The creation and expansion of Roadway Express closely parallels the growth of trucking as an industry. The motor carrier industry of today moves more than 75% of the nation's economic product, employs more than 7 million people and pays more than $20 billion in annual taxes.
In December, the Roush brothers found a new company, Roadway Express, Inc.
Roadway Express operating revenues in 1931 are $200,000.
Roadway Express operating revenues in 1932 are $700,000.
The Roadway fleet wins first place in the large-fleet class in the national truck safety contest sponsored by the American Trucking Associations.
Roadway experiments with a diesel unit on a trip from Atlanta to Dallas and back.
Roadway inaugurates a safety program, giving awards to drivers who have driven without a preventable accident for the past calendar quarter.
Roadway experiments with a plastic tarpaulin for its open trailers.
To lower costs, Roadway begins retiring older trailers from the linehaul fleet and placing them in pickup and delivery operations.
Roadway installs a new teletype system to reduce communications costs.
Roadway installs a two-way radio system in trucks in Charlotte, N.C., to improve dispatching.
The Ohio Turnpike opens in December 1954 and a Roadway truck is the first vehicle to use the new highway.
Roadway becomes the first trucking company in the United States to begin installing safety belt harnesses in its vehicles.
Roadway publishes the first standards for shipment transit times in the industry, and implements its first employee profit-sharing program.
Operating revenues are $42.7 million and earnings are $1.1 million. Roadway owns 985 trucks and tractors, and 1,894 trailers. Roadway operates terminals in 65 cities, including newly constructed terminals in Buffalo, N.Y.; Cincinnati, Ohio; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Greenville, S.C.; and Milwaukee, Wis.
Roadway installs its first modern mainframe computer.
Roadway establishes a college scholarship program for the children of full-time employees.
A 150-door terminal opened in Winston-Salem, N.C., is a model for modern common carrier terminals.
All two-axle tractors are replaced with three-axle tractors, and older trailers are replaced with new high-cube trailers.
Thirty-three drivers earn million-mile awards.
Roadway driver Gene Grubb was the first Roadway Express driver to win a National Champion title at the National Truck Driving Championships, placing first in the straight truck category held in Denver, Colorado.
A four-year program to convert 42-foot trailers to 45-foot trailers begins. Roadway opens 25 new terminals.
Roadway opens 55 new terminals. The fleet has 21,121 vehicles, with 13,993 used for linehaul operations and 7,128 for local pickup and delivery operations.
Expansion into Canadian markets begins.
In response to competition brought on by deregulation, Roadway Express forms a holding company called Roadway Services, Inc., to build a portfolio of transportation companies that operate in areas beyond traditional LTL markets.
Roadway operates 506 terminals. The fleet totals 22,965 vehicles, with 15,934 for linehaul operations and 7,031 for local pickup and delivery operations.
E-Z RATE®, the industry's first rating system to use postal zip codes to rate freight, is introduced.
Roadway begins offering direct service to Alaska and opens terminals in 16 cities. The total number of terminals is 520.
Offices in Mexico are opened to market Roadway's services on the U.S. and Canadian portions of freight moves to and from Mexico.
Roadway implements the Roadway Advanced Planning for Inbound Dispatch (RAPID) system, an automated system for preplanning delivery routes.
Roadway begins providing LTL services within Mexico and between Mexico, Canada, and the U.S. through the formation of a Mexican subsidiary.
A sleeper team operation with satellite communications in the western U.S. is established. Network reengineering to improve transit times and reduce freight handling and linehaul costs begins.
Roadway establishes a presence on the World Wide Web at www.roadway.com.
Roadway driver Keith Mergner is National Champion, tanker category, at the ATA National Truck Driving Championships held in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Time-Critical Service, which guarantees delivery of emergency shipments, is launched.
Roadway is the first LTL carrier to provide U.S. exporters with real-time status updates as their shipments are processed within Customs at both the Canadian and Mexican borders. Customers can retrieve updates via Roadway's Web site and toll-free automated telephone system.
Roadway adds an option to precisely schedule deliveries within a window of time as tight as one hour at multiple locations to its menu of guaranteed time-based services.
Roadway driver Gary Ott is National Champion, 3-axle category, at the ATA National Truck Driving Championships held in Long Beach, California.
Roadway introduces Border Ambassador Service, which places specially trained personnel on site at major Mexico and Canada border-crossing points to monitor shipments and expedite customs clearance.
Roadway adds an option to guarantee delivery of regular LTL shipments to its menu of time-based services.
Roadway expands sleeper operations to provide faster transit between major metro areas and broaden regional coverage.
Roadway begins installing Roadway Digital Dispatch (RDD), a two-way messaging and vehicle tracking system for pickup and delivery operations. RDD provides automatic vehicle tracking via global positioning satellite technology. Roadway is the first LTL carrier to combine cellular and satellite technologies for gathering and sending data along pickup and delivery routes.
Roadway driver Ken Epley is named national champion at the ATA National Truck Driving Championships.
Roadway continues to improve Web-based services. The eTracking application, which customers can use to request shipment status updates via e-mail, is added to Roadway's public Web site, roadway.com.
Roadway cuts transit times on more than 20,000 lanes in the largest single service standard reduction to date. As a result, deliveries on metro area and regional lanes are one to two days faster throughout Roadway's entire system.
Roadway is approved for the Customs Self-Assessment (CSA) program of the Canadian government. This program for Canadian imports speeds clearances for importers and carriers who provide data electronically.
Roadway introduces Sealed Trailer Service, which provides extra protection for standard transit shipments that require extra security.
Roadway launches a competition for Roadway dockworkers modeled on the driving competitions sponsored by the American Trucking Associations. The Professional Freight Handlers Competition is designed to recognize safety performance on Roadway's loading docks.
Roadway driver David McDonald is named national champion in the twin trailers class at the ATA National Truck Driving Championships.
Roadway becomes the first major LTL carrier in North America to transmit shipment data through Canada Customs' new electronic data interchange system. The system enables a customs officer to scan a bar code and the Roadway driver's registration to authorize the truck to proceed.
Roadway introduces a door-to-door service for air freight shipments in all 50 states and Puerto Rico, expands international export services, and introduces import services for overseas shipments.
Transit times on more than 35,000 lanes were cut in 2002 in the largest single service standard reduction in company history. This speed initiative affects every terminal in Roadway's network.
August 17, 2002: Roadway driver Richard Seigle is National Champion, 3-axle category, at the ATA National Truck Driving Championships held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Roadway driver Richard Seigle is named national champion in the three-axle class at the 2002 National Truck Driving Championships.
Roadway and Reimer are certified to ISO 9001: 2000 international quality standards.
Roadway launches Sealed Divider Service, which provides added security for LTL shipments in transit.
Roadway Express becomes part of the newly formed Yellow Roadway Corporation.
Roadway driver Greg Nauertz is National Champion, 3-axle category, at the ATA National Truck Driving Championships held in Columbus, Ohio.
Roadway launches Time-Advantage® Service, a highly reliable and competitively priced option for customers who need expedited transit via ground or air but not necessarily a guarantee.
Roadway expands guaranteed Time-Critical Service to include multi-day delivery windows. With the new Time-Advantage® Service and guaranteed Time-Critical Service, customers have more options than ever for deliveries via ground or air at any speed and any hour anywhere in North America, with or without a guarantee.
Roadway becomes the first transportation provider to automatically provide a delivery guarantee for tradeshow shipments at no additional charge. Delivery guarantees for Sealed Divider and Sealed Trailer services, which provide extra protection to standard transit shipments during transit, are also introduced.