Key takeaways
- Car navigation apps plan routes for passenger cars, so they don't check a truck's height, weight, length or hazmat cargo against road restrictions.
- There is no federal vehicle height limit; states set their own, and FHWA notes most range from 13 feet 6 inches to 14 feet, with lower clearances on particular roads.
- A truck GPS should route from your truck's actual dimensions and weight, prefer designated truck routes, and plan stops around hours-of-service limits.
- Test any truck GPS on routes you already know, including a nearby low clearance or restricted road, before you rely on it.
- No map data is perfect, so posted signs and clearances always take priority over navigation.
Phone map apps are built to get a car somewhere quickly, so they don't know your truck's height, weight, length or cargo, and they can't tell whether a road is legal or passable for it. A truck GPS starts from those numbers, keeps you on roads meant for trucks, and plans the trip around truck stops, scales and your hours of service.
Why car navigation apps fall short for trucks
They don't know your truck
A car app plans for one kind of vehicle: a car. It can't compare your gross weight with a bridge posting or your trailer height with an overpass, because it never asks for those numbers. Federal rules leave height to the states, and FHWA notes most state limits fall between 13 feet 6 inches and 14 feet, with exceptions for lower clearances on particular roads. Federal weight limits on the Interstate System (80,000 pounds gross, 20,000 on a single axle, 34,000 on a tandem) don't apply the same way off it, where states set their own.
They don't route around truck restrictions
Low bridges, weight-posted bridges, parkways and local streets closed to commercial vehicles, and tunnels with hazmat restrictions don't exist for a routing engine that doesn't model trucks. A car app can pick the shortest path straight through them. Our guide to low bridges and truck restrictions covers the signs that mark them.
They chase minutes
Car routing is tuned to save time. A residential cut-through that saves a car four minutes can put a 53-foot trailer on a street with tight corners and no room to turn around. Car apps also don't account for the turns, ramps and grades that matter to a heavy truck.
They don't plan a trucking day
A car app's arrival time assumes you drive straight through. It doesn't know your 11-hour driving limit, your 14-hour window, the 30-minute break required after 8 hours of driving, or where your 10-hour reset will fall under 49 CFR 395.3. It isn't built around truck parking, diesel lanes or weigh stations either, so its arrival time can be off by a full rest period for a truck that has to stop legally.
What a truck GPS should do
- Route from a truck profile: height, width, length, gross and axle weight, axle count and hazmat
- Prefer designated truck routes and avoid residential streets even when they look faster
- Offer route options with miles, drive time and tolls
- Show truck stops, parking, rest areas and weigh stations along the route
- Build legal breaks and resets into the arrival time
- Give lane guidance and exit signs before turns
- Show speed limits, including truck-specific limits
- Warn about steep grades and road work ahead
- Say plainly where its data ends, such as states without road work feeds or roads with unknown speed limits
How to evaluate a truck GPS
- Enter your truck's measured height, length, width, weight and axles, and set hazmat if you haul it.
- Route a trip you know well that passes near a low clearance or a road closed to trucks, and see whether the app avoids it.
- Raise the height or weight in the profile and run the same trip again. If the route never changes, the app may not be checking restrictions at all.
- Check the last mile to a shipper you know, and see whether the route brings you to the truck entrance.
- Open the stops along the route and confirm they're real, still open and have truck parking.
- Compare the arrival time with your own hours-of-service math, breaks and reset included.
- Read the limits: which countries it covers, whether it works offline, whether it has live traffic, and where its data comes from.
Where Fort Route fits
Fort Route is an independent truck GPS for US drivers, built to plan the legal trip as well as the route. It checks routes for height, width, length, weight, axles, hazmat, tolls and ferries, offers up to 3 route options, and prefers truck routes over neighborhood shortcuts; see truck-safe routing. Its hours planner places the 30-minute break and 10-hour reset at real truck stops and rest areas, and the legal arrival time includes them.
While you drive, turn-by-turn navigation gives voice directions with lane guidance and exit signs. The app shows 53,582 checked places, speed limits with truck limits on about 95% of tested routes, road work from 17 state and city DOT feeds, and steep-grade warnings. It's free during the beta and for the first year after launch.
Honest limits
- Fort Route is in closed beta. The web app runs in Android and iPhone browsers with an invite code, and App Store and Google Play releases are planned, not live. You can join the beta or the waitlist.
- Routing covers US roads only; there is no Canada or Mexico routing.
- There's no live traffic yet, so arrival times don't account for congestion.
- There are no offline maps, so you need a data connection.
- There's no ELD sync: you type your hours-of-service clocks in. Fort Route is a planning aid; your ELD record is the legal record.
- Truck restriction data comes from map data whose coverage varies by area. Map data can be wrong, so always obey posted signs.
Sources
Frequently asked questions
Can I use a phone map app to drive a semi?
You can, but it won't check your truck's height, weight or length against road restrictions, so it can send you onto roads your truck can't legally or safely use. If you use one, check every route against posted signs and what you know about the area.
What is the most important setting in a truck GPS?
The most important setting is your truck profile: measured height, length, width, weight and axles. Every restriction check depends on it, so update it when you switch trailers or haul a taller or heavier load.
Does a truck GPS guarantee a safe route?
No, a truck GPS lowers the risk of a bad route but can't guarantee a safe one, because map data can be missing, wrong or out of date. Posted signs and clearances always take priority.
Does Fort Route work in Canada or Mexico?
No, Fort Route routes on US roads only for now. Canada and Mexico routing isn't available.
Does Fort Route show live traffic?
No, Fort Route doesn't show live traffic yet. Its arrival times include your planned breaks and stop time but not congestion, so leave margin around busy cities.