America's hidden $100 billion crisis: How the truck parking shortage costs consumers

ungvar // Shutterstock

America’s hidden $100 billion crisis: How the truck parking shortage costs consumers

Every night across America, millions of truck drivers face an impossible choice: where to safely park their 70-foot rigs for federally mandated rest breaks when there simply aren’t enough legal spaces available. New research reveals this overlooked infrastructure crisis is costing the U.S. economy over $100 billion annually—and driving up prices for virtually every product consumers buy.

The comprehensive study, commissioned by Truck Parking Club, a truck parking marketplace, and conducted by transportation economist Noël Perry using publicly available data from the American Transportation Research Institute, as well as proprietary Truck Parking Club & Transport Futures data, attempts to quantify the true economic impact of America’s truck parking shortage.

The Numbers Don’t Add Up

Each day, 2.4 million commercial trucks need parking spaces for drivers to take their required 10-hour rest breaks. But across the entire United States, only 697,000 official parking spaces exist—creating a shortage of 1.7 million spaces, or roughly 70% of daily demand.

This shortage forces drivers to park on highway shoulders, in abandoned lots, or anywhere else they can squeeze their massive vehicles. The consequences ripple through the entire economy.

The Hidden Costs

The research reveals that the struggle arising from the truck parking shortage costs individual drivers approximately $380 per day. The breakdown shows drivers spending 56 minutes daily searching for spaces, driving an extra 15 miles per day circling for parking, and frequently being forced to park hours away from their next pickup or delivery.

Across the industry, these inefficiencies translate to staggering annual costs: $37.7 billion in extra miles searching for parking and over $82 billion in lost productivity from drivers being parked in the wrong place at the wrong time, unable to maximize their federally allowed driving hours.

The cumulative effect: These seemingly small daily inefficiencies create a massive economic burden that ripples through the entire supply chain.

A Problem Hiding in Plain Sight

Perhaps most surprising is how this massive crisis has remained largely invisible. The research found that America actually has 23.4 million parking spaces suitable for heavy trucks. The problem? A staggering 98% of spaces are private property suitable for truck parking but not offered to the public, leaving the entire industry to compete for just 2% of available capacity.

Market Solutions Emerging

Despite the massive scale of the problem, innovative solutions are making a difference. Marketplace platforms that connect drivers with property owners who have unused parking capacity have added over 44,000 new spaces—a 20% increase in available capacity—without building a single new facility.

“America doesn’t need to build 1.7 million new parking spaces,” Perry argues. “We need to unlock the capacity that already exists.”

The Consumer Connection

The over $100 billion in annual costs ultimately gets passed through to consumers in the form of higher prices. Every product that moves by truck carries a hidden tax from parking inefficiencies.

The problem is worsening as e-commerce growth continues to increase truck traffic on roads that are already struggling with capacity.

Looking Forward

The research identifies market-based solutions as the most promising approach for immediate relief. As trucking companies recognize the hidden costs of suboptimal parking, private investment in parking capacity should increase.

“The truck parking crisis represents both a massive problem and a massive opportunity,” Perry concludes. “The $100+ billion in annual costs represents waste that could be eliminated through better information, smarter technology, and more efficient use of existing resources.”

For an economy that depends on trucks to move goods coast to coast, solving the parking crisis isn’t just about driver comfort—it’s about keeping America’s supply chain running efficiently.

This story was produced by Truck Parking Club and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.