Insurance
With rumours swirling about insurance coverage, National Truck League confirms emergency treatment for COVID-19 will be insured and determined delivering loads to and from the USA is essential travel. See company memo for details:NTL and Travel Medical Emergency Insurance_public
Pennsylvania
After reports yesterday that public rest areas were being shut down in Pennsylvania, officials appear to have reopened some facilities. PennDOT provided House Transportation staff with the following information: Rest Areas: Every decision made has been in the interest of mitigating the spread of COVID-19 and we are constantly reevaluating our response. That said, we also recognize that drivers need and deserve access to rest areas.
In order to address safety concerns raised, PennDOT has identified 13 of its 30 rest areas that are most utilized by truckers that will be available again by tomorrow. At these locations, PennDOT will be taking down the barricades on some facilities in critical locations and making them available for truck parking.
Portable restroom facilities will be available at these locations; each location will have five portable toilets (one of which is ADA-accessible) that will be cleaned once a day. Electronic message signs will be used near the applicable centers to notify drivers near the opened areas.
In order to prevent further spread of COVID-19, we will not be opening any of the indoor facilities because there is no staff to keep them clean and properly sanitized.
We will continue to evaluate and will determine whether additional rest areas can be reopened.
These are the locations: * I-81: Luzerne NB/SB, Cumberland NB/SB; * I-80, Venango EB/WB, Centre EB/WB, Montour EB/WB * I-79: Crawford NB/SB, Allegheny NB only
New York
New York’s Lewis County has closed the doors of its Department of Motor Vehicles until further notice due to the COVID-19 outbreak— the first in the nation to do so. This could prompt discussion of more DMVs across the United States following suit. 40,000 CDLs (commercial driver’s licenses) are issued every month by DMVs
Experts on the trucking industry and supply chain interruption are calling on citizens to urge administrators and state governors to not shut down the DMVs.
The Canadian Trucking Alliance and American Trucking Association have implored governments on both sides of the border to work with the trucking industry to implement contingencies for qualifying government issued licenses or documentation that may expire during the outbreak.
PEI
Please be advised that due to the declaration of a Public Health Emergency, all Access Prince Edward Island Offices will be closed until March 30, when they are slated to reopen with a new service model that will protect clients and staff, while mitigating the risk of a long term closure.
With this in mind, the PEI Department of Transportation, Infrastructure and Energy is issuing a 60-day extension to driver license and vehicle registration expiries to alleviate issues for drivers until we can return to a normal service level.
The following message is being communicated to the public via media and the Department’s website.
“Due to the Public Health Emergency, all expired and expiring PEI Driver Licenses, Voluntary ID Cards and Vehicle Registration Permits that are eligible for renewal are being extended by 60 days up to June 1, 2020. If required, further extensions will be made.”
It is critical that this note is shared with all of our enforcement partners so as to not have a negative effect on the movement of goods by commercial drivers during this time period.
Interested parties can confirm the note on the Department website.
Indiana
Indiana State Police has opened all Indiana weigh stations to ALL truck drivers for parking 24/7 (except Seymour due to construction on I-65) in conjunction with the FMCSA HOS waiver. You do not need to be hauling essential goods for the waiver to park. Thank you to our partners at the Indiana State Police. Notes on parking will follow the locations: Lowell (maybe limited as INDOT is using as a construction office/storage area) – I65 SB 231.5 mm Chesterton – I94 EB 6 miles west of US 4 Chesterton – I94 SB 6 miles west of US 4 Warren – I69 SB 280 mm Richmond – I70 WB 148 mm West Harrison – I74 EB 171 mm Terre Haute – I70 EB 0 mm We will permit truck parking, including overnight parking, at the scale houses during the Federally Declared Emergency under the following circumstances: 1. Parking does not interfere with the operations of the facility a. Parking in only marked, striped parking spaces b. No parking on any ramps c. No parking in the scale lanes or in front of the inspection barns d. No parking in unmarked areas of the parking facilities or areas designated for staff or handicap parking e. No parking in other areas identified by on-site ISP or INDOT staff 2. No littering of any kind 3. No alcohol or drug consumption on state property 4. Restroom facilities may not be available 5. Adherence to any other rules set forth by the facility’s ISP or INDOT staff.