How a moving truck gets into Manhattan
A truck coming from New Jersey has three ways into Manhattan, and two of them are tunnels with low ceilings. The Port Authority lists the Holland Tunnel at 12 feet 6 inches and the Lincoln Tunnel at 13 feet, while the George Washington Bridge clears 13 feet 6 inches (Port Authority restrictions). Our largest trucks are 26-foot box trucks, which usually stand taller than either tunnel, so the 2,810 miles on this page are measured over the bridge. A phone map that sends a car through the Holland Tunnel comes out a little shorter.
Inside the city a truck has to follow NYC DOT's truck route network. It may leave a truck route only at the intersection closest to your address and must take the most direct way from there, and the driver carries a bill of lading that shows where the load started and where it is going (NYC DOT truck routing). That is why we ask for the cross street and the entrance the crew should use, along with the address. You book the freight elevator and any move window the building sets, and we send its managing agent a Certificate of Insurance in the exact wording it asks for.
Four days on I-15, I-70 and I-80
Out of downtown Los Angeles the truck takes I-10 for a few miles, then I-15 north into Utah, where I-70 carries it east through the Colorado Rockies. I-76 links it to I-80, the longest stretch, 1,563 miles of it to New Jersey. Driving time comes to about 40 hours. A driver may drive no more than 11 hours, and only after 10 hours off duty (FMCSA), so the trip takes 4 driving days. Your rate already counts the fuel and the tolls for those miles.
- Loading in Los Angeles: you walk each room with the crew lead before the doors close, then sign the bill of lading.
- About 40 hours of driving, split by the daily 10-hour break the rules require.
- Unloading in New York City, 5 to 8 days after loading: the crew sets each piece in its room, reassembles what it took apart, and writes a Damage Report if something needs one.
Colorado in winter
From September 1 through May 31, Colorado's Traction Law is in force on I-70 between Dotsero and Morrison, the mountain stretch of the trip. In a storm CDOT can also order chains on commercial trucks, and a full chain law is its last step before it closes the road (CDOT). Snow there can slow a truck or hold it until the road reopens, and the delivery window of 5 to 8 days is built with room for that. Moving between fall and spring? Plan a few nights in New York before the furniture arrives.
Your first week in New York City
Unpacking leaves a pile of boxes. The city's Department of Sanitation wants corrugated cardboard flattened, tied with twine and set out next to the recycling bins, never used as a bin itself (DSNY cardboard rules). An unwanted mattress or box spring has to be sealed in a plastic bag before it goes out, or it will not be collected, and the city does not supply the bags (DSNY mattress rules). If the new apartment came with a bed you do not want, buy a bag before move-in day.
Questions about this move go to our Irvine office, and the pricing page walks through how we build each price. Headed for Boston instead? See Los Angeles to Boston.
