Trip Planning: Approximating Speed Limit Average

I plan at 50 MPH. Start with what can be done. 12 hrs, 550 miles, where will I park this truck? Allow an extra hour for large cities, 30 minutes for fuel, 30 minute break. Two hours for a live load/unload, 30 minutes for a drop hook. One hour for a drop/hook at a mega ditribution center. This is all dry van. You may have some other variables. Planning at 50 MPH accounts for most traffic, hills and variable speed limits. Our dispatches are figured at 47 MPH. We are governed at 65 MPH. I hope that helps.

I have been driving that area as well the last 2-3 weeks, plus a lot in training. I average 50 when I trip plan. But in a 8-9 hour day I'm getting about 495-515 miles. Unless I'm in Iowa or somewhere with lots of hills and I'm heavy. Any day I'm under 450 is usually a day I had a pick up or delivery and it wasn't drop and hook. Or the terrain and my load weight has been more of an issue than I thought.

The Memorial Highway/route that I have been routed on several times has a 45 MPH speed limit and for short sets of 5 miles goes back up to 50MPH. It then goes through several towns and drops down to 25 MPH (if I remember correctly). I am getting stacked with short runs. Now, if I speed, which I refuse to do, then yeah 50MPH will work. I have to double check what highway. I am not familiar yet with the area. It is 40 something or other and a one lane I'm both directions. Thanks for the replies btw. I appreciate your time.

I plan at 50mph then add 1h even if I'll be on interstates all day. I'd rather be early than on time, but if I'm going to be more than 3 hours early (Schneider considers it a service failure at more than 3h early or 30m late), then I'll take, for instance, a 12h break instead of a 10h if the load spans more than 1 day.

Also, always round up to the nearest 50. For instance, if your delivery is 630m away, figure for 650m to equal 13h of drive time. Throw in 10h for a rest break, add 1h for fueling/pre/posttrip, add 1h cushion, you got an ETA of 25h out. Might be a bit overkill, but you can always sleep in an extra hour if need be.

How long has it taken you to drive 500 miles? Or how far do you usually go in 10 hours on those roads?

Formulas work great, but you have been running those roads so you have the answer. You know what you normally do in a shift in that area. You also know how you are "driving" your shift. Are you taking an hour break vs 30 min? Are playing travel center leap frog etc.

Take your miles divide by the hours you ran and that will give you an accurate number to use based on the way you run.

The Memorial Highway/route that I have been routed on several times has a 45 MPH speed limit and for short sets of 5 miles goes back up to 50MPH. It then goes through several towns and drops down to 25 MPH (if I remember correctly). I am getting stacked with short runs. Now, if I speed, which I refuse to do, then yeah 50MPH will work. I have to double check what highway. I am not familiar yet with the area. It is 40 something or other and a one lane I'm both directions. Thanks for the replies btw. I appreciate your time.

How long has it taken you to drive 500 miles? Or how far do you usually go in 10 hours on those roads?

Formulas work great, but you have been running those roads so you have the answer. You know what you normally do in a shift in that area. You also know how you are "driving" your shift. Are you taking an hour break vs 30 min? Are playing travel center leap frog etc.

Take your miles divide by the hours you ran and that will give you an accurate number to use based on the way you run.

The Memorial Highway/route that I have been routed on several times has a 45 MPH speed limit and for short sets of 5 miles goes back up to 50MPH. It then goes through several towns and drops down to 25 MPH (if I remember correctly). I am getting stacked with short runs. Now, if I speed, which I refuse to do, then yeah 50MPH will work. I have to double check what highway. I am not familiar yet with the area. It is 40 something or other and a one lane I'm both directions. Thanks for the replies btw. I appreciate your time.

All of my time has been spent driving, scaling, pretrip, postrip, fueling. I have not once taken a break over 30 min. In fact, I don't have much time at all to even smell the proverbial flowers. I'm replying as I am waiting for guard to inspect my seal. Will answer rest later

How long has it taken you to drive 500 miles? Or how far do you usually go in 10 hours on those roads?

Formulas work great, but you have been running those roads so you have the answer. You know what you normally do in a shift in that area. You also know how you are "driving" your shift. Are you taking an hour break vs 30 min? Are playing travel center leap frog etc.

Take your miles divide by the hours you ran and that will give you an accurate number to use based on the way you run.

The Memorial Highway/route that I have been routed on several times has a 45 MPH speed limit and for short sets of 5 miles goes back up to 50MPH. It then goes through several towns and drops down to 25 MPH (if I remember correctly). I am getting stacked with short runs. Now, if I speed, which I refuse to do, then yeah 50MPH will work. I have to double check what highway. I am not familiar yet with the area. It is 40 something or other and a one lane I'm both directions. Thanks for the replies btw. I appreciate your time.

All of my time has been spent driving, scaling, pretrip, postrip, fueling. I have not once taken a break over 30 min. In fact, I don't have much time at all to even smell the proverbial flowers. I'm replying as I am waiting for guard to inspect my seal. Will answer rest later

Got a load out of there far far away :D Issue resolved