When planning transit times, always remember:
Calculating transit times is an inexact science. Weather, road conditions, mechanical issues, driver disposition, freight volumes, paperwork problems, government inspections, and a variety of other causes can lead to unplanned transit time variations and delays.
To plan rule-of-thumb transit times for Standard Truckload, Exclusive Use, and Direct Drive Services:
Single driver: Plan on 1 day for every 500 miles between origin and destination.
Driver Team: Plan on 1 day for every 1,100 miles between origin and destination.
Determine the highway distance between origin and destination (trip distance calculators are widely available on the internet), divide by 500 (single driver) or 1100 (driver team), round up to the next integer day, and then factor in weekends, as applicable.
To plan rule-of-thumb transit times for Standard LTL Service:
Calculate the truckload transit time as above, and add 1 day for trip distances of 500 miles or less, 2 days for trip distances between 500 and 2,500 miles, or 3 days for trip distances in excess of 2,500 miles, and then factor in weekends, as applicable. Add an additional extra day for an origin or a destination in a remote location (i.e., not on or near well-travelled highways).
Temperature-Controlled or Hazmat Services:
The availability of the equipment necessary to provide these services is increasingly limited in most lanes, especially for LTL shipments. Therefore, although the planned transit times can be calculated using the formulae above, there will be occasions when the actual pick-up may be delayed until the correct equipment becomes available: this will not affect the transit time, but it will affect the delivery date.