Trucking news and briefs for Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026:
- Mega fleet announces a mega acquisition.
- Hundreds more truck parking spaces on the way.
- Lane closures incoming on I-5.
Werner acquires 2,400-truck FirstFleet
Werner Enterprises on Wednesday announced it has acquired Tennessee-based, privately-owned FirstFleet for approximately $245 million. Werner will also separately acquire real estate properties directly from FirstFleet for $37.8 million.
The move positions Werner as the country's fifth-largest dedicated carrier, the company said. Werner plans to retain the majority of FirstFleet’s management and maintain its headquarters in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
FirstFleet brings significant added scale to Werner with approximately 2,400 tractors, 11,000 trailers and 37 properties near 130 customer sites around the country. FirstFleet has unique capabilities to service attractive and durable end markets such as grocery, bakery goods and corrugated packaging.
“Powered by the talent of our combined associates, this partnership comes at the ideal moment for our company,” said Werner Chairman and CEO Derek Leathers. “By uniting FirstFleet's expertise in complementary new verticals with our resources and nearly 5,000 dedicated trucks, we will improve our competitive position and accelerate profitable growth.”
Werner added that with the addition of FirstFleet, it’s expected to grow the company’s dedicated revenues by approximately 50%.
As of Sept. 30, 2025, the combined company had 7,365 total dedicated trucks and nearly 40,000 trailers.
“Since 1986, FirstFleet has delivered exceptional growth by treating our team members and customers like family,” said Paul Wilson, one of FirstFleet’s owners. “In choosing to combine with Werner, we are joining a leader in our industry with a proud history of caring deeply about their associates and customers.”
FirstFleet will operate as a business unit within Werner’s Truckload Transportation Services (TTS) segment, complementing the existing dedicated division.
Pennsylvania adds more than 300 truck parking spaces
Truck drivers traveling through Pennsylvania have a few hundred more options with the state’s announcement of 339 new parking spaces.
The new spaces are part of Pennsylvania’s commitment to adding at least 1,200 truck parking spaces by the end of 2026, which state officials announced in October and which no doubt came as welcome news to many owner-operators. Overdrive readers ranked the state near the top 10 worst states for truck parking availability in the late-2025-released Truckers' Highway Report Card. The Philadelphia metro area in particular truckers called out as the eighth-worst metro nationwide for truck parking.
[Related: Truckers' 2025 Highway Report Card: Worst roads, states, parking]
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has finished and opened new spots at 24 locations across the state, including interstate on-ramps, other Commonwealth-owned sites, and weigh stations where Pennsylvania State Police conduct motor carrier safety enforcement:
- Interstate 99 on-ramps in Bellwood, Blair County
- I-79 northbound and southbound weigh stations in Butler County
- Route 100 northbound weigh station in Chester County
- Four I-79 on-ramps in Erie County
- I-81 northbound and southbound weigh stations in Franklin County
- Location off I-70 in Fulton County
- I-380 northbound and southbound weigh stations in Lackawanna County
- Location off Route 315 in Luzerne County
- Route 9404/William Penn Highway Park and Ride in Northampton County
- Location off Route 6 in Pike County
- I-81 northbound and southbound weigh stations in Schuylkill County
- Two locations off U.S. 11 in Snyder County
- I-79 southbound weigh station in Washington County
- I-83 northbound and southbound weigh stations in York County
“As a commercial driver’s license holder, I know how critical safe parking options are for the people who keep goods moving to and through Pennsylvania,” said PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll. “The Shapiro Administration is wasting no time in making good on this commitment to give them more options to meet federal rest requirements. This is a commonsense approach to enhance safety, and the department is looking at ways to add even more spaces.”
PennDOT and state police staff collaborated closely to identify sites that can be designated quickly and cost-effectively. Spots are marked with truck-parking signage installed by PennDOT.
In October, PennDOT unveiled a new “Public Truck Parking” option on www.511PA.com and the 511PA smartphone application. The map displays existing truck parking options and newly designated locations are being added as the parking becomes available.
[Related: Pennsylvania plans notable truck parking capacity expansion]
Nighttime I-5 lane closures planned
As part of Oregon DOT’s Aurora-Donald Interchange project, the agency is replacing the bridges over I-5 with one new bridge.
The middle portion of the bridge has already been completed, but ODOT’s next step is to place the beams for the east portion of the bridge that northbound I-5 traffic will eventually travel on.
To do so, ODOT is planning for nighttime I-5 lane closures next week. Lanes will be closed so crews can safety use and move a large crane to place the beams.
On Tuesday night, Feb. 3:
- One lane of northbound I-5 will close starting at 8 p.m.
- Two lanes of NB I-5 will close starting at 10 p.m.
- Flaggers will direct traffic at each on- and off-ramp at both ends of Ehlen Road NE.
- Traffic to be held on Ehlen Road NE about every 30 minutes while crews set the beams over the road. Once a beam is safely set, the on- and off-ramps and Ehlen Road NE will reopen.
- Ehlen Road NE and both lanes of NB I-5 will reopen by 7 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 4.
Then on Thursday, Feb. 5, crews will finish placing the beams during the day. ODOT said it doesn’t plan to have lane or road closures that day, but drivers should expect to see flaggers helping direct traffic when construction vehicles are moving on and off site.
