[Navy salad]

I'm talking about near the truck stop, just east of North Bend. Most of the time I drive by, there are a slew of trucks parked up and down the entry and exit ramps.

I get that truck stops attract trucks, but why parked on the ramps and why so many? My first thought was an incredible restaurant, but I sorta doubt it!

[Kim Brown]

Sometimes a driver has to lay over because of timing regulations at the Port, (either the shipping dock, or entrance/exit ramps onto a highway at the docks- those are regulated as well for haulers), or because regulations require a ration of X amount of rest per X hours or miles (I don't know which) of driving.  If a trucker gets in early, they have to wait somewhere they can idle.

The town of N Bend did put a cap on idling trucks at that location a few years ago, don't know how that turned out, exactly.

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" I'm really happy about this! … I have very strong good and horrible memories up there."  – oldgranola, NWH’s outdoors advocate.

[Joey]

A few years back a trucker unloading hay at the place next to us said that trucks used to be able to park for free in a large area close to where they get fuel.  But then the policy changed and and a fee was charged to park there.

[RandyHiker]

I think the rescinding of "free camping" at truck stops has something to do with the number of people living "full time" in RVs, vans and regular old cars on very little income.   Wealthy full time RVers don't blink at paying $50/night or more at an RV campground.  But people trying to live cheap find the bathrooms and showers at truck stops to be welcome.   I think truck stops were fine with people who were "passing through",  but when people are living at "Ken's Truck Town" for weeks or months, dumping trash and worse things it was bad for business.

[Malachai Constant]

According to an article in the Times in Seattle the “Walter White” RVs are impounded when they have been parked in the same place for too long. When nobody bails them out they are sold at auction for near nothing, because they are totally trashed complete with feces and needles. “Car ranchers“ then buy them up and rent them out to homeless folks. Wash, Rinse and repeat. The city is now proposing to junk them now to break the cycle. Strange Times, I had never heard of car ranchers until today.

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"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn

[cdestroyer]

I dont know the area where the trucks are parking but if there is a large change in elevation they may be letting the packaging adjust. many snack chips etc are packed under pressure and unless allowed to adjust to pressure change they will explode

[Navy salad]

This makes sense, both the layover rules and perhaps letting the shipments adjust to pressure change.

I've also seen lots of big trucks parked, even in the middle of the day, on the siding road to the south of the section of I-90 east of North Bend, where there's a large pull-out area.

[MtnGoat]

[JonnyQuest]

[Backpacker Joe]

Truckers are only allowed to drive so many hours a day.  They HAVE to pull over someplace and sleep/wait until their clock resets.

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"If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide."

— Abraham Lincoln

[alpendave]

[Michael Lewis]

Don't know for sure. Perhaps someone could illuminate more on this.

But when I was a truck driver I learned that FMCSR require that an operator of a class A CMV cannot drive longer than 11 hours within a 14 hour period without a 10 hour rest period in between. Given that operators are also limited to 70 hours of operation in a given 8 day period, careful planning of routing and timing must be made to avoid getting stuck on ramps or any other place not safe for shutting down. Depending on the company they work for, likely they use an Electronic Logging Device which keeps a record of their time for DOT inspection. You can't park a class A just anywhere due to possible property damage risk from load distribution on roads, clearances, etc,  so drivers get desperate when their clock runs out. Driving team almost eliminates this issue because of the 1 hour overlap so I'd reason most of these drivers are probably solo.

My guess is unforeseen major traffic issues either on the road or at the destination receiver  and a full truck stop at the time they arrived caused them to shut down on the ramps to avoid a DOT violation on their Hours of Service Availability. Of course in my opinion it's not a safe option. They could get hit by other drivers. I saw this happen all over the country and think it's a major issue that's getting no attention. Solo truck drivers using ELDs stuck in traffic run out time and can't even get to a safe place to rest without breaking the law.

I was solo when I ran out of HOS time once in west Texas and took the violation over sleeping next to busy traffic. Dinged my record a little but seemed far safer to me to find a spot off the highway near a truck stop. The company let me keep driving and I left more room for error in my trip planning. Wasn't perfect though. Eventually realized over the road wasn't my thing.

[treeswarper]

[RandyHiker]

[Navy salad]