would do is take 495 to exit 62 (rd 97 ) witch is nichols road. take that south to sunrise highway witch is state road 27. get on east and enjoy the view. they sometimes do have dot out that way and there is no way to really avoid it. if you have the time walk around and enjoy! some of the best food in the world is out there and its nothing but beautiful. i miss home :(

[jeff1981]

Just make sure everything is in good order when you get to the island. I would suggest getting out there at night or very early in the morning. There is a lot of construction going on and traffic is very heavy. You need to allow extra time coming out as well. It is slow going at times coming out, too. So I would allow plenty of time to get to your next load unless it is on the island. And unless you want to haul trash out there isn't much coming out. And that is REAL trash they haul over to Ohio and pay about $1/mile.

Well, I made it without incident. Got there about 2am, slept for 8 hours, and got unloaded. Then the fun started- they took off 2 of the 3 boulders I had on, then rejected the third. Then they decided to put one of the ones they unloaded back on the truck. Luckily, I was going back to the same place in Northeast PA anyway for a second load, so tomorrow I'll get these 2 off, and load (hopefully) the ones they really want. On the upside, I got an additional $400 from the shipper for having to come back loaded.

Thanks everyone for all the advice. It made it go off without a hitch, and made me MUCH less nervous about it. I will say that it was much less trouble going in at night than coming out at lunchtime, lol.

I noticed that 495 through queens is horrible, but when you get out to the wealth end of the island it becomes a beautiful road.

Now i'm at the J in New Milford, PA for the night, and we reload tomorrow and go back late tomorrow night...

Jeff

[GMAN]

I am glad things went fairly well on the trip, Jeff. At least you are being paid something for your trip back to the shipper. :thumbsup:

[jeff1981]

I am glad things went fairly well on the trip, Jeff. At least you are being paid something for your trip back to the shipper. :thumbsup:

That's why I love hauling stone. They are almost always willing to compensate the driver and truck well, as long as you treat their customers with respect. My experience has been that if you treat the various shippers and their customers with respect, they always reward you. I think many of them have come to expect truck drivers to be rude and unclean. Even when I know I am going into a muddy quarry to load I always make sure to be showered and clean. Though you will get filthy during the day working up in the mountains, I think it's important to present a professional image- especially in this economy.

and the return money is excellent considering that it is on top of the original rate- which covered going to the island loaded and returning empty.

[GMAN]

It isn't too bad hauling rock. Most of the time we hauled rocks that were stacked on pallets, but sometimes we hauled boulders from a different quarry. The quarries are pretty slow down here right now. Maybe I need to come up to your part of the world and start hauling some of that northeastern rock. ;)

[jeff1981]

It isn't too bad hauling rock. Most of the time we hauled rocks that were stacked on pallets, but sometimes we hauled boulders from a different quarry. The quarries are pretty slow down here right now. Maybe I need to come up to your part of the world and start hauling some of that northeastern rock. ;)

It will be getting slow here soon. In the winter we usually have one of the trucks hauling a reefer, doing mostly walmart DC runs.

The trick to hauling out of these rough quarries is to use a steel wood deck trailer, or at least a combo. The all aluminum trailers seem to get beaten up pretty fast.