The project also helps alleviate local complaints about makeshift parking within the community and spillover problems from weather-related highway closures. WYDOT constructed these spots next to an existing truck stop offering food and shelter, which are important amenities for long-distance truckers. In Wamsutter, Wyoming, the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) used a state grant to build a facility for 43 long-term truck parking spaces in a secure, lighted area adjacent to Interstate 80. However, there is a growing list of successes, and many of them have been documented by the National Coalition on Truck Parking, which was created by the FHWA. That is a special challenge for the mostly private operators who must find accessible, affordable sites, get them permitted and built, and operate them profitably. The long-term solution to the truck-parking shortage is expanding parking. Developers of expanded or new lots face the challenges of limited and expensive sites, as well as zoning issues and public opposition to loud noises and pollution generated by trucks.Īdditionally, formerly rural areas have seen expanded growth from once-distant metro areas as competition from urban uses raises land prices. A total of 272,698 spaces (88%) are at private truck stops 36,222 spaces (12%) are at public rest areas. Most designated truck parking spaces are privately owned. Unlike passenger cars, which can cruise for a space when encountering parking difficulties (and usually find one quickly), trucks are under the regulatory gun to find something fast and convenient - legal or not.
#Truck s stop parking driver#
Truck safety rules mandate that after 11 hours on the road, the driver must park and begin a 10-hour rest break. The FHWA predicts that travel by combination trucks will grow at more than twice the rate of passenger vehicles and light trucks between 20 - 1.9% annually, compared to 0.7% for light trucks and passenger vehicles.
Truck travel is growing faster than passenger driving.
#Truck s stop parking drivers#
Demand Keeps Risingĭemand for truck parking has increased with e-commerce booming, “hours of service” rules that force drivers to take breaks and the growing difficulty in developing new parking. The federal legislation requiring more provisions for truck driver safety was named Jason’s Law in his memory.
Greater awareness of this issue came in response to the 2009 murder of truck driver Jason Rivenburg, who was shot and killed while parked at an abandoned gas station in South Carolina. If parking was not available in a designated truck area, options were shopping centers, delivery locations, off ramps, or an abandoned lot or isolated area.Įighty-eight percent of truck drivers said they felt unsafe while parked during mandatory rest or while waiting for pickup or delivery of a load during the past 12 months. Their surveys found that four out of 10 drivers reported taking an hour or longer to find parking. This includes major economic centers such as Chicago, the Interstate 95 corridor and the Northeastern states clustered around the New York City metropolitan area, and I-5 and the western corridor connecting major West Coast ports and freight activity.
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) studies have found that demand for truck parking exceeds the available supply in public and private facilities across much of the country, and this shortage is particularly severe in some regions. However, that’s not the case for large commercial trucks. This is especially true in the suburbs, which have created an abundance of parking. Drivers can generally expect to find a convenient, and free, space near their destination thanks to generous local parking standards. Traffic congestion is a growing concern for motorists, but parking is generally not, except for a few problem areas.
Demand for truck parking exceeds supply in many parts of the country.