Pilot Travel Centers is adding 35 travel centers and more than 500 truck parking spaces across the country as part of its 2024 growth plan.
Tennessee-based Pilot, North America’s largest travel center network, also plans to add more than 30 truck maintenance and tire service shops to its travel centers.
“Expanding into new communities and enhancing our services remains a key part of our long-term strategy,” Allison Cornish, senior vice president of store modernization and development at Pilot, said in a news release.
The additional parking comes as truckers grapple with a nationwide shortage of parking. That doesn’t just cause stress for drivers — the American Trucking Associations found that truckers spend 56 minutes daily scouting out parking — it also poses hazards to all drivers. The Federal Highway Administration calls the parking shortage “a national safety concern.”
“It is essential that commercial truck drivers have access to safe, secure and accessible truck parking,” the agency said. “With the projected growth in e-commerce and truck traffic, the demand for truck parking will continue to outpace the supply of public and private parking facilities and will only exacerbate the truck parking problems experienced in many regions.”
The ATA found that truckers experience the most difficulty finding parking in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Georgia.
What else is being done?
The U.S. Department of Transportation in January announced $4.9 billion in infrastructure funding, including millions designated for parking facilities:
- $180 million to the Florida Department of Transportation for 917 parking spaces along Interstate 4 in Osceola, Seminole and Volusia counties.
- $92 million to the Missouri State Department of Transportation for Interstate 70 reconstruction, which includes parking facilities and information systems.
- $40 million to the Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority in Pennsylvania to construct a cargo facility, including truck parking.
- $12 million to Washington, California and Oregon transportation departments to build 54 truck parking facilities along Interstate 5 and to deploy a regional truck parking information management system.
- $8 million to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation to reconstruct a rest area on Interstate 90 near Sparta and expand parking from 16 spaces to 70.
The DOT in September announced $80 million in grants to help expand access to truck parking, marking a 65% increase in funding for truck parking projects compared to 2022. The funding will help drivers locate parking space information in real time with signs along highways in Kentucky, Delaware and Indiana.
Texas, Louisiana, Florida and Tennessee received millions in funding to construct truck parking facilities, which will add hundreds of parking spots along the roadways.