You cannot park overnight at a Virginia rest area, and since March 11, 2026 that ban has lived in a new chapter of the state’s administrative code. Virginia repealed 24VAC30-50, in place since 1987, and replaced it with 24VAC30-51, “Rules for the Administration of Waysides, Rest Areas, and Parking Lots.” We read the full chapter on the Virginia Law site on September 2, 2026.
The answer most people want is one line. 24VAC30-51-30(A): “No overnight parking is permitted in rest areas.” Section 30(B) adds “No sleeping in any section of the rest area building is permitted at any time.” And the general section that governs the whole chapter, 24VAC30-51-10(B), says “No camping is permitted in waysides, rest areas, parking lots, or the environs of those spaces.”
What the new chapter added
The old rule covered waysides and rest areas. The new one adds parking lots, and that third category does not work like the other two. 24VAC30-51-40(A) reads, in full: “Overnight parking may be restricted in accordance with posted signs.” Restricted, if a sign says so. Not prohibited across the board. VDOT commuter and park and ride lots sit under that section, which means the sign at the lot is the rule there, not the rest area ban.
Waysides get their own section. Under 24VAC30-51-20, a wayside identified by name and without lights is open from 8 a.m. until one hour after sunset, and a wayside with security lighting is open at all times. Overnight parking is out at waysides either way.
What the rule does not say
It sets no hour limit. There is no number anywhere in the chapter for how long a daytime stop can run, only the overnight ban and the camping ban. It also never defines “overnight,” so the practical line is drawn by whoever is enforcing it that night.
The penalty is in the chapter rather than buried in statute. 24VAC30-51-10(N) makes any violation a misdemeanor carrying a fine of “not less than $5.00 nor more than $100 for each offense,” plus civil liability to the Commonwealth for actual damage caused.
What to do
If you are running I-81 or I-95 overnight, Virginia’s rest areas are not a legal stop and the regulation is unambiguous about it. Truck stops are the usual fallback on those corridors. Our Virginia rest area page covers VDOT’s own plain-language version of the same rule, and sleeping in your car in Virginia covers everything off VDOT property.
If a VDOT commuter lot is what you are actually looking at, go read the sign before you commit to it. That sign is the rule there, and it beats this page. So does anything a trooper or a caretaker tells you on site.