So Boston and Cambridge have twin not-exactly-highway arteries on opposite sides of the Charles River – Memorial Drive in Cambridge:
Memorial Drive is closed to all traffic except bike and pedestrian on Sundays for most of the summer.
and Storrow Drive in Boston:
Storrow Drive is only closed to traffic for the Fourth of July. Otherwise it’s basically a high-speed highway.
Memorial Drive has stoplights, Storrow Drive does not. Many people choose Storrow Drive because of this fact, although it is winding and you need to do frequent lane changes to avoid exits which pop up on both the left and the right. However, learning to drive it is something I marked as a sign of my progress as a Bostonian and certified Masshole driver. Now I can speed with the best of them while yelling at people who don’t know what lane to be in and get in my way while I’m trying to zip to the other end of town quickly.
But what I am here to do folks is give you a Public Service Announcement. Storrow Drive has really low overpasses. If you are driving anything other than a standard passenger car, truck, or van, do not take this road. Just don’t do it. This includes many UHauls. It definitely includes tractor trailers. And probably many construction vehicles. Just trust me and find a different route, friends.
Here are some of the many signs warning you about the low clearance:
Enjoy the collection of photos below of people who fared badly and didn’t heed the many signs.
Oopsy doodle.
This driver realized their mistake but now they are trapped.
Oh no, truck, oh no. You are about to have a really bad day.
Remember folks, steer clear of Storrow Drive if you are driving something tall!
Why don’t they make the clearance signs have some sort of…I dunno, stick that will thwap the truck it is it too tall, so they can hear the thwap even if they don’t see the sign and/or understand how height works?
Those exist in many places. I guess when they made these signs, there were fewer snowflakes thinking everything is fake news and needing safe spaces for their too tall trucks! They actually read signs!