Truck drivers traveling through Washington are getting new technological tools to help find open parking spots in rest areas and weigh stations on Interstate 5.
A new program starting this month will offer drivers different ways to learn if there’s any place to park in a location a few miles or a few hours before they reach it. The Truck Parking Information Management System will provide this data via a website, a mobile application or an in-cab system.
State transportation officials said providing real-time information should help reduce guesswork and assist truck drivers in planning their travel.
This is a big deal. Truckers face legal limits on how many hours they can drive in a day and are electronically monitored to ensure they comply. They often start searching for parking long before needing it.
Washington has roughly 530 truck parking spaces at its safety rest areas. But demand often exceeds supply. Seventy-five percent of Washington’s truck drivers report problems finding safe parking at least once every week, according to the state Department of Transportation. Solving the shortage has been a focus of conversations and study in recent years.
By the end of September, data collection technology will be operational at 11 weigh stations and rest areas between Blaine and Vancouver. The $2.3 million spent to install it came from the federal Freight Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Six more locations will come online in 2026 using funds from the Infrastructure for Rebuilding America program. Both are administered by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Drivers will be able to learn what’s available 20 miles before reaching any of those 11 locations, and again at five miles before arriving.
In addition, a feature in the free mobile app will project the expected number of available truck parking spaces at a designated location up to four hours in advance. The state Department of Transportation enlisted the University of Washington Star Lab to create this first-of-its-kind source of predictive information.
Two vendors, Drivewyze and ParkerTruck, are providing the data for drivers through in-cab displays in their trucks or mobile apps on their phones.
Expanding truck parking capacity is an ongoing topic among lawmakers and transportation officials. A 2024 report assessed the challenges and recommended a series of actions for the Legislature to consider taking in the next six years.
In 2023, the department released a strategy for modernizing the state’s rest areas. Creating truck-only rest areas was suggested as one way to ease the shortage of spots.
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