Truck Parking Got Federal Money, but Spaces Are Unclear
USDOT's $1 billion road safety package names truck parking, but the published list does not say how many new spaces it builds.
Do not plan your winter around the $1 billion headline. The federal road safety package announced October 29 puts truck parking on the list, but the published project list does not say how many new spaces it will build, if any.
The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded $1,012,969,919 to 297 projects through its Safe Streets and Roads for All program, known as SS4A. USDOT says 10 of them help address the truck parking shortage. Secretary Sean Duffy said the package invests in "reversing the nation's severe parking shortage."
The details are thin. The Trucker's review of the awards list found four projects that name truck parking. Together they total about $21.6 million, or 2.1% of the package, and that money also pays for other safety work. None of the four project descriptions names new spaces to be built. The other six could not be identified from the published descriptions.
Look at what the four actually fund. Pecos, Texas, gets $12 million for access management, lighting, speed monitoring and a roundabout on US 285 and the Interstate 20 frontage roads, aimed at cutting unauthorized truck parking. Reeves County, Texas, gets $4.1 million for studies and safety audits. Fort Collins, Colorado, gets about $5.2 million that includes a study of the Interstate 25 parking shortage. Miami Township, Ohio, gets $240,000 for a safety plan.
That is roads, plans and studies. A study is not a parking lot.
SS4A is mainly a roadway safety program, but USDOT's March announcement said its grants would expand truck parking, so drivers had reason to expect spaces. The money that clearly builds parking is separate. On October 14, USDOT announced $200 million for 14 truck parking projects in 12 states through its INFRA program. The release lists approximate space counts for several of them, such as about 275 near the Port of Savannah and about 305 near Los Indios, Texas, but it gives no opening dates.
Even real awards take time. Florida's $180 million INFRA project for 917 spaces along Interstate 4 broke ground in June 2026. The first three sites are expected to finish in mid 2027, and the other two do not start building until 2027.
Searches for "truck parking" on the Google Trends U.S. index rose from 50 to 68 across the three weeks ending October 31, up 36%. Some of that may be the usual winter lift, since the same term hit 75 in the week of December 7 last year. It is still below the 100 it reached in early July.
My advice for owner operators is simple: treat parking like a load, not an afterthought. Pick your stopping point and a backup before you roll. Put the backup 60 to 90 minutes before your clock runs out, because the 11 hour driving limit and 14 hour window do not bend when the lot is full. If you are short on time, find the closest truck stop with a few quick checks. Fuel where you can also stay, so one stop does two jobs, and know what diesel costs you per mile before you chase a cheaper pump off your route.
If you haul hazmat, 49 CFR 397.7 bars parking on or within 5 feet of the traveled part of a public road, with a narrow exception for brief stops when no other place is practical. Explosives get no such exception. That makes the backup stop even more important.
Watch the INFRA sites for opening dates, not the headline totals. Until spaces open, tonight's parking is still your job.