Updated October 22, 2026

Plan a 34-Hour Restart Off the Interstate

A 34-hour restart is a day and a half in one place. The lot has to work for that whole stretch, and you have to be able to stay off duty the whole time. This page is for property-carrying drivers planning that stop. It is general information, not legal advice, and it is not a substitute for 49 CFR 395.3 or your carrier’s policy. The regulatory wording below was checked against FMCSA’s pages on October 22, 2026.

What the rule says

FMCSA’s summary of hours-of-service regulations says a property-carrying driver may not drive after 60 hours on duty in 7 consecutive days, or after 70 hours on duty in 8 consecutive days. The same summary says a driver may restart a 7- or 8-day period after taking 34 or more consecutive hours off duty. Which weekly cap applies depends on the carrier: the Interstate Truck Driver’s Guide to Hours of Service (April 28, 2022) says the 60-hour/7-day limit applies when the company does not operate commercial vehicles every day of the week, and the 70-hour/8-day limit applies when it does. Hours you work for anyone else go into the total.

The guide puts the restart in 49 CFR 395.3(c)(1) and 395.3(c)(2). It says the 34 or more consecutive hours may be off duty, in the sleeper berth, or some combination of both. After at least 34 consecutive hours, you have the full 60 or 70 hours available again, and a new 7- or 8-day period begins. The guide also says the restart is optional. It is not mandatory.

The guide’s example: on a 70/8 schedule, 14 hours a day for 5 days is 70 hours. You cannot drive again until you drop below 70 in that 8-day window, unless a 34-hour restart the company allows gives you a new 8-day period with 70 hours.

A 2011 version of the restart added two tests: two periods between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m., and only one restart every 168 hours. FMCSA’s September 12, 2019 final rule removed them after they were already void. The current driver’s guide does not include them. Company policy can still be stricter than FMCSA. Short-haul and other exceptions change the daily math. If you are under one, read that row on the FMCSA hours-of-service page before you use this plan. Passenger-carrying drivers are on a different table.

What has to stay uninterrupted

Consecutive means the streak does not break. A shop visit, a fuel stop you log on duty, a move to a second lot, or a load check in the middle starts the 34 hours over. The driver’s guide says that for time to be off duty you must be relieved of all duty and responsibility for performing work, free to pursue activities of your own choosing, and able to leave the place where the vehicle is parked. The on-duty definition in the same guide includes fueling, inspecting, loading, paperwork, and time at a shipper waiting to be dispatched unless the carrier has relieved you. Do the fuel, the walk-around, and the paperwork before you start the streak, or after it ends.

Sleeper-berth time counts. A shower and a meal fit an off-duty streak when nobody is requiring you to work. If you already know the lot will make you move, because of a time limit or an appointment, start the 34 somewhere else.

Pick a lot that can hold a day and a half

A public rest area is a poor default for 34 hours. Facilities post their own time limits, and a short limit ends the restart or violates the sign. This site does not fill those hours in. Read the sign. The time-limit checklist stays blank until each state is sourced. A normal 10-hour choice is covered in rest area or truck stop for 10 hours.

A truck stop is private property, and it is the place most drivers actually sit a restart, because food, showers, and a longer stay are usually there. The property can still post a limit, mark rows reserved, or have you towed. Read the entrance sign before you commit the trailer. Reserved, paid, and bobtail signs are a different problem from the weekly clock. The fee label on a listing is explained in free versus paid truck parking. It is not a promise that the row in front of you is unpaid, and this site does not publish reservation prices.

A ramp or a shoulder is not a restart plan. The rule is the state’s and the sign’s. Overnight parking basics leaves that legal table blank until each state is sourced. Space counts on a listing come from FHWA’s Jason’s Law compilation of April 9, 2019 or from an OpenStreetMap tag. They are capacity, not spaces open tonight.

Choose it while you still have miles

You need enough of the daily limits to reach the lot and a backup. The FMCSA summary says a property-carrying driver may drive a maximum of 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty, and may not drive beyond the 14th consecutive hour after coming on duty. Off-duty time does not extend that 14-hour period. Two provisions change that arithmetic on purpose: the sleeper-berth split, covered in team driving and split sleeper stops, and adverse driving conditions, covered in parking a truck in snow and ice.

“Off the interstate” means you may leave the route for a lot that can hold the truck. Look at the route page first so you can see what is still ahead, then the state and the city. Truck stops on I-40, I-40 in Texas, Texas, Houston, and Ohio are directories of lots we have. They are not a claim that any of those lots allows a 34-hour stay. The sign at the lot is the claim that matters.

If the first lot is full, the second one has to be picked while you can still drive to it. Use when the first overnight lot is full. FMCSA’s personal-conveyance guidance allows travel, once you are relieved, to the first nearby, reasonable, safe location for required rest after loading or unloading. Bypassing available rest locations to get closer to the next load is on that page’s list of uses that do not qualify. Your carrier can ban personal conveyance or limit the miles.

A restart next to the next appointment

Restarting in a shipper’s yard only works if they have given you permission to be there for the full 34 hours and the carrier has relieved you. The driver’s guide says off-duty time includes being able to leave the place where the vehicle is parked. A gate that will not let you out does not match that description. Use parking at a shipper or warehouse before you treat a dock as a restart.

Plan the drive from the restart lot to the door on the fresh 60 or 70 hours. If both drivers on a team will be off for the full 34, the truck sits the whole time, so the lot has to allow that stay.

Before you shut down

• The hours you have left reach this lot and the backup lot.
• The sign allows the length of stay, the trailer, and overnight parking.
• Reserved rows stay empty unless you have paid for one.
• Fuel, DEF, and the inspection are done before the streak starts, or they wait until it ends.
• You can eat and shower without a work assignment that breaks the streak.
• You record the city and state when the duty status changes, on the ELD or in the remarks of a paper log.

Sources: 49 CFR 395.3, FMCSA HOS summary, FMCSA driver’s guide (April 28, 2022), FMCSA 2019 restart final rule, and FMCSA personal conveyance.