# How much space do I need between the road and the gate?



## Change (Jul 19, 2014)

My truck is a F-350 long bed. My gooseneck trailer has a 30' floor. I need a minimum of 45' to ensure I'm out of the way. 50' is preferable. My small trailer has a 16' floor. That's still more than 30' clearance to be safe. 

It all depends on what the longest length is that you need to get off the road.


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

At least 40 feet....

My truck is a older Ram with quad cab configuration towing a BP 4 horse trailer..
Between the 2 I am 48' long.
Today a full sized cab truck, 8' bed as is common on larger, 250/2500 - 350/3500 trucks of work design with the even larger cab design than mine. Average is about 100 inches possibly more depending upon manufacturer..
A trailer, gooseneck you are looking at 25' - 30' or more long nose to tail...
My trailer has no dressing room area so if you have that, add more length.


Remember you need to be fully off the road so you are safe while accessing your gate.
And to angle the fence so egress in or out of the property can be made when the trailer doesn't track totally in truck tracks but far wider a travel path. 
:runninghorse2:...


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## Woodhaven (Jan 21, 2014)

Another thing to take into consideration is the width of the driveway at the road as you will need space as you turn off the road onto your driveway. I don`t have any specifics but perhaps some others will know how much turning space you will need, 
Also is there a deep ditch at the road because you sure don`t want to drop a wheel into a ditch as you turn in.


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## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

No, there's no ditch there. There's one of those highway safety rail things, but there's currently a gate in the fence and the safety rail is open there. Apparently it's the entrance the utility company uses when they need to do work. And one time when there was a tree down in the front street, the old residents let the neighbors drive their cars down there so they could get out. 

That reminds me, can I get away with a 10-foot gate? Or does it need to be a 12-footer?


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

_*12' minimum...*_

My power co-op asked for 14' gate so if they need to use a tower crane they hopefully can get in without damaging fence posts rubbing. The tower crane is 12' wide with the outriggers and goes on the public roadways with a escort vehicle front and rear...

You would be amazed how tight a 10' gate is to pull a trailer through if not perfectly straight.
I catch my breath when my hay guy comes across the fields going through the smaller gated areas with a loaded trailer of bales...
He has snagged a bale or two on occasion...what a mess but the horses don't mind cleaning it up. :smile:
I would ask the utilities to be sure before purchasing any fence or gates to put in that place.

:runninghorse2:...


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## Acadianartist (Apr 21, 2015)

I'd also vote for a 12 foot gate if you can (that's what I have) and as much room to manoeuvre as you can get. How busy a road is this? My road is very quiet, luckily, because I pretty well have to block off both lanes to pull out or back in.


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## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

Acadianartist said:


> I'd also vote for a 12 foot gate if you can (that's what I have) and as much room to manoeuvre as you can get. How busy a road is this? My road is very quiet, luckily, because I pretty well have to block off both lanes to pull out or back in.


It's hard to characterize it as a busy road or not. When the ferry has just come in, there can be 300 + cars one right after the other. Otherwise there isn't much traffic, maybe a car every minute or so. We've lived there before and learned to time driving to ferry traffic, and we'd certainly do that again, especially if we had to use that gate. I wouldn't want to pull out in a horse trailer in front of a bunch of distracted tourists.

I will go with the 12 foot gate.


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

12 foot minimum. The best gates I have seen are set at an angle into the fence so the gate is perpendicular in the fence line to the road and the entrance is roughly parallel to the road at an angle to the gate. It is done in the direction of the traffic flow so you pull head in though you could pull across and back in. If you set the fence to give you the length you need you are putting in a drive basically and you create two more corners inside the fence.


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