Ohio’s Warren County On Tuesday, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine unveiled a new $150 million project that will expand commercial truck drivers’ parking spaces across the state.
At the Warren County rest station off I-71, DeWine and Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) representatives made the announcement of the new program. By giving semi-truck drivers additional places to stop and rest, he added, the project aims to reduce collisions on Ohio’s roadways.
According to DeWine, 33 locations across Ohio, including Clermont and Warren counties, would see the addition of more than 1,400 more parking spaces.
He claimed that there aren’t enough spots for cars to stop right now, which causes more truckers and other exhausted drivers to pull over and sleep on the side of the road.
According to DeWine, “We want to alleviate that problem,”
Watch the video below to see where the new parking spots will go:
ODOT owns all of the land on which the parking spaces will be installed.
According to DeWine, the current Warren County rest area will get about 100 new parking spots.
Since 2015, sleepy semi-truck drivers have been responsible for 689 collisions in Ohio, according to ODOT Director Pam Boratyn.
Boratyn remarked, “Any accident we can prevent would be great,”
When the project is finished, Ohio will have more truck parking spots than any other state in the nation, according to Boratyn.
At the press conference on Tuesday, we had a conversation with Charles Dingess, a truck driver of 25 years.
Dingess stated, “It’s going to make a big difference for us,”
Finding a somewhere to pause and rest is a major problem, he noted.
“Anytime after 7 o’clock, you will not find a place to park,” Dingess stated.
According to him, having to sleep on the side of the road is not unusual. Dingess expressed his belief that increasing the number of truck driver parking spots will improve road safety for all users.
“If a driver’s tired driving down the road, it ain’t safe,” Dingess stated.
The project should be finished by the end of 2027, according to ODOT officials.
