(January 8, 2015) – The Maryland State Highway Administration last week opened 39 new truck parking spaces at the I-95 South Rest Area and Welcome Center in Howard County as part of a federally-funded project to help alleviate a shortage of available tractor-trailer parking.

A $5.5 million grant from the Federal Highway Administration funded the truck parking expansion, which nearly tripled the available truck parking from 21 spaces to 60 at the southbound Laurel-area rest stop as part of an effort to reduce illegal and unsafe truck parking on shoulders and ramps, increasing safety and reducing pavement damage. Construction on the expansion had been underway since summer 2013.

“This expansion improves safety by providing additional spaces for truck drivers who have reached their hours-of-service limit or are staging for deliveries, preventing them from parking along the shoulders and ramps of southbound I-95,” SHA Administrator Melinda B. Peters said.

The new spaces opened on Tuesday, December 30. The project also included upgrading the lighting at the Welcome Center parking area to energy-efficient LED lighting. Some remaining work on the project will be completed in the spring. SHA’s contractor for the project is Ardent Company, LLC of McLean, Va.

The Rest Area and Welcome Center, located at mile marker 37 between the MD 32 and MD 216 exits in Savage, also offers parking for cars, RVs and buses and offers picnic tables, travel information, vending machines, water fountains, restrooms, newspaper stands and recycle bins. The rest area is open 24 hours, while the Welcome Center operates 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Thursday through Monday.

SHA also offers an interactive map and mobile application to help truck drivers locate both regular and weather-emergency truck parking locations. They are available at http://roads.maryland.gov/pages/emergencytruckparking.aspx?pageid=856.