As Helen keeps key roads closed, Trimble’s routing service is making adjustments.

To deal with these leaks, truckers are turning to their routing software – the second time in six to seven months they’ve had to do so due to significant road closures. In the first case, the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. the solution wasn’t that difficult: Drive through the two tunnels that run under Baltimore Harbor or stay on Interstate 695 around the western part of the Baltimore metropolitan area.

But the significant loss of access on the two interstates, not to mention U.S. highways, poses a much more complex problem. For example, the North Carolina Department of Transportation. there was a report on Friday In that state alone, there were about 415 road closures and at least 120 bridges that needed to be replaced.

Rishi Mehra, vice president of commercial mapping and routing technology at Trimble, works in the segment of the technology company that offers CoPilot, which at its core is a routing service for trucks and other vehicles.

In a recent interview, Mehra told FreightWaves that freight’s ability to cope with disruptions is “starting to look a lot better.”

“We started rerouting traffic based on the directions to go a little south and then opposite north,” he said.

The recommendations are loaded into the Trimble CoPilot system and serve as the basis for diverting trucks on closed roads. PC Miler is Trimble’s companion software that runs in the trucking company’s back office; The co-pilot is in the truck’s cabin.

Return to US Highways

Mehra told Trimble (NASDAQ: TRMB) “took advantage of US highways.” He added that the detour route was developed not only by Trimble, but also in consultation with local authorities on where they preferred vehicles, especially trucks, to travel while avoiding closed roads.

For example, US Highway 19 runs parallel to Interstate 26 for most of the way from Asheville, North Carolina to the Tennessee line. US Highway 25 also runs from the Asheville area into Tennessee, although it enters the Volunteer State at a considerable distance from where it intersects with I-26.

Mehra noted that interstates are open around Asheville itself. “It helps ease traffic flow in other areas,” he said, calling it more “structured” as a result. “We are in correspondence with local authorities to ensure we are not diverting traffic which could in any way impede the recovery process.”

Local governments are not necessarily Trimble customers, Mehra said. What Trimble wants from these authorities is “for them to provide us with information. What do you see? What are you modeling? How can we direct trucks away from this area? How can we best manage traffic for you?”

The end is not near

Returning full access to the region’s two key highways can’t come soon enough. The focus of most discussions is on months, not weeks.

This could be a good news/bad news situation. For example, I-26 in North Carolina, which, despite having an even number usually reserved for east-west highways, runs mostly north to northwest, south and north of Asheville, is fully open after a brief closure after Helen.

The problem is that once a Highway 26 driver approaches the Tennessee line, the vehicle will not be allowed to enter that state because, except for local traffic, the road is closed near the state line.

So, a truck leaving North Carolina heading to Tennessee on the 26th will have to leave the interstate at Exit 3 in North Carolina, according to Mark Nagy, a spokesman for the Tennessee Department of Transportation. Passenger vehicles may continue to travel but must exit Interstate 26 at Exit 40 in Tennessee and then bypass the City of Erwin. Commercial vehicles making local deliveries may continue past Exit 3.

Meanwhile, truck traffic coming on Interstate 26 from the north, such as the Johnson City, Tennessee area, must exit 26 at Exit 37, Nagy said in an email to FreightWaves.

Hopes for I26 in Tennessee

The state hopes to be able to fully reopen I-26 this week, but as a two-lane highway, he added.

“Construction continues on I-26 to create one lane in both directions between exits 37 and 40,” Nagy said. “This movement will be in a westerly direction. Once completed, vital east-west service on the Interstate will be restored. Expect that to happen later this week.”

However, wide loads are not permitted. Nagy said those shipments will be routed along a broad alternate route using Interstates 81 and 77.

Interstate 26 has rules that allow local vehicles to use the roadway in this area near Erwin, but not in the area with two broken bridges on Interstate 26, which are between exits 37 and 40. Local vehicles that can travel on the interstate highways are located after exit 40 to the North Carolina border.

But even on the stretch of Interstate 26 between Exit 40 and the state line, in addition to local traffic restrictions, the road is a two-lane highway—one lane in each direction.

Meanwhile, Interstate 40 is open in Cocke County, Tennessee, in each direction – one lane on the west side of the highway – between mile markers 446 and 451, which is just before the state line, Nagy said.

But it is only open to local traffic, the spokesman said. He said any commercial vehicles traveling on I-40 toward the North Carolina border must exit at Exit 440.

Across the border, I-40 is closed in both directions in North Carolina from the state line to Exit 20.

Aaron Moody, a spokesman for the North Carolina Department of Transportation, said the state recently awarded an $8 million contract to stabilize Interstate 40 before larger reconstruction is undertaken.

He called the debate over when North Carolina’s Interstate 40 might return to normal “the million-dollar question.”

Asked whether I-40 in North Carolina could be converted to a two-lane highway on a portion of the road that was not heavily damaged by floodwaters, as was done in Tennessee on Interstate 26, Moody said it would largely depend on plans for the contractor the state ultimately selects to permanently reconstruct I-40 in the Tar Heel State.

“We can’t answer that question with much certainty right now because we don’t know what projects will be submitted for review and we don’t know what the safety requirements will look like for contractors trying to go in there. said Moody.

Do shippers understand?

What happens with repairs to damaged roads – not just interstates – influences what Trimble does.

Mehra said how a company changes its route may depend on its relationship with the shipper. This relationship may be such that the shipper willingly agrees to divert the cargo from 50 to 100 miles. “So we helped with some analysis,” Mehra said. “Some of our clients have come back and said, ‘Can you analyze this for us and tell us what the true consequences would be if we avoided this whole process entirely?’ and take a different route?’” In some cases, he added, shippers are fully willing to reroute and add extra miles.

Using US highways has its own challenges. Some sections of US highways allow traffic to flow smoothly and at speeds similar to interstate highway speeds; others may have a row of red lights.

Mehra says no routing software can fully plan for the impact of red lights on a U.S. highway or any local road. But the traffic model is “slowed down,” he said, “to simulate that impact on travel times. But in some areas, red lights are inevitable.”

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