PORT ANGELES - After a two-month closure, drivers and local residents can once again travel SR 112 near Joyce. The roadway reopens at 9 a.m., Thursday, March 12.
Today, the finishing touches are being put on a temporary one-way road that reconnects a damaged section of SR 112 at the West Twin River Bridge.
Crews built a 14-foot-wide gravel roadway to allow one-way, alternating traffic through the area. Each direction of SR 112 is signed, alerting motorists of one-way traffic and a reduced speed limit of 25 mph.
The $90,000 temporary roadway, constructed by WSDOT maintenance crews, is funded by the Federal Highways Administration. Project costs include material,equipment, labor and roadway maintenance until a permanent fix is made.
SR 112 closed Jan. 8 when a massive slide buckled the pavement and dropped the roadway as much as 8 feet in some places. For safety reasons, crews could not access the area until recently.
WSDOT is working on design and funding possibilities for a permanent solution.
Photos of slide damage online: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wsdot/sets/72157612323544615/.
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Car transport services are offered to help if you are moving long distances and planning to fly, or move by one car. Car transports are also very useful for moving classic or custom automobiles that you may not want to drive long distances.
When looking for a car transport company, be confident to check what type of service they specialize in. Do they mainly transport standard cars? Luxury cars? Classic cars? It is main that if you are moving your prized beauty that the car transport have experience and skill in carefully handling it.
Also, be confident to ask what type of insurance the car transport has, as well as find out if they ship using open carriers or closed carriers. Closed carrier car transport usually costs more (sometimes up to 2x), but is often worth it, since the car will be protected from the elements as well as possible damage from stones, hail, etc.
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VADEQ notified the NOAA SSC about a tanker truck accident on Rt. 267 within the Dulles Greenway, 5 miles east of Leesburg, Loudon County, VA. An estimated 5,000 gallons of deisel fuel spilled into a nearby storm water drain and then into a nearby creek. The spill occurred in remote area and the surrounding are is heavily wooded making access to the spill site difficult. VADEQ is on-scene and overseeing response activities. A vac truck is on-scene and is stationed just south of the spill site attempting to recover the fuel. According to on-scene VADEQ personnel, there is a section of stream below where the spill took place but above where the vac truck is located with a relatively heavy concentration of floating deisel fuel. SSC made recommendations to initiate flushing above the spill site in order to expedite movement of product downstream to area where vac truck is working. SSC also recommended that sorbents be placed alonmg the shoreline where accessible and if available, placement of boom to use to deflect free floating product toward vac truck. No further support requested. VADEQ contacts Mark Miller 866-640-0883 John Geise 804-698-4287
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Median hourly earnings of heavy truck and tractor-trailer drivers were $16.85 in May 2006. The middle 50 percent earned between $13.33 and $21.04 an hour. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $10.80, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $25.39 an hour. Median hourly earnings in the industries employing the largest numbers of heavy truck and tractor-trailer drivers in May 2006 were:
General freight trucking $18.38
Grocery and related product wholesalers 18.01
Specialized freight trucking 16.40
Cement and concrete product manufacturing 15.26
Other specialty trade contractors 14.94
Median hourly earnings of light or delivery services truck drivers were $12.17 in May 2006. The middle 50 percent earned between $9.31 and $16.16 an hour. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $7.47, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $21.23 an hour. Median hourly earnings in the industries employing the largest numbers of light or delivery services truck drivers in May 2006 were:
Couriers $17.80
General freight trucking 15.33
Grocery and related product wholesalers 12.84
Building material and supplies dealers 11.54
Automotive parts, accessories, and tire stores 8.38
Median hourly earnings of driver/sales workers, including commissions, were $9.99 in May 2006. The middle 50 percent earned between $7.12 and $15.00 an hour. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $6.19, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $20.30 an hour. Median hourly earnings in the industries employing the largest numbers of driver/sales workers in May 2006 were:
Drycleaning and laundry services $14.81
Direct selling establishments 13.72
Grocery and related product wholesalers 12.37
Full-service restaurants 7.11
Limited-service eating places 7.02
Local truck drivers tend to be paid by the hour, with extra pay for working overtime. Employers pay long-distance drivers primarily by the mile. The per-mile rate can vary greatly from employer to employer and may even depend on the type of cargo being hauled. Some long-distance drivers are paid a percent of each load’s revenue. Typically, earnings increase with mileage driven, seniority, and the size and type of truck driven. Most driver/sales workers receive commissions based on their sales in addition to their hourly wages.
Most self-employed truck drivers are primarily engaged in long-distance hauling. Many truck drivers are members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Some truck drivers employed by companies outside the trucking industry are members of unions representing the plant workers of the companies for which they work.
Overall job opportunities should be favorable for truck drivers, although opportunities may vary greatly in terms of earnings, weekly work hours, number of nights spent on the road, and quality of equipment. Competition is expected for jobs offering the highest earnings or most favorable work schedules. Average growth is expected.
Employment change: Overall employment of truck drivers and driver/sales workers is expected to increase by 8 percent over the 2006-16 decade, which is about as fast as the average for all occupations, due to growth in the economy and in the amount of freight carried by truck. Because it is such a large occupation, truck drivers will have a very large number of new jobs arise, over 258,000 over the 2006-16 period. Competing forms of freight transportation—rail, air, and ship transportation—require trucks to move the goods between ports, depots, airports, warehouses, retailers, and final consumers who are not connected to these other modes of transportation. Demand for long-distance drivers will remain strong because they can transport perishable and time-sensitive goods more effectively than alternate modes of transportation.
Job prospects: Job opportunities should be favorable for truck drivers. In addition to growth in demand for truck drivers, numerous job openings will occur as experienced drivers leave this large occupation to transfer to other fields of work, retire, or leave the labor force for other reasons. Jobs vary greatly in terms of earnings, weekly work hours, the number of nights spent on the road, and quality of equipment. There may be competition for the jobs with the highest earnings and most favorable work schedules. There will be more competition for jobs with local carriers than for those with long-distance carriers because of the more desirable working conditions of local carriers.
Job opportunities may vary from year to year since the output of the economy dictates the amount of freight to be moved. Companies tend to hire more drivers when the economy is strong and their services are in high demand. When the economy slows, employers hire fewer drivers or may lay off some drivers. Independent owner-operators are particularly vulnerable to slowdowns. Industries least likely to be affected by economic fluctuation, such as grocery stores, tend to be the most stable employers of truck drivers and driver/sales workers.
Truck drivers and driver/sales workers held about 3.4 million jobs in 2006. Of these workers, 445,000 were driver/sales workers and 2.9 million were truck drivers. Most truck drivers find employment in large metropolitan areas or along major interstate roadways where trucking, retail, and wholesale companies tend to have their distribution outlets. Some drivers work in rural areas, providing specialized services such as delivering newspapers to customers.
The truck transportation industry employed 26 percent of all truck drivers and driver/sales workers in the United States. Another 25 percent worked for companies engaged in wholesale or retail trade. The remaining truck drivers and driver/sales workers were distributed across many industries, including construction and manufacturing.
Around 9 percent of all truck drivers and driver/sales workers were self-employed. Of these, a significant number were owner-operators who either served a variety of businesses independently or leased their services and trucks to a trucking company.
