Parking

Trucking trends to watch in 2021: Speed limiters, insurance regs and more

What's on deck for trucking in 2021? Potentially, revival of regs like speed limiters and new mandatory insurance minimums. Also, the freight recovery rolls on -- but for how long? Those issues and other trends to watch in 2021...

January 8, 2021

Speed Limiter Speeding

Truck parking ‘still a major problem in every state’ and worsening, says inventory update

The recent survey and inventory results show semi-truck parking continues to be a worsening issue for most truck drivers across the US. Details here.

December 2, 2020

Sunrise-parking-on-ramp-2020-12-02-10-08

News roundup, March 10: House bill looks to add truck parking capacity

A bill introduced in the U.S. House calls for $755 million in funding specifically allocated to building and expanding truck parking across the country. Pilot opened a new truck stop in Fontana, California, and is offering $5 off on pizzas this week.

March 10, 2020

Parking-truck-stop

Justice sometimes finds renegade booters

A case in Charlotte saw a booter operating on a disused lot without the permission of the property owner. The result, after research on the part of local police and the small fleet owner whose driver was booted — an after-the-fact arrest. And the $2,500 boot-removal fee? Well, it’s complicated.

January 14, 2020

Readers diverge on the value of a parking reservation

Ensuring you won’t have to risk the potential for a boot is at least possible in today’s world. About one in four owner-operators (24%) report regular use of paid advance parking-reservation systems. At once, given how stressed parking infrastructure is, sometimes a reserved spot might not be truly reserved upon arrival.

January 6, 2020

Avoiding the risk of getting a truck boot is at least possible now that paid parking reservation systems have proliferated at some truck stops and elsewhere, thanks to technology and the heightened parking demand under the electronic logging device mandate. However, some readers note system flaws, such as paid lots that sell out early and reservations that fail to exist upon arrival.

Sometimes, renegade booters get their just desserts

A case in Charlotte saw a booter operating on a disused lot without the permission of the property owner. The result, after research on the part of local police and the small fleet owner whose driver was booted — an after-the-fact arrest. And the $2,500 boot-removal fee? Well, it’s complicated.

January 3, 2020

Worst-possible situations like this. …

Parking perils: The increasing cost, and risk, of booting and towing

Booting and towing incidents have become more numerous and more costly, owner-operators and others report. Some advocates call for national regulation of the practice, particularly when drivers are asleep in their trucks.

January 2, 2020

While relatively few owner-operators have had their rig immobilized, the practice – at least anecdotally – has grown in tandem with growing parking shortages.

Next truck-parking workshop to focus on Greater Cincinnati area

Tuesday, October 22, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., truck parking stakeholders are being invited to participate in a workshop to be aimed at sussing out problem areas and proposing solutions for truck parking woes in Boone County, Ky., and the greater region around Cincinnati, Ohio.

October 9, 2019

Parking-truck-stop

‘People don’t understand — we have nowhere to go’: GATS panel presses for parking solutions

With a focus on Texas, a panel made up of truckers, parking advocates and a TxDOT official explored ways the state can expand parking options — especially in major cities and near freight hubs.

September 9, 2019

One contributor to depression is isolation, an all-too-common reality for over-the-road truckers.

POLL: How often, if at all, do you pay for the ability to reserve a parking space?

Is paying for a parking-space reservation a normal part of your routine trucking business or more of a last resort? You can weigh in via this poll or via our podcast voicemail message line at 530-408-6423. Be sure to state your name and home location with any message.

August 6, 2019

This hotshot car hauler was parked on an I-40 rest area’s ramp shoulder in middle Tennessee around 9 a.m. Other truckers also occupied ramp areas as central parking places remained nearly full. Many truckers say peak parking times have broadened since the ELD mandate went into effect.

Oregon’s Jubitz Travel Center adds reserved parking spots

Jubitz Travel Center, which is located on Vancouver Way just off Interstate 5 in Portland, Oregon, now has 18 truck parking spots in its main lot that can be reserved for $15 each.

August 5, 2019

jubitz-reserved-parking-2019-08-05-13-38

TruckPark info service added to ELD

The TruckPark app’s service, which launched as a search-and-reserve system for parking spots at 13 truck stops earlier this year, announced a partnership with software developer UTech to make its system available via UTech’s GPStab electronic logging device system.

August 2, 2019

The TruckPark app is available standalone on both Android and iOS devices.

Oregon DOT seeks driver feedback on truck parking

The survey is part of the department’s ongoing Oregon Commercial Truck Parking Study, which intends to explore truck parking issue within several freight corridors in the state – while considering capacity, safety and convenience to truckers – to determine where additional truck parking is needed.

July 22, 2019

The Oregon DOT is seeking truck driver feedback on truck parking along major freight corridors in the state.

Five parking workshops in N.C. this week

A series of little-publicized truck-parking-focused workshops are kicking off beginning tomorrow, June 4, in North Carolina, to “discuss and get your input on truck parking challenges, issues and solutions in the state,” says workshops leader NCDOT.

June 3, 2019

Click through the image to download the pdf flyer, which includes links to the registration page for these workshops.

Penn., Colorado truck parking workshops with FHWA

A series of parking-focused workshops hosted by the Federal Highway Administration in collaboration with local/regional metropolitan planning organizations and state DOTs around the country continues tomorrow, May 30, in Colorado, then in Pennsylvania next month.

May 29, 2019

truck-parking-only-2019-04-01-13-19

New TruckPark app allows drivers to reserve parking spaces

The TruckPark app currently allows drivers to reserve parking at 13 truck stops in and around Chicago, Cleveland, New York City, Atlanta, Dallas and Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. Company COO and co-founder Joshua Walls said TruckPark will soon be expanding to additional locations.

May 8, 2019

Screen Shot 2019-05-08 at 9.42.01 AM-2019-05-08-09-42

ATRI seeking trucker input on truck parking information systems

The data collection from truckers is part of ATRI’s 2019 top priority research topic to standardize truck parking information systems based on driver preferences. The group is looking for information on drivers’ preferred data formats and delivery mechanisms for truck parking information.

April 9, 2019

Texas receives grant to help fund I-10 corridor truck parking information system

The $6.8 million grant from the Federal Highway Administration will be used to implement a truck parking availability detection and information dissemination system at 37 public truck parking locations along I-10 from California to Texas.

April 2, 2019

i-10-2019-02-26-10-41

Page 1 of 10

The trucker cap in teacher Amy Watson’s selfie from the day she was tested for COVID-19 later inspired her choice of “long-haulers” to describe COVID survivors with persistent symptoms. “My school’s mascot is a squirrel,” she said, which she finds appropriate, given that her pre-school students, with their short bursts of activity, are “very squirrel-like.”

Trucking’s bit part in the 'COVID long-haulers’ name

A teacher's trucker cap provides inspiration for her to borrow trucking's "long-hauler" designation for COVID-19 survivors who discover they're facing an indefinite period of further suffering.

Small-fleet owner Jesse McGinness was going for originality with the look of this 2021 Peterbilt 389, spec'ing the black Alcoa rims from the factory. After his maiden voyage in a Class 8 tractor years ago, in a Peterbilt 379, he fell in love with the classic square-hood series. He plans to modify the stacks, the grille and more to all-black finish -- committing sacrilege, says the operator who took him on that first 379 run. McGinness'll maintain plenty in chrome/stainless accents, not to worry. The flattop with lift-axle is powered by the X15 Cummins at 605 hp, with an 18-speed transmission. 'I wanted this truck to be a truck that I thought was cool,' McGinness said, in addition to doing the tough over-dimensional/heavy hauling he'll require of it.

'WTF' stresses service for long-term success

The glider market grew from a few hundred sales a year in 2010 to upwards of 10,000 as recently as 2017. Gliders sported pre-emissions-regs engines -- no exhaust gas recirculation or selective catalytic reduction components and, thus, no need for DEF. With simpler technology and refurbished engines, the products were much cheaper than new trucks with new engines, making them attractive buys for small-business truckers.

Glider kit market hits fatal nosedive with latest emissions regs

Fuel Fueling Truck Stop

After weakened demand in 2020, diesel prices jump back to pre-pandemic levels

Junior Elmore’s Marmon caught Christner's eye right off for a very simple reason: 'I’d never seen a Marmon cabover in the flesh before,' he wrote. 'Up close, it’s easy to see why a Marmon cabover was used in the movie 'Transformers: Age of Extinction' as the Autobot Optimus Prime. Elmore’s Marmon COE #31 HDT-BC-86 was Manufactured 03/1977 in Garland, Texas. This is a complete truck with no parts taken off. Still running when parked in 1999. A good honest work truck that’s nicely spec’d out.' Find more details, and history, via this link.

Look back at Junior Elmore's classic 1970s rigs

Beware: Human smugglers luring truckers along the border

More episodes »

The Business Manual for Owner-Operators

Overdrive editors and ATBS present the industry’s best manual for prospective and committed owner-operators. You’ll find exceptional depth on many issues in the 2021 edition of Partners in Business.

Partners in Business Issue Cover