If you are an avid viewer of The History Channel, you may soon see advertisements for the TV series “Ice Road Truckers,” which is entering its third season at the end of this May. Whether your interest has been sparked in ice road trucking as a result of this series, or you have never heard of ice road trucking before seeing this article, here are the basics of this hazardous and unique job.
Ice road trucking consists of transporting needed goods and supplies in a tractor trailer to locations that are isolated in the winter via structures known as ice roads. An ice road is a man-made, frozen structure that is typically a frozen bridge made over the surface of a body of water, such as a bay, inlet, river, lake, or sea. Ice roads typically lead to communities, mines, and energy sources to which no permanent road access exists. ส่งมอเตอร์ไซค์
In this way, supplies can be transported to these areas without the use of air freight, which may be costly or impossible due to weather conditions. An instance in which ice road trucking would be preferable to air freight would be in the transportation of building supplies and equipment, which may be unreasonably expensive for items of great weight. Ice road trucking would be the best option in the transport of this cargo to an isolated area.
There are many dangers in ice road trucking. Ice road truckers must keep the speed of their tractor trailers relatively low in order to prevent the creation of waves beneath the surface of the ice road. Once initiated, these waves can cause the ice road to break off from the shore, effectively stranding the ice road trucker. The pressure ridge is another concern of ice road truckers. Pressure ridges are breaks in the ice roads caused by the expansion and contraction of the ice closest to the surface due to changes in external temperature. Again, this hazard could strand an ice road trucker.
Although tractor trailers are the vehicles most commonly used for the transportation of supplies and goods across ice roads, less weighty vehicles are employed from time to time as well. These vehicles might include pickup trucks and snowmobiles, both of which would be less likely to create waves under ice roads, at the cost of hauling capacity.
Hopefully this article has helped to define and explain to you what ice road trucking is, whether you had never heard of ice road trucking before, or if you are planning on watching the new season of “Ice Road Truckers.” If you know any interesting facts or figures about ice road trucking, or if you are an ice road trucker or know someone who is, feel free to share your thoughts and experiences in the form of a comment. Thank you for reading!