It is easy to find roads to drive on going east and west if you are not too determined to have to drive 60 mph plus. Sometimes it is quicker to go 35 than get in a traffic jam and have to wait 20 minutes.

When my kids visit from out of state they can’t believe we don’t use the freeway. I just tell them try it yourself on a trip from Boise to Eagle and see if it is quicker. People want to think they are going faster, even if it takes them longer to drive from point A to point B. Pretty dumb.

Long, long ago, when I was a kid, people in small towns still set their watches and clocks (yes, those had been invented, although most watches were carried in pockets, not worn on wrists, and they all had hands) by the train passing by.
Hear the whistle, “Yep, that’s the 5:09.”

Somehow that has faded away.

As for local loads, long-distance loads, etc.:
In areas along the remaining main tracks, I see thousands of flatbed cars carrying either containers or complete trailers from semis. Apparently the truckers can pick up the stuff where it’s made, haul it to the appropriate train yard, and the trailers or containers get loaded onto the flatcars.

I figure that where they’re going, they either get unloaded at their destination or get unloaded somewhere in the area and hook onto another semitractor for the remainder of the trip.

Seems to make sense — use the trucks where you need’em and the trains where they go.

Hey Mike Adams: Is this one of the fun little games the truckers of the interstate like to do to others sharing the road? I would like to think there is a completely logical reason for the drivers to do that.

Instead of waiting for faster traffic to pass they force their way into traffic to pass a slower rig, and then slow down everyone else because it takes them 2 miles to do so. This is especially infuriating when they do so on a hill, only to realize 4 minutes later they can’t make the pass and they have to pull in behind the truck they were attempting to pass.

Truckers should at almost all times remain in the right lane.

Railroad systems are a vestigeal organ of a by gone era. We need to focus on local production and consumption and minimize our need for so many imports.

Yes Guardian, the stretch of freeway from Denver all the way to the Mississippi is miserable. At least its downhill.

Rail is very cheap on fuel but they’re really bad about telling you what day or even what week your stuff is gonna show up. The Truck is just in time inventory… the trains are still all tangled in a slow motion problem. If trains ever start to make real money, they also have huge union issues waiting to suck em dry.

I want to see rail used more too… but it’s got a long way to go. The destroyed road issue could be helped with using more local products rather than junk from china trucked all over the country.

First to address Paul’s comment. I payed over $15,000 for road taxes last year, how much did you pay to drive on Idaho roads? I payed over $17,000 in fuel taxes last year, how much did you pay?
Truck drivers have been waiting many years for everyone to be taxed for ever mile they drive.

Trains are great for carrying a large shipment great distances without time restraints but if the product you are purchasing was not produced on site, packaged on site and needs to be there tomorrow a truck is the only way.

We will now take a trip back in time when drivers were known as the “white knights” of the road.
In my fathers day a driver would stop and help anyone along the road who was having a problem. A driver knew the best places to eat, the quickest road to anywhere, the family friendly towns, the towns to avoid. A driver would lead a group of cars through a mountain pass in a raging snow storm.

Those days are gone and I agree with Dave has I have seen the same thing. Here are some reasons why;

When the IPUC deregulated trucking the restrictions for who can own and operate truck became less, therefore less qualified individuals became part of the trucking industry.
Trucking companies are left to govern themselves which is bothersome as trucking companies are notorious for lying, cheating and general malfeasance.

Turnover in the trucking industry is another reason. Truckers are created by a truck driving school, drive for three months and quit.

No pay. A driver is paid for the amount of miles between point “A” and “B” not the actual miles the driver drives but the miles from zip code to zip code. When the driver has a 5 hour loading time and can only legally drive 6 more hours that day he realizes he is getting screwed, he is mad, his mind is not focused on what he is doing. He quits.

A driver hasn’t been home in 2 months. He is fighting with his wife, his daughter is acting out in school and his mind is not focused on what he is doing. He quits to save his family.

The Bush administration changed the truck driving regulations that does not allow a drive to pull over and sleep when tired without losing the precious “driving hours”. This change also allowed the driver to park during heavy traffic times and resume driving when traffic was lighter.

I could go on but why bother…nothing is the same as it used to be and most of the changes needed would increase the costs of getting goods to market and that goes against the corporate motto “Maximize Profit”.

P.S.

You think driver are bad now….wait 5 years.
A full third of the current drivers (remember the older drivers) are approaching retirement and the Mexican trucks and drivers (do not have to follow U.S. rules of driving) are on there way.
Happy driving.