Truck parking on I-40 in North Carolina: rest areas, rules and planning

The short version

I-40 runs about 420 miles across North Carolina, from the Tennessee line to Wilmington. Along the way there are only six public rest area stops, and as of September 2026 they hold about 152 truck spaces in total. [27][3][4]

Those spaces fill up at night. NCDOT's own survey found most rest areas in the state were more than full between 7 p.m. and 5 a.m. Its 2023 plan says nearly every truck parking site it studied is full most nights. [1]

Parking on a ramp or shoulder of I-40 is illegal unless you have an emergency or an officer tells you to stop there. Under state law it is a Class 2 misdemeanor. [11][12]

The fix is planning. Pick your stop before you start the day, have a backup, and check DriveNC before you count on a rest area. [1][3]

Public rest areas on I-40, west to east

These are the NCDOT rest areas on I-40, with truck space counts from NCDOT's DriveNC list as of September 2026. Unless noted, there is one on each side of the road. [4][3]

Mile marker 10, Haywood County, near Waterville Lake: 16 truck spaces westbound. The eastbound side is the welcome center, with 10 truck spaces. It is the first stop for drivers coming in from Tennessee. [3][4]

Mile marker 82, McDowell County, a few miles southwest of Marion: 12 truck spaces eastbound and 11 westbound. [3][4]

Mile marker 136, Catawba County, east of Hickory and Conover: 15 truck spaces eastbound and 14 westbound. [3][4]

Mile marker 177, Davie County, about 18 miles west of Winston-Salem: 17 truck spaces on each side. [3][4]

Mile marker 324, Johnston County, just north of Benson near I-95: 15 truck spaces on each side. [3][4]

Mile marker 364, Duplin County, in the median at the NC 24 exit near Warsaw: one site serving both directions, with 10 truck spaces. [3][4]

On the 31 miles where I-40 and I-85 share the road through Alamance and Orange counties, there is one more stop. The Alamance County rest area at I-85 mile marker 139, west of Burlington, has 22 truck spaces on each side. [27][3][4]

Notice the gaps. After Davie County there is no public rest area on I-40 through Winston-Salem and Greensboro. East of Hillsborough there is none until Benson. That leaves the Triad and the Triangle, the busiest part of the road, without one. [4][1]

How full it really gets

NCDOT's 2023 Truck Parking Plan Update counted about 190 truck parking sites and 6,600 spaces statewide. About 87 percent of those spaces are at private truck stops, not public lots. [1]

The same plan found 104 of 111 sites it tracked were full most nights, up from 93 in 2017. Full meant full at least Monday through Thursday. Parking demand peaks around 8 p.m. [1]

Along I-40 itself, the plan counted 40 truck parking sites with 1,153 spaces within two miles of the road. NCDOT says I-40 between Winston-Salem and Greensboro carries 6,000 to 12,000 trucks a day. [1]

Rest areas are the tightest. In a 2014 NCDOT survey, 87 percent of rest areas were more than full between 7 p.m. and 5 a.m. The McDowell County rest areas were among those over capacity in summer and in December. NCDOT's 2023 plan says most rest area truck spaces are still full nightly. [1]

Nationally it is the same story. In the 2019 Jason's Law survey, 98 percent of drivers said they had trouble finding safe parking. Evenings, Monday through Thursday, and October through February were the worst times. ATRI's 2025 survey ranked parking the second biggest concern among drivers. [18][19]

What NC law says about rest areas, ramps and shoulders

NC rest areas are open 24 hours a day. NCDOT's rest area brochure also says loitering, camping and staying overnight are banned. We found no set hour limit in state law or NCDOT rules, as of September 2026. [4][5][10]

The state rule on rest areas bans things like tents, loud noise, selling, alcohol and disorderly conduct. It does not give a time limit for parking. [10]

Under G.S. 20-161, officers can have a vehicle removed from a public highway, rest areas included, once it has sat there 24 hours or more. The owner pays for towing and storage. [9][13]

Ramps and shoulders are a different matter. G.S. 20-140.3 and G.S. 136-89.58 ban stopping or parking anywhere on the right-of-way of a controlled-access highway like I-40. The only exceptions are an emergency, an officer's direction, or a designated parking area. [11][12]

NCDOT's ordinance manual says that ban needs no local ordinance. It applies on every interstate by statute. NCDOT's 2020 study said the same about trucks parking on the right-of-way. [9][2]

There is a safety reason too. NCDOT found 36 percent of truck crashes happened on ramps within two miles of a truck parking site. It notes many things can cause ramp crashes, but truck stop operators said trucks on the ramp are the first sign the lot is full. [1]

If you truly have to stop on the shoulder, federal rules apply. Turn on your flashers right away and set out your triangles within 10 minutes. On a divided road like I-40, that means 10 feet, 100 feet and 200 feet behind the truck. [16]

Truck stops and reserved spots

Since private lots hold most of the spaces, most nights on I-40 end at a truck stop. NCDOT's 2020 study said I-40 had gained more truck parking than any other NC interstate since 2017. [1][2]

That study listed new sites with 50 or more spaces at I-40 Exits 133, 150 and 154, and on the I-40/I-85 stretch at Exits 138 and 152. Treat that as a 2020 list and confirm before you plan on it. [2]

Two large sites are easy to confirm. TA Candler at I-40 Exit 37, west of Asheville, has 106 truck spaces and a CAT scale. Petro Mebane at I-40/85 Exit 157 has 285 spaces and a CAT scale. [20][21]

Both ranked in NCDOT's top ten busiest truck parking sites in the state, based on truck GPS data. Petro Mebane was third and TA Candler was ninth. [1]

Both also sell reserved spots through the chain's Reserve-It program. If you have to arrive late near Asheville or the Triangle, paying to reserve can beat circling. [20][21]

Do not count on store lots. Drivers told NCDOT that retailers near I-40 often refuse trucks and may boot or tow them. They also said one busy truck stop on the I-40/I-85 stretch overflows onto the shoulder nearby. [2]

The mountains and the gorge

As of September 2026, I-40 through the Pigeon River Gorge is still one lane each way. Parts of the work zone have no shoulders or emergency pull-offs, and there are no services. Loads over 8.5 feet wide are banned. [22][23]

WUNC reports two eastbound lanes and one westbound lane are targeted for late 2028, with the full road in late 2029. Our Pigeon River Gorge guide has the detours and details. [23]

Do not enter the gorge short on hours. There is nowhere to stop, and a slow day in the one-lane zone can eat the time you planned to use. [22]

NCDOT's 2020 study found there is no backup truck parking plan when western I-40 closes. The Haywood rest area has little room to grow, and the weigh stations in that stretch are too small for emergency parking. [2]

The usual closure detour, I-26 to I-81 in Tennessee, adds about 60 miles. The same study found no truck parking with more than a few spaces on westbound I-26 between Asheville and the Tennessee line. [2]

On the east end, flooding is the risk. Hurricane Florence closed parts of I-40 for more than a week in 2018, and truck GPS data showed trucks shifting to US 74 and US 76, and to US 258 and NC 24. [2]

Planning your hours around parking

The federal limits for property carriers are 11 hours of driving after 10 hours off, no driving after the 14th hour on duty, and a 30-minute break after 8 hours of driving. [14]

Work backward from your stop. If you run the Triad in the evening, know that the nearest public spaces are at Davie County to the west and Alamance County to the east. Pick a truck stop too, and a second one. [3][4][1]

Try to be parked before the evening rush for spaces. NCDOT's data shows parking fills fast in late afternoon and peaks around 8 p.m. [1]

If bad weather or a wreck you could not have known about slows you down, federal rules allow up to two more hours of driving to finish the run or reach a safe place. [15]

If a shipper or receiver sends you away out of hours, FMCSA guidance lets you use personal conveyance to reach the nearest reasonable safe place to rest. If that place is full and you go on, note it on your log. [17]

If an officer makes you move during your 10-hour break, you can log the move as personal conveyance without restarting the break. Just go no farther than the nearest reasonable safe spot. [17]

Check before you roll

NCDOT relaunched DriveNC.gov in May 2026 with a free DriveNC phone app. You can set email or text alerts for your route. [25]

DriveNC shows rest area and welcome center status in real time, and its rest area list gives each site's truck space count. [26][3]

Look before you plan on a rest area. As of September 2026, several I-40 rest areas showed no status on DriveNC, and NCDOT does close them for road work. In January 2026 it closed the westbound Davie County rest area overnight for bridge work. [3][8]

The welcome center at mile marker 10 near Waynesville has staff from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. It is closed on New Year's Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The rest areas themselves are open 24 hours. [6][7][4]

What NCDOT is doing about it

Not much new public parking is coming soon. NCDOT's 2023 plan says the rest area program lost its federal highway funding in 2015. New or bigger rest areas now mostly come as part of major widening projects, at about $20 million for a pair. [1]

The plan suggested other options. These included parking at the Hillsborough weigh stations on I-40/I-85, with signs showing open spaces, and working with truck stop chains as they expand. As of September 2026 we found no sign the weigh station idea was built. Our weigh stations guide covers that in more detail. [1]

NCDOT's 2020 study also looked at emergency truck parking for western and eastern I-40. Ideas included the WNC Agricultural Center near the Asheville airport and a truck driving school lot near Wilmington. Those were ideas only. [2]

NCDOT is updating its statewide freight plan now and expects to share a draft by the end of 2026. That is the place to watch for any new I-40 parking plans. [24]