Pennsylvania creates 1,202 new parking spaces for long-haul truckers

Mike Carroll, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, knows the needs of truck drivers better than most because he holds a commercial driver’s license.

So as PennDOT announced 1,202 new parking spaces for truckers would become available across the state beginning Tuesday, other state officials and the trucking industry tossed kudos Carroll’s way. They said his leadership has been key as the state takes steps to address what the secretary called “a nationwide problem.”

For long-distance truckers, safe places to park are essential because there are limits on how many hours they are allowed to drive without taking an extended break. If they are reaching the end of their legal driving time and can’t find a designated parking place, they face the dilemma of parking illegally or risking penalties for exceeding their driving time.

During a news conference along Interstate 83 in York County Monday to announce the extra parking spaces, Rebecca Oyler, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association, said truck drivers consider Pennsylvania in the bottom five of states for parking availability. That’s not good considering the state is among the leaders in freight tons moved each year.

Because of the shortage of spaces, Oyler said, drivers in Pennsylvania spend about an hour a day looking for parking. That costs them about $5,500 a year in lost wages and makes the supply chain less efficient.

Pennsylvania’s announcement, which involves mostly converting land already available into truck parking, shows the state is “moving forward with practical solutions,” Oyler said.

“Truck parking is not just a trucking industry issue,” she said. “It’s a safety issue, an economic issue, a quality-of-life issue for all Pennsylvanians.”

Major Robert Krol, director of the Pennsylvania State Police’s patrol bureau, said in 2024 state police investigated about 4,000 crashes involving truckers. That included 28 fatal incidents where the trucker was at fault, often because they fell asleep while driving or parked in an unsafe location.

The 1,202 new spaces are spread across 133 locations with many sites adding from two to 10 spaces. There are some larger sites, such as 23 spaces each northbound and southbound along Interstate 79 in Butler County and 25 along the southbound side of the same road in Washington County.

Mark Compton, CEO of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, said the new spaces are a start but the state has “a lot, lot more to do.” The turnpike has spent about $30 million over the past two decades to add parking for truckers and is looking to add about 600 more spaces, especially on land the agency already has at former toll plazas across the state.

Now for why Carroll has a CDL: As a college student, he worked on a paving crew in Nanticoke, but he volunteered to drive an asphalt delivery truck because that was easier work than rolling steaming asphalt on blistering summer days. He has maintained the license since then.