Truck stops, travel centers, and available truck parking can be challenging to find. More and more truck stops are closing while fewer are opening, but there are some new ones opening. Below is a brief list of some new truck stops as well as a truck stop list along with some major routes.
For more than 65 years truck stops have provided interstate and highway drivers with fuel, food, and a place to rest for many weary travelers. Over the years these stops have evolved into more than just a place to fill up the tank. At one point you could find a truck stop every few miles across America.
Truck parking has long been a major concern for truck drivers. One of the 39 new transportation projects being funded through the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) is a $25 million grant to provide real-time truck parking information along interstates in 8 states.
The grant from the DOT’s Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) 2015 program will create a regional truck parking information management system along interstates in Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. The system is designed to provide truck drivers with real-time information enabling truck drivers to make better and safer parking decisions. For more details on the TIGER program visit the Transportion.gov website or this DOT press release.
While this is a great idea and good first step, it hardly fixes the truck parking problem nationwide. Giving drivers real-time access to parking information is a good tool and great resource but what truckers need are more parking areas built and ones with amenities, access to food, lodging, retail and repair/service areas.
In addition to the truck parking management system other DOT projects include:
The TIGER program began in 2009 and has provided a total of $4.6 billion to 381 projects in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
There are many challenges ahead in the effort to make traveling safer for everyone by fixing our roads, highways and bridges. We are encouraged to see the concerns of truck drivers being addressed by providing tools to help truckers find available truck parking. If this system works it would likely lead to expanded systems to other high traffic, limited parking areas of the country.
Some truck stops are instituting a parking reservation system, but many drivers
surveyed about the reservation systems dislike them. In a recent ATRI survey, 48% of drivers reported were not willing to pay for space.
TA Petro has a reservation system in place networkwide called Reserve-It. The price ranges from $12 to $15; the current average is $12.86. The Reserve-only spaces only account for 8 percent of the network’s total parking inventory, approximately 3,750 spaces, but that would generate $17.6 million annually if all the spaces were filled every night based on the average price. With that kind of potential, you would think the other large truck stops are sure to follow. The problem is that, of the drivers surveyed, only 12 percent of drivers said they would be willing to pay the average rate charged for TA Petro spaces.
Scott Grenerth, director of regulatory affairs for the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association says, “We’ve got to make sure there’s parking available to people. An owner-operator can write off a paid space for tax purposes, or you might be able to say, ‘I spent x amount for a parking space – but I knew I would get a free shower.’ But when you are a company driver or are leased and only get fuel discounts from certain providers, you might be forced to pay for space, and there may be no payback.”
Last month, there was a buzz around the web about Pilot Flying J’s MyPilot app software update that featured a new parking reservation system at select locations. Drivers reported seeing spaces blocked off for reservations at the Flying J location in Frystown, Pa., off I-78, and at a newer Pilot facility in Eastern Illinois on I-70. Staff at the Frystown location confirmed spaces were available there for reservation for $11 each.
Hopefully, the real-time parking solutions like the TIGER program will expand to all states and that federal and state budgets will allow for additional parking areas to be created to ease the truck parking problem.
Let us know what you think. Do you think the TIGER system would be a useful tool that truckers would use? How much would you be willing to pay to reserve a parking spot?
Parking has been a major issue for truckers for quite some time. The shortage of safe places for truck drivers to park overnight is a growing concern among the trucking community. Truckers are forced to be creative with regard to parking. Drivers have resorted to parking in abandoned gas stations, on freeway ramps and at industrial parking lots. This creates a less than favorable situation that results in wasted hours, tired drivers and, in some cases drivers being attacked or worse in their truck cabs at night.
The FHA’s truck parking survey results due out today are expected to identify locations across the country which are in need of safe truck parking spaces.
As part of Jason’s Law under MAP-21, the Federal Highway Administration conducted the survey to find out where safe truck parking was needed. Today, DOT Deputy Secretary, Victor Mendez will announce the results and the formation of a national coalition that will focus on truck parking shortages. Mendez will be joined by Hope Rivenburg, the widow of a slain trucker for whom the law is named, FHWA Gregory Nadeau and Acting Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrator Scott Darling.
In March 2009, truck driver Jason Rivenburg was fatally shot after parking in an unlit, abandoned gas station in St. Matthews, South Carolina. Since then, Jason’s wife Hope Rivenburg has worked tirelessly to pass Jason’s Law, including conducting her own independent survey. Jason’s Law would require lawmakers to ensure that truckers had access to more safe parking spaces.
In 2012, Jason’s Law was included in MAP-21 (Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act). According to the highway funding bill, Jason’s law made the issue of truck parking shortages a “national priority” and required the DoT to conduct a survey within 18 months of the bill going into effect to determine which areas in the country are in most need of safe truck parking.
The OOIDA suggested that the survey include 400 drivers and that small facility owners also be included to get a more accurate picture of the parking and safety needs of the trucking community.
OOIDA members received a survey that included nearly 50 questions related to parking. Other trucking associations received similar surveys as part of FHWA’s effort to comply with the MAP-21 mandate. Under MAP-21 regulations, the Department of Transportation must release the results on its website and periodically update the survey. Before the recent actions of the administration, the last FHWA truck parking study was conducted in 2002.
More recently, in June of last year, truck driver Mike Boeglin was shot and his rig burned beyond recognition after parking overnight at an abandoned factory in Detroit, putting more pressure on legislators to address the growing parking shortage.
Despite a 2002 DOT study highlighting the critical shortage in parking, essential funding has been cut and state budget allocations have done little to correct the problem. In some states, like Louisiana, it has gotten worse with 23 of its 34 public rest areas closed in early 2008.
We can only hope that today’s survey results will spark legislators to move on correcting the problem before it gets worse. You may be asking yourself, “what else can we do?” Let your voice be heard. Contact your local legislators and stress to them the importance of providing safe parking for truckers.
