HIGHLAND, Illinois — A deadly Greyhound bus crash at a rest stop has shined a light on a problem for truckers across the nation and prominently in Illinois.
Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board continued to work to find out what caused the crash last week near Highland Illinois on Interstate 70.
Three men died, and several others, including the bus driver, were badly hurt when the bus slammed into three parked commercial trucks. The bus was on its way to St. Louis from Indianapolis with more than a dozen passengers on board.
On Monday, truckers who have been on the road for about a decade agreed that as demand increases, fewer parking spaces are available at both truck and rest stops.
"The government got to put more parking spots. More parking spots. That's it. If you don't, you get more and more trucks and you ain't got enough parking. It's bound you going to get crashes and stuff like that," said Maurice Patrick, who has been driving for nine years.
“For the past 10 years, there's a shortage of parking. Or there's no facilities wherever we travel to or where we're allowed to park at,” Joshua Alvaravo said.
5 On Your Side spotted two commercial trucks in the middle of the day parked on the entrance ramp of the same rest stop area. We counted at least 20 parking spots total with several of them empty just feet away.
Whether it is legal to park there varies from state to state. It's not in Illinois.
Drivers shared they don't have a choice in where they land sometimes.
“DOT say you got to shut down after your 11 hours, you have to shut down no matter what,” Patrick said.
“We can be cited if we get pulled into a weigh station and the fines can be very high,” Alvaravo said.
In March, Governor JB Pritzker announced 200 million dollars going towards projects to improve freight mobility throughout Illinois.
$7.2 million will go towards expanding three interstate rest areas to add 122 parking spaces for commercial trucks. That includes Rail Splitter, Fort Massac and Coalfield.
“IDOT is currently planning the expansion of three Rest Areas, each of which will include additional commercial truck parking spaces. The department is also exploring pilot projects which would provide real-time information about the available commercial truck parking spaces and will continue to review options to provide more parking spaces in the future,” an agency spokesperson said.
It is unclear when these projects will go forth.
At least two of the victims are suing Greyhound.
Our I-Team discovered that the bus had a good safety record with a low crash rate.
The NTSB stated their investigators are expected to complete their on-scene work in Illinois by the end of the week and have a preliminary report published in the next two to three weeks.
