Since Jesus died after 3 p.m., less than 3 hours existed before the end of the day before the Sabbath. In the case of Joseph, this involves quite a few trips and many miles. Jerusalem has been destroyed so many times over the years that exact distances are not available, but certainly substantial distances applied. Additionally, the Sabbath rules were enforced remarkably thoroughly. As a possible affront to one of the Ten Commandments, an infringement of a Sabbath Law was considered a cardinal or mortal sin.
Every possible contingency is covered by the Sabbath laws.
One was not even allowed to unintentionally cause someone ELSE to violate the laws. People would not mail a letter on Friday, since it might not be delivered until after the Sabbath began. Most people wouldn't even mail a letter on Wednesday or Thursday on the outside chance that the letter was not delivered before the Sabbath began. Nothing was ever begun or even authorized to begin on a Friday afternoon . There is no possibility that Pilate would have encouraged or even allowed Joseph to try to beat the sunset in a rush to get so many activities accomplished in preparing and burying Jesus.