Reno to Salt Lake City freight

Two distribution hubs on one interstate

Reno and Salt Lake City do the same job for different regions: both are places where companies keep a distribution center to reach several states in a day. Reno covers Northern California and the Pacific Northwest; Salt Lake City covers the Mountain West. Freight between them is inventory being rebalanced between the two, products from the plants of the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center heading to Utah and the states beyond it, and food and consumer goods from Northern California that transloaded in Reno. The gold mines of northern Nevada along the way, at Winnemucca, Battle Mountain, Carlin and Elko, take equipment and supplies on flatbeds from both ends.

We book freight into Reno from California whenever shippers there need a truck, and the carriers that run Interstate 80 to Salt Lake City for us are the ones we load eastbound, so a load leaving Sparks for Utah goes to a carrier our office has already screened through Highway, with one dispatcher on it from the Sparks dock to the Salt Lake receiver.

Interstate 80 east across the Great Basin

The truck leaves Reno and Sparks east on Interstate 80 and stays there for 519 miles. The road follows the Humboldt River through Lovelock, Winnemucca, Battle Mountain, Carlin and Elko, climbs over Pequop Summit at about 7,000 feet east of Wells, drops to Wendover at the Utah line, and crosses the Bonneville Salt Flats and the Great Salt Lake Desert on a straight that runs for 40 miles without a curve, past Tooele and into Salt Lake City from the west.

Services are far apart: about 125 miles between Winnemucca and Elko with little in between, 60 from Wells to Wendover and 120 from Wendover to the Salt Lake valley with nothing at all. The clock changes at the state line too; West Wendover on the Nevada side keeps Utah’s Mountain time for convenience.

Snow, wind and the salt flats

Northern Nevada on Interstate 80 is high country, mostly above 4,000 feet, and from November into March it gets snow and ice; the summits east of Elko and the stretch around Winnemucca are where the Nevada Department of Transportation most often posts chain controls or closes the road. Wind across the basins is strong in spring and a crosswind on the salt flats, where there is nothing to break it for 40 miles, can push a light trailer across a lane. In summer the salt flats are hot and bright and the Humboldt valley is dusty, but the road is easy.

Next day, and an hour lost at the state line

The wheel time is close to eight and a half hours, which one driver may legally cover in a day, but the eastbound truck loses an hour at Wendover when it moves from Pacific to Mountain time, so a 7 AM pickup in Sparks reaches Salt Lake City around 5 PM Mountain time at best. We plan this lane as next day delivery, with an overnight at Elko or Wendover and a morning delivery, and treat a same day delivery as a bonus at a receiver with late hours.

Trailers for Interstate 80 and the mines along it

Between the two hubs most freight is palletized and moves in 53 foot dry vans: rebalanced inventory, packaged food, consumer goods, and parts and finished products from the big industrial center in the Truckee River canyon east of Sparks. Some of it moves drop and hook, a trailer loaded ahead of time at a Sparks dock for the carrier to collect and swapped for an empty at the Salt Lake end, which saves hours at both docks and lets the driver spend the day driving, not waiting.

Flatbeds earn their place on the mining stretch. Elko, Carlin, Battle Mountain and Winnemucca sit in one of the richest gold regions in the country, and the mines and their suppliers ship steel, pipe, conveyor parts, drill rods and haul truck tires on open decks, many of them bought from Reno vendors. A piece that exceeds 8 feet 6 inches of width needs oversize permits from Nevada and Utah, and the climb to Pequop Summit is slow going with a heavy load. Mine deliveries usually start with a safety check in at the gate, and we pass the site’s rules to the driver before the truck arrives. In winter every truck on this road carries chains, and a flatbed driver checks straps and tarps after each summit because the cold and the wind work them loose.

Salt Lake City is a strong reload market, with freight leaving the Wasatch Front in every direction, so a carrier that unloads there expects to find its next trip quickly, and that confidence shows in how readily trucks accept an eastbound load out of Reno. What tightens the lane is the fall retail peak, when Interstate 80 fills with long haul trucks crossing the country. A shipper that can move the pickup a day either side of its first choice gives us the pick of those trucks.

Pricing an eastbound load

Give the pickup address in Reno or Sparks, the commodity, pallet count or dimensions and weight, the pickup date and the delivery in the Salt Lake valley with its appointment in Mountain time. A load that can ride with a carrier already headed east on Interstate 80 prices better than one that needs a dedicated truck. Lanes we have priced show the day’s range by trailer type above the form, computed from our own loads on comparable lanes and the morning’s diesel; your firm number comes with the quote.

City pages: freight shipping in Reno and freight shipping in Salt Lake City. The westbound trip is Salt Lake City to Reno freight, and the road west of Reno is on Reno to Sacramento freight.