Imagine you’re a truck driver. You made good time and you’re arriving an hour early for your next delivery. While there’s space for you, the facility won’t allow you to arrive until your scheduled time. So you wait down the road at an already crowded truck stop, competing for space with long-haul drivers trying to get their required rest. And while you wait, the drivers you’re displacing have nowhere safe to sleep.

This kind of situation shows up repeatedly in communities that have approved warehouses or distribution centers without requirements for where trucks stage, queue, or rest nearby. One in 16 US workers is employed in trucking, per Bureau of Labor Statistics data, and available parking has not kept pace—an estimated 11 drivers compete for every available space. Zoning codes were often written before e-commerce transformed freight demand, and state regulations frequently do not give cities the tools they need. The costs of building truck parking can be prohibitive. The result is a system gap that planners are left managing on the ground.

To help communities move from reacting to planning, our team led the development of the Guide for Local Truck Parking Regulations through the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP). It is built for planners and public works teams, with practical tools and regulations they can adapt to local conditions.

The resource addresses the full range of situations that generate parking demand, from staging near freight facilities and queuing at ports to driver rest and off-duty parking. It recognizes that long-haul, short-haul, and drayage drivers each face distinct challenges, and that good local policy has to account for all of them, including the basic human needs drivers have.

For each situation, it offers concrete tools: model ordinances, zoning code language, design standards, and guidance on integrating truck parking into general plans, setting time limits, handling shared loading facilities, and identifying funding.

The full research foundation, including literature review, regulatory scan, and stakeholder engagement, is documented in NCHRP Research Report 1175 for readers who want to go deeper.