Editor's Note: This article corrects the location of truck stops located on I-95.

North Stonington — A proposed truck stop across the border in Rhode Island would help address a lack of places for truckers to rest and gas up along Interstate 95, while providing some unwanted competition for the truck stop here, according to some in the trucking industry. 

An important corridor for commercial trucking between New York and Massachusetts, I-95 has only one truck stop, North Stonington's American Auto Stop, between Branford and West Greenwich, R.I. North Stonington has long been home to a truck stop, with the most recent one opening in 2007.

“Connecticut and the nation as a whole has a shortage of truck stops,” said Joseph Sculley, president of the Motor Transport Association of Connecticut. He pointed to a study conducted by the American Transportation Research Institute, a nonprofit that studies the industry, which ranked truck parking as the fifth most critical concern facing the industry in 2015.

The proposed Love’s Country Stores off Exit 1 in Hopkinton, R.I., is designed to appeal to both truckers and passenger cars, providing 69 and 75 parking spaces, respectively. Located on an 18-acre plot next to a commuter parking lot, the stop would have an eight-pump island for cars and a nine-pump island for trucks. A 10,800-square-foot building at the center would house a convenience store and a 24-hour Subway. A 2008 traffic study estimated that 27 trucks would enter and exit at the morning peak hour, with 35 at the evening peak.

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Explore The Day’s investigation into I-95’s problems and challenges.

In addition, the Rhode Island Department of Transportation recently received a Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant for a proposed visitors' center off the same exit. According to the grant application, the $9 million grant would support the $12 million travel plaza, allowing the DOT to reopen the old visitors' center as a dedicated truck stop with about 35 parking spots.

Those facilities would "open up another opportunity for truckers to get a good safe place to rest and get a good night's sleep," Sculley said.

That, of course, could take business away from American Auto Truck Stop.

“From a business standpoint it's not going to help us. It’s almost that we're fighting each other,” said Michael Coombes, the general manager.

The 120 parking spaces in North Stonington sometimes fill up, according to Sergio Cucco, a contractor for a moving company.

“If you’re in a place with no truck stops, it’s either find a hotel with truck parking or drive 50 to 60 miles,” Cucco said. “Just having one stop in this area is tough because it fills up very quick. I’ve come here and in a few hours it fills up."

Greg Barnes, a long-haul company driver who travels between South Carolina and Maine, said it can be difficult to find a place to park and rest. He was in Uncasville last Monday evening, waiting to pick up a load, when the customer told him it wouldn’t be ready until the next day and that Barnes needed to move off the road.

Barnes pulled out his smartphone and tried one of three apps he uses to find truck stops, rest stops with truck parking or Wal-Mart parking lots — anywhere that will accommodate his vehicle. Luckily the North Stonington stop was only 17 miles away.

“I thank God it was on the map. … I prefer to be in a truck stop to the side of the road,” Barnes said.

Barnes and other truckers said they face difficult choices when they reach the end of their federally regulated hours of service and the nearby stop is full or there are none to be found. If a trucker has no place to stop and has reached the 60-hour limit for a seven-day week, some choose to skirt the rules and get back on the road.

In particular, a provision that has been suspended pending further review that would require truckers to take time off between 1 and 5 a.m. to reset their hours of service for the week could create congestion at truck stops and put more trucks on the road at rush hour, said Sculley.

Duane DeBruyne, a spokesman for the Federal Motor Carrier Association, an agency within the U.S. Department of Transportation, said the provision applies only to the long-haul interstate truck drivers that aren’t unionized, and it is intended for the public’s safety.

“There’s only a very small segment that are required to use that restart provision. … They're in place to ensure as much as possible drivers have sufficient opportunities to get recuperative sleep and operate the vehicles safety,” DeBruyne said.

The Rhode Island project would give truckers another option, but it has faced opposition. In 2009, the proposal was turned down by the Hopkinton Zoning Board, and in a subsequent lawsuit filed by Love’s Country Stores, the company won the right to reintroduce its plan. However, the company is facing a challenge from local organizations, including the Hopkinton Historical Commission and the Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed Association. The latter opposes the project because it would be situated near the aquifer that provides well water for many Hopkinton residents.

R. Daniel Prentiss, a lawyer who represents both organizations at the Zoning Board meetings, said the issue comes down to a lack of information.

"The facility would have underground storage tanks containing tens of thousands (of gallons) of diesel and gasoline,” he said. “There's always a risk of a rupture. No matter how safe you build, the accidents happen, catastrophes happen."

Prentiss pointed to a recent change to Love’s plan lowering the number of full-time employees to 24, which he said would trigger less stringent groundwater regulations and a different classification for the on-site well.

Despite the opposition, Ryan Welton, a spokesman for Love's, said the company is committed to the location.

“Industry parking is a top priority and that is a top priority for us, to provide more locations,” Welton said.

n.lynch@theday.com