New England/New York City

I read an article in the paper a few years ago saying that Rt95 was the most congested truck route in the U.S.Also,don't forget about the Rt95 Pawtucket R.I. bridge with it's $3000 fine for trucks

 

I live in Upstate NY between Albany & Syracuse and every driving job I've had has been a "North east regional" job.(NY,NJ,CT,MA,RI,NH,VT,PA)...(I have never been into NYC,but have been close).This is all I have ever known as a driver.Some areas are a little rough during "rush hour",but I never let it bother me.

 

Being paid by the mile, the NE kills my pay. 3 hours to go 60 miles, can't park at the shipper or reciever due local hate trucks laws. That is 2 hours of my 70 I will never be paid for.

 

Thank god im FL/GA dedicated. I don't miss OTR one bit..... Well, midwest and west coast are the exception.

 

I used to run Manhattan all the time, yes, being there with a 53 footer is illegal, but I was lucky and never got a ticket. Now with the CSA points I won't go anymore.
The tolls are outrageous, and the Cross Bronx is rougher than some bombing ranges. Traffic can be bad, but no worse than Chicago, L.A. or Atlanta, and yielding is against the rules for all 4 wheelers!

 

i'm up here now and my biggest gripe (beyond the traffic and overabundance of rough roads) is lack of parking and being on an elog.....had to stop short of where i could have gotten to with the time i had left just to be sure i was going to be somewhere i could park.

being up here the wrong time of the day in alot of areas really sucks too but alot of times i can plan things where i run at night and that makes things alot easier.

but, i run up here alot......and my company just put in place a .07 / mile bonus pay program for anything north of DC/PA so that's going to make it a little more bearable.

 

everyone talks about rough roads and traffic, but you can find that pretty much anywhere.. i've sat in traffic coming out of Atlanta at 3am on a Saturday morning for four hours.. I still dont know what was going on. Let's not mention LA morning rush hour that lasts from 630am till #### near 11am. Rough roads, I10 cutting across Lousiana, and Mississippi, and all of Texas isn't smooth as butta either.

I think it's all really just monkeys eating the red berries.. An ole timer sitting at the counter in a truck stop tells a horror story of the north east, someone just starting out over hears it, and then recants it. And that's pretty much what keeps it alive.. Most drivers know that if you're cutting across NY to Conn, to dodge the GW and take the TAppa. I sware the GW is the worst part of the 15-20min ride. Scary drivers in the center lane not trying to go down the road, left hand land is half the size it is supposed to be because of the driver in the center lane riding the line and the concrete barricades that are never on the edge. I turn up the radio and hope i blow a trailer tire so i can see how much traffic i can clear out when that rubber gets ta flyin.

 

Yeah im still with tmc. Im on the owens corning dedicated so i dont haul outta tamko. Been there once or twice before being dedicated. I do go to frederick alot but its to deliver to the bluelinx there.

 

The ne is pretty much all ive run. Boston was the hardest, but I wouldnt say it was a nightmare, im a sox fan tho so am psyched every time I'm there. Now i'm haulin hay a.d straw so tjere really isn't a whole lot of city driving for me anymore. But I am all over ny, pa vt and ct.

 

Well tell you what, you learn from before you even leave out your first trip, that if you have a 53 foot trailer, you slide those tandems all the way forward. Each night, I do the same run, 3 stops. Boston is my first.

If my tandems were not slid all the way up?? I'd be taking out the car(s) that are ALWAYS PARKED at the corners. I have very tight turns to make, and when the city of Boston, or the utility company "decides" to do road work at the intersection I need??

I have to climb up over the center traffic island.

A few weeks ago, I did just that.

The Boston PD officer doing detail work that night??

Had parked his SUV right on that traffic island.

I came so close to his SUV, he watched me and I am sure he let out a great big "sigh". I could care less if I squashed it.

The next night??

Amazingly, his SUV was parked FURTHER down the traffic island!!!

Other than the very tight, narrow, one way streets, and no detour signage to help you, New England ain't that bad.

Just "wipe out things", is all I say, that'll teach'em..