How a national shortage of truck parking impacts more than just truckers

In 2023, a Greyhound bus exiting an Illinois highway collided with three semi-trucks parked along an exit ramp, killing three bus passengers. That same year, a woman in Modesto, California, crashed into a parked truck and subsequently died. In 2021, a man in North Carolina was hospitalized after hitting a trailer while swerving to miss a parked semi-truck. His car then caught fire.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, there is only one truck parking space for every 11 truck drivers. They are integral to the economy Americans have grown to depend on—providing transit for more tha...