The U.S. Department of Transportation announced more than $1 billion in road safety grants on Oct. 29 — and truck parking got a mention. But how much will actually turn into new places for truckers to park is unclear.
The grant package
The money comes from the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) program. According to The Trucker’s review of the awards:
- About $1.01 billion went to 297 projects.
- Roughly $683.7 million funds 100 implementation grants, and $329.3 million funds 197 planning and demonstration grants.
- More than $425 million goes to rural and Tribal areas.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the department is “making major investments in the truckers’ quality of life by reversing the nation’s severe parking shortage.”
How much is really for truck parking?
USDOT says 10 of the 297 projects address truck parking. The Trucker could clearly identify only four of them from the published descriptions:
- Pecos, Texas — $12 million for freight corridor safety on U.S. 285 and the I-20 frontage roads, including lighting, access management, speed monitoring and a roundabout, with a goal of reducing unauthorized truck parking.
- Reeves County, Texas — $4.1 million for planning and demonstration work, including freight corridor and truck parking safety studies.
- Fort Collins, Colorado — about $5.2 million for safety work on Shields Street, post-crash care and a truck parking study addressing the shortage along I-25.
- Miami Township, Ohio — $240,000 for a roadway safety plan that includes a truck parking needs analysis.
Those four total about $21.6 million — roughly 2% of the package — and that figure includes other safety work. None of the four descriptions specifies new truck parking spaces.
The bigger truck parking money
A separate USDOT announcement on Oct. 14 directed $200 million through the INFRA grant program to 14 truck parking expansion projects in 12 states. Several of those projects do spell out how many new spaces they will add.
Why it matters to drivers
Every driver knows the problem: when parking runs out, you either lose drive time looking for a spot or park somewhere unsafe. Studies are a start, but drivers need actual spaces. Until they’re built, plan your stops early, use parking apps where you can, and avoid parking on ramps and shoulders. Cargo thieves target poorly secured lots, too — see our report on rising cargo theft losses.
More on safety and the road in our truck driving safety section.
