New routing system

They must use google maps.

 

I will be looking at it much closer now as I get further along in my OTR career. I'm double checking it over and then checking once more!

 

If I see a better route I just send it in to my dispatch and he says "do it". Never had any problem with anyone when I take a better route and if it lies close to the one they say take I would not even worry about saying anything just take the best road. Just be sure to always check the U.S. highways and smaller roads for restrictions that are listed in the front of the Atlas as more than once I have received routings that did not take these factors into account.

 

The Map Store won't take it back..... I have to eat it...... $49.00 in my mouth....... Yes, I will grab the 2011 when it comes out at the end of the month...... I think they are going to give me a paper one to use in school next week for learning to plan with.... I will purchase the HARD COPY with my trainer in Evolution 1. I will bring the 2008 to work with in school also.... Think about it..... A rookie mistake from a student already.... He buys a Atlas for 2008 thinking he got a deal on the price but all he really did is teach himself he will make wrong decisions in the future again.... I was all happy about the price and never thought about what was really important... UPDATED HAZARD warnings and INFORMATION pertinent to his survival.... Sheeeeesh..... I will buy the New One..... I hate being stupid.... Thanks all for the lesson..... If you'll all excuse me now I got to go kill myself again....

 

Here is a link to a listing of all the low clearences in Illinois. These include local streets as well as state maintained roads. I saved it as a pdf and it has saved me a lot of headaches in Chicago. If you don't already know, Chicago is Cook county. I hope this helps others like it has helped me and the best part is that it is free.

www.dot.il.gov/road/vertuf.txt

 

anyone else seeing more things like wrong exits? like exit 4a and its 4B? or a road that is a route but when you get there its still a blvd, not the rt number till the next block...

 

That's why you want to check out the route ahead of time so that you know where you are going. Many places have a route number and named street, they are both the same. I live in a town of two thousand and we have the same thing. State Route 10 is Chestnut through town. It's confusing but that's not the fault of the Opti system. Also these maps are only updated by the companies that make them about once a year so it is possible that things have changed since things were last updated. Finally it is possible opti is wrong. If you aren't sure, pull, off use your maps, phone, cb and anything else you need to find out where to go. Even if a Smokey pulls up behind you most will be glad to help you get where you want to go. Believe it or not there is a lot of help available and we all get lost from time to time.

I've had a couple of times that I got off the beaten path and the cops who came along had one question, "Hey driver, ya lost?" My reply was yes and told them where I needed to go. They gave me directions with a "Good luck driver."

 

Just pretend highschool girls made these routes up for $8HR. You cant always depend on them.

 

LOL! What an awesome way to look at it!

 

With the new Opti I like the exits and the routes seem to get me closer to the destination. I.E. Opti gets you right onto 15th now.

As for repeating roads because of state changes, that helps the O/O I believe for fuel tax reporting.

I do like having the exits.

I don't like it still will send you on a weird route at times. But mostly it does ok.

On my map I yellow highlight all the routes I plan. As time goes on I find all my routes are there with my corrections. So if the shipper and consignee are the same, or half way point, I just follow my yellow marked route.

GPS is very handy when I totally screw up. It's the Rand McNally 700. It gets me back on route safely. It even stopped me from following an Opti Route plan that had a low bridge!

To me they are all tools for us to use. Gps is good for letting you know where you are and where to stop for your 10hrs, but the map is king in my book.