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). South Dakota is a 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
South Dakota’s location just below North Dakota and the upper tier of states bordering Canada provides for international movement of freight. The state is also crossed by a major route between the Northwest Coast and Chicago. South Dakota has long been an agricultural-based economy, but technology is beginning to have an impact on the state.
Bordering State/Countries
South Dakota is bordered by North Dakota to the north, Minnesota and Iowa to the east, Montana and Wyoming to the west, and Nebraska to the south.
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 South Dakota home:
- Brewing/distilling dregs, waste
- Solid residues including soya bean oil-cake
- Ethanol (denatured)
- Mechanical front-end shovel loaders
- Pork carcasses (frozen)
- Bentonite
- Pork cuts (fresh/chilled)
- Pork cuts (frozen)
- Beef cuts (boneless, fresh/chilled)
- Soya beans
South Dakota’s Highways
South Dakota interstates include only 2 major routes totaling nearly 700 of the state’s over 167,000 lane miles of roadway. Interstates are as follows:
I-29 from Iowa at Dakota Dunes to North Dakota near Victor
I-90 from Wyoming state line to Minnesota state line at Valley Springs
2 Auxiliary interstate highways
For more information on South Dakota and its truck driver jobs, visit: www.southdakotatrucking.com