Low Clearance Bridge Checker

What this checker does and doesn't do

Where the numbers come from

Every result is a record from the FHWA National Bridge Inventory (NBI), the federal database that state departments of transportation update from their own bridge inspections. The checker uses the 2025 release and shows the minimum vertical clearance each state recorded for a structure, in feet and inches. Nothing on this page is estimated or hand-entered. If a state did not record a clearance for a bridge, that bridge is left out rather than guessed.

How a search works

The checker turns the place you typed, a city and state or a ZIP code, into a point on the map, then pulls every recorded bridge within the radius you picked and ranks them lowest clearance first. "Use my location" does the same from your phone's GPS fix, which makes it the quickest answer to "are there low bridges near me" at a truck stop or a yard. With a load height entered, the list keeps only the bridges your load cannot clear, including anything within three inches above your height, the same margin the JaloPermit app applies. Searching low clearance bridges in Salina, Kansas City or Houston reads the same way: one list, one distance per bridge, one map pin per bridge.

How to read a result

Each row names the road the structure carries and the road or feature it crosses. For most records the clearance applies to the road passing under the structure. The location text is the inspector's own wording, so it reads like "0.69 MI NE 25TH ST" rather than a street address. The distance is measured straight-line from your search point, not by road. The Google Maps link opens the recorded coordinates so you can confirm the spot and look at the approach. A dense area can hold more than 500 bridges in a wide radius; the checker then shows the 500 lowest and says so, and a tighter radius shows the rest.

Why a bridge you know is low may be missing

The NBI only covers public-road bridges longer than 20 feet. It does not include sign gantries, pedestrian overpasses, utility lines, tunnels, private crossings or most railroad bridges over a road, which are recorded under a different rule and are not shown here. Inventory clearances are also measured at inspection time. A new overlay, a plow berm or a lowered sign can take inches away before the next inspection. Treat an empty result as "nothing recorded," never as "the road is clear."

Where it fits in oversize routing

A dispatcher usually reaches for a low clearance bridge checker twice: once while quoting a move, to see whether the pickup or delivery area has clearance trouble at the load's height, and again after the permit is issued, to double-check the last miles around a yard or a job site. The permit is the legal authority. If your issued permit sends you over a structure listed here, call the permit office before you roll, and if a posted sign is lower than what this page shows, the sign wins. For the full picture, read our guides on how to read an oversize load permit and oversize load route planning, or compare oversize load routing software options.