You’ve been sitting behind the wheel for a few weeks. What you want now is some home time with lots of room to spread out and relax. Several states in the Great Plains, the upper Rocky Mountain Region, and the Northwest U.S. offer all the room you could want! And if you like driving with limited traffic, jobs in these regions are ready and waiting. Consider placing Montana, the Dakotas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Nevada, and Utah on your truck driving home base wish list. Wide open spaces abound with low population densities and lots of ranchland. And if you’re worried about finding a job, there is high demand for truck drivers through each state, most of which have some of the lowest unemployment numbers in the U.S. You might haul everything from cattle to minerals to wind turbines. But if all that wide open space gives you an itch to move, you’ll find interstates with the highest speed limits in the country. Head to the highway, open up the throttle, and get some diesel pumping through your truck’s veins (all while driving safely, of course). Utah is another state where the pace of life is far slower than speed limits and wind speeds. So, hook onto a trailer full of wind energy, and see if you can reach your destination before it spoils!
Geographic Advantages
Those outside the trucking industry may not think of Utah as an important player on the national level. They couldn’t be more wrong. Utah’s central location in the western U.S. allows for easy access to all west coast ports, inland states, Canada, and Mexico. It’s for this reason that some of the top U.S. carriers maintain their headquarters or began their operations out of Utah. These trucking pioneers who began the industry hauling fruits and vegetables to market, within a few decades became regional carriers and today are seen on the highways throughout the nation.
Bordering State/Countries
Utah is one of the four corners states, meaning it is bordered by Colorado to the east, New Mexico to the southeast, and Arizona to the south. Its western border meets Nevada, while on the north it is bordered by Idaho and Wyoming.
Products Moved by Trucks
Whether they are exported out of state, out of the country, or simply remain in the state for use in-state, according to the latest data from World’s Top Exports, the following are the primary products moved by truck drivers and industries offering truck driving jobs to those calling Utah home:
- Gold (unwrought)
- Miscellaneous food preparations
- Integrated circuits (memories)
- Aircraft including engines, parts
- Safety airbags
- Natural gas (liquid)
- Graphite or carbon non-electrical items
- Coal (non-agglomerated, bituminous)
- Molybdenum ores, concentrates
- X-ray tubes
Utah’s Highways
Utah interstates include 4 major routes and an auxiliary interstate totaling nearly 1,000 of the state’s over 100,000 lane miles of roadway. Interstates are as follows:
I-15 from the Arizona state line at Littlefield to the Idaho state line at Malad City
I-70 from the Colorado state line near Grand Junction to Cove Fort
1-80 from Nevada state line near Wendover to Wyoming state line near Evanston
I-84 from Idaho state line near Burley to Echo
1 Auxiliary interstate highways
For more information on Utah and its truck driver jobs, visit: utahtrucking.com