Truckers, law enforcement and the Ohio Department of Transportation all agree that sleepy semi drivers are a serious safety concern. In the last decade, drowsy truckers in Ohio caused 689 crashes with two deaths.
The state is gearing up to help deal with that issue.
Ohio will add 1,400 truck parking spaces at 33 sites on state-owned land in 19 counties. The project will cost around $150 million and will double the parking at ODOT-maintained areas.
"Each site is going to be constructed on ODOT state land. It'll come equipped with restroom facilities, lighting in some truck, trash facilities," said ODOT Director Pamela Boratyn. “We're going to have more than 3,100 parking spots, which puts Ohio first in the nation with the most state-owned truck parking spaces.”
Construction will begin next year and is set to finish in 2027.
Surveys of truckers have shown as many as 98% of drivers regularly experience problems finding safe parking, and 70% of drivers have said they’ve been forced to violate their required rest hours to find parking.
"Both drivers and trucking company executives agreed that truck parking was a number one issue for them, with truck drivers actually rating truck parking a bigger problem than their own salary,” said Tom Balzer, president and CEO of the Ohio Trucking Association. “They put the availability of truck parking as a bigger problem than their own worth and their own value, and their own pay.”
Gov. Mike DeWine’s office said trucks logged 27.5 million miles on Ohio roadways in 2023, and that ODOT estimates that freight volume will increase 26% by 2045.
