The Parking Zone – March 2019

Every week, there are several news articles across the nation related to truck parking. They range from a state department of transportation closing a rest area to local city councils preventing the opening of a truck stop.

New reports regarding local truck parking are too numerous and small in scope to report on individually. However, what each of these news items means to the underlying national problem is too significant to ignore. Below is a roundup of the latest truck parking-related news items from across the United States.

You may notice that the March edition is a day late. That’s because the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Ky., kicked off the 2019 truck show season. Needless to say, I was a bit preoccupied.

With that said, this is going to be a short but very succinct edition of The Parking Zone.

This years at MATS, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association held a Town Hall Meeting. Drivers had a chance to speak their mind to let the Association know what bothers them the most. Not surprisingly, one driver had a major issue with truck parking.

Like many over-the-road drivers, Lee Zirbel and her husband, Gary Zirbel, live in their truck. During the Town Hall Meeting, Lee gave her two cents regarding the lack of safe parking across the nation.

Lee wants state lawmakers to answer a simple question and has a simple solution if they can’t answer that question.

“Where is a safe place for us to park? And if not, we shouldn’t have to pay the taxes to that state.”

Lee is referring to IFTA taxes and other taxes that truckers have to pay states where they do not reside.

While I usually spend this time highlighting the good, the bad and the ugly in truck parking, I think Lee gives an accurate summation of the overall truck parking situation. You can listen to all of her comments below.

As Mike Matousek, OOIDA’s manager of government affairs, put it, very well said.

The above video should be required viewing for any lawmaker or government official who has a say in infrastructure.

This includes local, state and federal officials. Local officials deal with the NIMBY crowd. State officials have the power of state funding, whereas the federal government has a bigger purse and more power. Everyone is responsible for truck parking.

I salute you, Lee. In less than 10 minutes, you summed up months of The Parking Zone entries.

New Love’s, Pilot Flying J and TravelCenters locations
Although only one location opened in March between the Big Three, all three of the companies were very active at MATS this year, including TravelCenters of America announcing its Citizen Driver honorees. More on that here.

• Love’s at 113 Will Garrett Road (off of Interstate 20, Exit 165) in Toomsuba, Miss. (71 parking spaces)

For a more comprehensive list of what went on in the world of truck parking around March, check out the May edition of Land Line Magazine.