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NOWHERE TO STOP >> Drivers have mandated rests, but where? Lack of truck stops a driving concern

February 4, 2007 12:51 am

By PAMELA GOULD

Joanne Jones says the Days Inn she manages hasn't suffered from the closing of Servicetown Truck Plaza nearly two years ago.

Truckers still stay overnight and are happy to have a spot to park.

"Because of the size of our truck parking, we still get a good number of them," the Days Inn-North general manager said last week.

The fact is, truckers are desperate for places to stop along the East Coast to meet their federally mandated 10-hour sleep breaks in each 24-hour cycle.

"For many, it's just a nearly impossible task every night," said Todd Spencer, executive vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association. He said the problem has gotten worse over the past decade.

Servicetown closed on April 27, 2005, and with it went 207 overnight spaces. The truck stop was located on roughly 17 acres off U.S. 17 near Interstate 95 in the Falmouth area of southern Stafford County. Target Corp. bought the site and is expected to open a store there in October.

Meanwhile, truckers find themselves with few options along the I-95 corridor.

Four truck stops sit about 30 miles south of Fredericksburg at Carmel Church, but their parking spots--numbering roughly 300--fill quickly, managers said.

The next closest option to the north is a truck rest area at the weigh station near Dumfries in Prince William County, but it, too, offers few spaces.

The problem of truckers parking illegally along the interstate is so rampant that Virginia State Police could make a full-time job out of writing up the infractions, Sgt. J.A. Galbraith said.

She said the closing of Servicetown exacerbated the problem.

Last year, 2.9 million trucks passed through the north- and southbound weigh stations near Dumfries, according to Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles spokesman Bill Foy.

He said the Dumfries sites are the busiest along the I-95 corridor and one of the top three in the state. The other two sit along I-81.

"We need more truck stops. I know that. Everyone knows that," Galbraith said. "I just don't know what the answer is."

Managers at the Carmel Church truck stops said they haven't seen a significant increase in business since Servicetown's closing.

And while the Days Inn in southern Stafford hasn't suffered and the nearby Blue Beacon Truck Wash hasn't been hurt, at least one business closed its doors as a result of the truck stop property's sale.

Fredericksburg Truck Center, once located behind Servicetown, closed last summer.

Scott Nall, owner of ABC Truck and Tire Repair in Stafford, bought some of the garage's equipment and vehicles, took on many of its customers and now uses its phone number.

Nall operated out of Lorton for 20 years before relocating his primary shop to Stafford in September.

He admitted the changes that hurt Fredericksburg Truck Center helped him.

Payne Trucking, based in south Stafford, has seen an increase in costs as a result of Servicetown's closure, according to operations manager Wilson Bradley.

Now, to make sure their truck loads adhere to legal limits, they must travel south about 30 miles to use a scale before heading for their destinations. Before they used the scale at Servicetown.

That increased travel has meant increased fuel costs and lost time for them.

"We must go south to go back north again," Bradley said.