If you’re a truck driver looking for a career hauling potatoes, Idaho is the state you should consider in your job search. After all, the state’s potato producers harvest up to 10 billion spuds annually — that’s 30 potatoes for every American or over 5,700 per Idahoan! But there’s a lot more to Idaho and the opportunities the state offer truck drivers. Idaho industries include machinery manufacturing, chemical products, and paper. But believe it or not, Idaho’s leading industry is science and technology. You’ll find the state is far more than starch!
Geographic Advantages
Idaho is located in the Western U.S. and access numerous states and Canada. It is rich with natural resources, and believe it or not, it even has a seaport, so truck driver jobs to and through Idaho are plentiful.
Bordering States/Countries
Idaho is bordered to the north by Canada, to the west by Washington and Oregon, to the south by Nevada and Utah, and to the east by Wyoming and Montana. With the exception of its western boundary, Idaho is surrounding by states with small populations and tremendous natural resources.
As the economy experiences is ups and downs, Idaho offers products that offer stability. And with routes to Washington and Oregon, two states growing in economic influence, Idaho serves as a conduit for products fueling that growth. Likewise, Idaho is growing as a state producing high-tech products and components.
Idaho Ports
Yes, Idaho does have a port offering access to the Pacific Coast. The Port of Lewiston is open to seagoing vessels via the Snake and Columbia Rivers. Though some 350 miles inland, the Port of Lewiston connects to Portland, Oregon.
Products Moved by Trucks
When it comes to truck driver jobs, Idaho offers a variety of industries in which a driver can specialize. Whether products are exported out of state, out of the country, or simply remain in the state for the use of those living in Idaho, according to the latest data from World’s Top Exports, the following are the primary products moved by truck drivers and offering many truck driving jobs to those calling Idaho home:
- Solar power semi-conductors, photovoltaic cells
- Photographic plates, films
- Integrated circuits (memories)
- Computer parts and accessories
- Electrical/radiation equipment parts, accessories
- Ammonium dihydrogen orthophosphate
- Unroasted malt
- Instruments to measure semiconductor wafers or devices
- Miscellaneous precious metal articles
- Integrated circuits (processors/controllers
Iowa Highways
I-90 crosses the chimney of Idaho, while other interstates such as I-15, I-84, and I-86 serves the southern end of the state. No U.S. interstates connect northern and southern Idaho, although U.S. Route 95 stretches from near the Canadian border southward to the outskirts of Boise.
For more information on Idaho and its truck driver jobs, visit www.idtrucking.org