A lane rate is the typical price-per-mile paid to move freight between an origin city/region and a destination city/region. Lanes are usually quoted in dollars per mile (e.g. $2.50/mi for a dry van) so carriers and brokers can compare apples-to-apples across equipment types and distances.
Why is this not a quote?
This tool returns an indicative range based on published DAT/Truckstop contract average per-mile bands multiplied by great-circle (straight-line) distance. Contract pricing depends on accessorials, fuel surcharges, HOS-restricted actual routing miles, weight, and the specific carrier agreed to do the work. Always confirm a hard quote before tendering.
How is the distance calculated?
Distance uses the haversine (great-circle) formula between ZCTA centroids of the two ZIP codes. Routing engines (PC*Miler, Google, etc.) typically produce actual miles 5 to 15 percent higher than great-circle — so treat the distance number as a lower bound.