Every year — reliably, and especially around September 1 — a moving truck gets wedged under a low overpass on Storrow Drive. Bostonians have a verb for it: getting “Storrowed.” It’s one of the city’s most predictable disasters, and it’s entirely avoidable.
Why it keeps happening
Storrow Drive, Soldiers Field Road, and Memorial Drive are parkways restricted to cars only — no trucks, no buses. The overpasses along them have clearances as low as 9–10 feet in places. A standard rental truck from U-Haul, Penske, or Ryder stands 11 to 13’6″ tall — a foot or more too tall to fit. Out-of-town drivers (often students on move-in day) follow GPS onto the parkway and don’t discover the problem until the box hits the bridge. (TollGuru, Mass.gov / DCR)
How not to get Storrowed
- Know your truck’s height before you drive — it’s printed on the truck and in the rental paperwork. Assume anything box-shaped is too tall for these parkways.
- Never take Storrow, Soldiers Field, or Memorial in a truck, no matter what the GPS says. Set your navigation to “avoid” or use a truck-specific routing mode.
- Use the real alternatives: Beacon Street, Commonwealth Avenue, and the Massachusetts Turnpike (I-90) all handle trucks. (Mass.gov / DCR)
- Watch for the signs. Massachusetts DCR has installed high-visibility “CARS ONLY” signs and variable message boards at every parkway entrance, with extra enforcement during move-in season. If you see one, it means you.
Why this matters most on Moving Day
The “Storrowing” spike lines up exactly with Boston’s September-1 Moving Day, when thousands of unfamiliar drivers pilot rental trucks through the city at once. If your move falls in that window, the low bridges are one more reason to plan the route in advance — and, honestly, one more reason to consider a professional crew that already knows the city. Whether you’re heading out on Boston to Los Angeles movers, Boston to Miami movers, or just across town, compare movers serving Boston if you’d rather not learn the parkway map the hard way.
Sources: Mass.gov / DCR — Storrowing awareness campaign · Mass.gov — roadway height restrictions for move-in day · Boston truck routes / height guide (TollGuru)