Driving in inclement weather and traffic jams

Lots of factors.
Depends on where you are, the amount of traffic, the weather and so on.
And of course time of the day.

Today I drove from around Columbia SC to just into LA on 20.
670 miles in 10.5h. 65mph Truck.

 

I run elogs.

Traffic is just part of it. Plan against when possible.

Ducking off on "an adventure" is basically the only fun part of driving for me nowadays.

You find some nice shortcuts. ;D

Don't be a wuss! Get in that city and mix it up with the locals. Expressways are for the steering wheel holders.

 

Most days it's pretty easy to get 500-600 miles. The real problem with OTR is getting held up at shippers and receivers. For example, this morning I drove 240 than spent 4 hrs getting unloaded in York PA. Drove 60 more to B-more and spent 1.5 hrs getting loaded. I got tuck in traffic on the 695 beltway (about 1 hr to go 20 miles. A construction worker got struck by a car and was killed, so I guess I shouldn't ##### too much. His day was worse than mine). I made it about 80 more after that and shut down in Charles Town, WV. So about 380 today. Tomorrow I don't have to deal with any load/unload time and plan on doing the 550 home to TN with time to spare.

Basically, it varys a lot day to day. But shippers/consignees are the real drain on your clock.

 

There's gonna be endless answers to this question due to the fact everyone's situation is different... As for me I rarely get stuck in traffic jams, as the more experience you get with different areas you will find when is the best time to pass through a certain "traffic prone" area... I go from Chicago to west points all the time, being tomorrow morning I'm leaving Chicago headed to Tracy, CA which is 2150 miles and my delivery is Tuesday morning... I generally have no problem doing 750 miles per day... Heading to west points in easier IMO due to less traffic, wide open interstates, faster speed limits... My truck isn't governed like a lot of companies which does help... About the weather,knock on wood I've only had snow actually halt my day once this year but if time on your load allows you just have to keep an eye on Accuweather and information on this site and others about road conditions and then pick and choose when will be best for you to accomplish miles even if it means having to drive during the night which a lot of people hate, for me I don't mind it at all...

 

Weather happens, you just have to go with the flow. If you have been driving a route in Michigan, you already have a pretty good idea on how the roads can be.

Really unless the road is closed being a seasoned winter weather driver it won't stop you.

The biggest holdup is when shippers and recievers can't get it in gear, or when you need a permit and the permit office is not wanting to get off their laurels and issue one.

I run elogs, some days I drive 700 miles, today I made 342, why? Didn't get my permit till 10am, sun went down at 5:18, half hour after that I had to be off the road.

Tomorrow I will be up before sunrise, on the road half an hour before, probably make 600-700 miles if I am lucky.

You need to have patience to make it in this business, the guys who are the hot heads, the ones who have to go fast fast fast all the time are the ones who burn out just as fast, the drivers who make it for the long haul are the ones who are a cool hand who don't get too worked up.

So that is my advice, don't take the things you run into on the road personally, don't get worked up over things, keep on trucking and take it as it comes and deal with it as you have to, if you can do that you will be just fine.

 

I'm currently looking at the forecast radar right now on weather.com. I'm heading east on 80. My break is going to be up soon. Trying to decide if it would be better to hold off a few more hours. Since I'm only doing an 8 hour break. I could go ahead and finish the whole break of 10. Seems like I'll be playing in the snow all night regardless. What I'm going to do next is check and see what the accumulations in the cities is calling for. If heavy. I know that truck stops and parking areas will be packed so I better be prepared for a long night, but if the accumulations are light. Then I shouldn't have much of a problem on the road, and the road crews should be handling it pretty good. Still got to do some research and check cities and hourly forecast. If all I'm going to be able to do is 30mph for 10 hours I'll just stay put until morning. Have to be in Syracuse, NY early Monday morning. Currently in Big Springs, NE. I had some slow downs this morning and still was able to get 620 miles in 10.5 hours. But the radar didn't look as bad as it does tonight. So I guess I better get back to work so I can know what to do when the alarm goes off in a few. You can check the radar and you could see what you would do in my situation.

 

First off I drive often around here and avoid 96 west of 275 so I assume you are headed out that way or incoming from there. Otherwise it takes me less than an hour to drive anywhere in the area even with heavy snow. A couple weeks ago I used all surface streets and had 8 stops, made all of them and got back to the yard on time to drop the truck off.

As far as your question, it matters where.

If you hit snow in LA, then you will be there for a while but in say Indianapolis, it isn't so bad. Out bound in NYC is a pain in good weather but with snow, it takes a long long time.