Truckers using new parking site in Virginia

OMG I love the mentality behind this. Think about it. They just went out and paved an area without having a plan for how it was going to get used. Really it seems to me that parking spaces should have been the first thing on the drawing board. And then going on to say 30-40 parking spaces, thats a 25 percent difference. Which seems fairly considerable in my mind.

 

“Virginia should be applauded for taking a creative approach to meeting a real need using available resources,” Spencer said. “Other states should follow their lead.”
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I couldn't agree more with this statement. Federal and State DOT authorities are soooooo concerned with our 11 and 14 hrs. of service. Yet these same DOT people keep closing down more and more rest areas where truckers have a safe...LEGAL place to park to take their 10 hr. breaks. At least Virginia is 'trying' to provide a safe/legal place for us to park.

 

I agree completely, and I like unpainted parking I think you can get more trucks in the same amount of space.

 

That spot has been there since I-66 was built,its usually been closed unless the DOT wanted it open.Don`t know if lines would help with parking.I don`t like using my states(VA) rest areas in the daytime because the DOT sets up in them and although I try to do things legal,I don`t like surprises.
Virginia has also started changing the milepost signs on I-64 west of Richmond to every 2/10ths mile.Seems stupid and wasteful to me as they are taking down all the marker posts and starting over.My taxdollars at work I guess.

 

They act like they are surprised so many trucks are parking there. With the parking shortage, build 20 more just like it and watch them fill up.

Didn't VA close rest areas with the budget cuts? I haven't been there in awhile.

 

I don't know, but I do seem to remember that is the state that you can only park at rest areas for something like an hour. So its "Get your but to bed after driving all day, but ya can't DO IT HERE!!! Keep moving driver!!"

 

These are areas that belong to the state dot that have been "under utilized".
They have several more area's on several interstates that they are thinking about turning into truck parking if this works well.
But drivers can mess it up fast.
The idea is to make parking available on unused lots for trucks. They do not have much of a budget for it, so a porta jon and some trash cans are all that is there.
If drivers trash it, and it costs too much to keep clean, they will end the program.
So I hope that this will not happen. It is a very pro-active thing to do in my book.

The old Governor closed the rest area's.
The new governor said he would reopen them if elected, and did so quickly.
He is also the push behind this program. He seems to like truckers.

 

rjones is 100% right thats an old scale that is occasionally opened. All they had to do was unlock the gates at the entrance. Now everyone give them a pat on the back

 

Any additional legitimate parking along I-66 is a more than welcome sight.

I don't care about the motivation, the reasoning or lack thereof, or the fact that "they're just opening something that once was"...I'm not going to nitpick about additional parking.

Period.