Truck drivers are quietly ruling America's highways as shelter-in-place orders force millions to stay home
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Truck drivers are very happy you're working from home.
Since the coronavirus has led state governments across the US to keep 95% of Americans at home, traffic in key urban areas have plummeted.
That means less traffic for truck drivers, more time they can spend at home, and — because drivers are paid by the mile, not the hour — more money in their pockets.
Do you work in trucking? Email rpremack@businessinsider.com.
As the coronavirus pandemic upends daily life, many of us have seen unexpected nuggets of what happens when 95% of America stays at home. Los Angeles' oppressive smog has vanished. Demand for jigsaw puzzles is surging. And everyone has mysteriously become a bread baker.
Dan Spurling, a truck driver, has enjoyed another unexpected takeaway from the pandemic: no traffic.
"The outbreak has affected my job in a positive way, ironically," Spurling told Business Insider. "The more things that are shut down, the easier my job is."
Spurling hauls goods for the federal government around the Seattle area, where traffic has slashed in half since the pandemic has kept students and many workers home. A drive for Spurling that usually lasts more than an hour is now around 31 minutes.
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That dip in traffic is seen across the US, according to data from the American Transportation Research Institute.
In Los Angeles' interchange at I-710 and I-105, during the third week of March, truck speeds around 5 p.m. jumped from 29 mph in 2019 to 46 mph this year. Truck speeds at the interchange of I-290 and I-90/I-94 in Chicago more than doubled to 24 mph, while speeds at Atlanta's "Spaghetti Junction" popped by nearly four-fold over the same period.
"It's making our job so much easier to get loads to the stores, because we aren't fighting through traffic jams at all hours of the day," truck driver Rayne Okami told Business Insider.
The coronavirus has overturned many parts of truck drivers' daily lives, in good ways and bad. Some of the rest stops they typically park at are shuttered, along with key food options. One of their most hated safety laws was nationally disbanded for the first time ever, as shipments to grocery stores and hospitals become more frequent and urgent.
American Transportation Research Institute; Andy Kiersz/Business Insider
But the plummeting of traffic, along with the suddenly low cost of diesel as fewer Americans drive, means serious savings for truck drivers along with the relief of a major headache. Truck drivers are paid per mile, not per hour, so less time stuck in your rush-hour commute means more money.
"In these major markets, there is no traffic," David Broering, who is the president of NFI's non-asset trucking sector, told Business Insider. "Truck drivers are spending less time traveling the same distance and getting better average speed, which means better utilization of assets."
For some office-bound Americans, working from home during the virus pandemic has been an unexpected perk. Truck drivers like Spurling are hoping white-collar folks still get that benefit after this is all over.
"Hopefully some businesses will see that they can still operate with remote workers and get the unnecessary vehicles off the road," Spurling said.
Do you work in trucking? Email rpremack@businessinsider.com.
Read more about how coronavirus is affecting America's 1.8 million truck drivers
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