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Overdrive Magazine's annual survey consistently shows owner/operator truckers select the Tennessee part of I-40 to be the best stretch of highway and I-10 in Louisiana to be the worst which barely beat out I-95 near NYC as the worst.
Best maintained most likely.
Any freeway's going to be better than the entire stretch of the 5 going South-to-North in west-coast states.
Best to just replace it with a rail-line so some of us could avoid that nightmare altogether.
As a car driver, I would think the Ilinois-Indiana state line area on I-80 must be one of the worst, there are always bottlenecks, accidents, construction, and random lane closures just for the hell of it. Ive learned to bypass it by going down through Roselawn, Momence and Kankakee onto I-57, and I noticed that more and more truckers are doing the same thing.
I'm not a trucker, but having driven across much of the US and all the way from Massachusetts to Miami last weekend, I can tell you that much of the northeast must be a trucker's nightmare. The roads are narrow, no grid system, highway merge lanes are a joke, roads are full of potholes the size of lunar craters and drivers are very aggressive. New York & Boston would be among the worst cities to drive through, IMO. Bad enough with a car, never mind an 18 wheeler.
I'm not a trucker, but having driven across much of the US and all the way from Massachusetts to Miami last weekend, I can tell you that much of the northeast must be a trucker's nightmare. The roads are narrow, no grid system, highway merge lanes are a joke, roads are full of potholes the size of lunar craters and drivers are very aggressive. New York & Boston would be among the worst cities to drive through, IMO. Bad enough with a car, never mind an 18 wheeler.
And this is why they should bring back those 1920s freight-tunnels they used to have in big cities within those areas.
Link all the tunnels to warehouses in a trucker-friendly, outskirts and then use small electric trains to pull the goods into the city.
Trucks have gotten too large and some of these dispatchers and warehouse persons have never maneuvered anything larger than a station wagon.
Overdrive Magazine's annual survey consistently shows owner/operator truckers select the Tennessee part of I-40 to be the best stretch of highway
What the? My family has lived in Alabama, Georgia and Florida, and I have always lived north of Tennessee. I have no understanding of why truckers like any highways in Tennessee. For over 20 years, Tennessee ranks as the most miserable state that I have ever had to drive through.
1. The 24/40 construction has been going on for as long as I have been making the trip.
2. It doesn't matter what time of the day you drive through Nashville, you are always going to be in backed up traffic.
3. Unless you drive through Chattanooga really late at night, you are guaranteed to be in bumper to bumper traffic at some point.
4. Memphis is always backed up, with some of the most miserably maintained highways I have ever seen. (I will say Arkansas on 55N from Nashville is much worse though)
5. You can always count on at least one inexplicable accident somewhere on your trip through TN. Weather will be perfectly clear, but there will be an accident in the middle of nowhere, count on it.
After driving through TN for too many years and having my BP shoot through the roof from the nonsense, I now drive around almost the entire state. I take 55s down from St. Louis and then 22 over to Birmingham. Now don't be fooled, Tennessee still manages to ruin part of this trip because 22 doesn't go all the way to 55 like a normal highway, once it gets to Memphis, it turns into an infuriating 10 miles of starts and stops on a road that has potholes so big it could swallow a smart car whole. Once you get past the Tennessee part though, the rest of the drive to Birmingham is clear sailing and as pleasant as can be. Even the Mississippi stretch. That is how bad driving through Tennessee is, Mississippi beats it.
All of this said, Tennessee is a beautiful state and if you don't get aggravated by inexplicable traffic jams, you may like the drive. It drives me nuts though, and I don't get anyone who drives for a living ranking it a good place to drive through. It must be because of the Truck hubs and Trucker friendly businesses because it isn't for efficiency
What the? My family has lived in Alabama, Georgia and Florida, and I have always lived north of Tennessee. I have no understanding of why truckers like any highways in Tennessee. For over 20 years, Tennessee ranks as the most miserable state that I have ever had to drive through.
1. The 24/40 construction has been going on for as long as I have been making the trip.
2. It doesn't matter what time of the day you drive through Nashville, you are always going to be in backed up traffic.
3. Unless you drive through Chattanooga really late at night, you are guaranteed to be in bumper to bumper traffic at some point.
4. Memphis is always backed up, with some of the most miserably maintained highways I have ever seen. (I will say Arkansas on 55N from Nashville is much worse though)
5. You can always count on at least one inexplicable accident somewhere on your trip through TN. Weather will be perfectly clear, but there will be an accident in the middle of nowhere, count on it.
After driving through TN for too many years and having my BP shoot through the roof from the nonsense, I now drive around almost the entire state. I take 55s down from St. Louis and then 22 over to Birmingham. Now don't be fooled, Tennessee still manages to ruin part of this trip because 22 doesn't go all the way to 55 like a normal highway, once it gets to Memphis, it turns into an infuriating 10 miles of starts and stops on a road that has potholes so big it could swallow a smart car whole. Once you get past the Tennessee part though, the rest of the drive to Birmingham is clear sailing and as pleasant as can be. Even the Mississippi stretch. That is how bad driving through Tennessee is, Mississippi beats it.
All of this said, Tennessee is a beautiful state and if you don't get aggravated by inexplicable traffic jams, you may like the drive. It drives me nuts though, and I don't get anyone who drives for a living ranking it a good place to drive through. It must be because of the Truck hubs and Trucker friendly businesses because it isn't for efficiency
In my drive through Tennessee, I think just outside of Knoxville, headed east is tough. Fast traffic, lots of trees, turns, curves. This is in a regular car.
Location: Live:Downtown Phoenix, AZ/Work:Greater Los Angeles, CA
27,606 posts, read 14,596,838 times
Reputation: 9169
Quote:
Originally Posted by bentstrider
Best:
1)Nevada
2)Utah
3)Arizona
4)New Mexico
5)Colorado
They're equally all good.
No segregated truck speed limit, only traffic clogs are near the big cities, and the weigh station personnel treat you like human beings if you treat them just as well.
When it comes to inclement/winter driving conditions, they actually have multiple forms of advanced warning.
This way, you could decide if you want to push through, or just find some place to wait out the conditions.
And parking spots are quite ample and are always nearby cool things to do during off/down-time.
Anytime I roll through these areas, I never think twice about it.
Worst:
1)California(especially anywhere not in the desert)
2)Oregon
3)Washington
4)Long Island part of NY
5)Rest of New England states in general.
These particular states have it all in common to certain extents.
Segregated truck speed limits where it's usually 55mph for trucks and cars can do whatever.
Parking is usually limited to truck-stops and other rest areas located far out of the delivery city limits.(Although Portland OR's an exception with a couple of good T/S not far from downtown)
Traffic is pretty much a nightmare with the exception of a few hours during the late-night/early morning.
Weigh stations, it's all about microscope-inspections of trucks and getting shut down over the most minor of issues. And the inspectors/personnel treating you like garbage regardless of how well you treat them.
Then there's just the whole negative attitude towards big vehicles in general in these states.
I honestly don't know how many people actually drive or have driven commercial vehicles on this site.
There's forums out there dedicated to the profession, but anytime I put a posting up like this, most drivers on those forums take it as some sort of attack against the profession and the thread goes into "locked" land.
With a little bit of everybody in here, it's a bit easier to see where everyone stands when it comes to the 18-wheeled monstrosities of the asphalt!
California is definitely better for driving than the NE or Midwest. Only thing I don't like is the Desert Hills (aka Banning) Weigh Station on I-10. Only DOT Inspection I ever had to go through was there, caused me to be 2 hours late to a delivery to Compton. Passed at least, no ticket or anything
Location: Live:Downtown Phoenix, AZ/Work:Greater Los Angeles, CA
27,606 posts, read 14,596,838 times
Reputation: 9169
Quote:
Originally Posted by bentstrider
Best maintained most likely.
Any freeway's going to be better than the entire stretch of the 5 going South-to-North in west-coast states.
Best to just replace it with a rail-line so some of us could avoid that nightmare altogether.
When I would take loads to Turlock, Sac or the Bay Area, I would use 99 instead of 5, more places to stop and/or fuel. Loved the Shafter/Bakersfield Flying J, the Madera Pilot, the Livingston TA and the Love's&Flying J in Ripon. Also liked the 49er in Sac if I could get a fuel stop there so I didn't have to pay for parking
When I would take loads to Turlock, Sac or the Bay Area, I would use 99 instead of 5, more places to stop and/or fuel. Loved the Shafter/Bakersfield Flying J, the Madera Pilot, the Livingston TA and the Love's&Flying J in Ripon. Also liked the 49er in Sac if I could get a fuel stop there so I didn't have to pay for parking
Yeah, the 99 was done a few times when I was with Swift and Western Express. Although modernized in most parts, I find it eerily similar to driving some stretches of west TX/eastern NM.
The 49'r, I stopped there a few times. Fueled up and spent the day sleeping there before taking some bottled water out towards SLC.
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