AASHTO Journal - Arizona DOT Activates I-10 Truck Parking System

The Arizona Department of Transportation recently installed a new $2.8 million real-time Truck Parking Availability System or “TPAS” at the eastbound and westbound Ehrenberg and Bouse Wash rest areas serving both directions of I-10 in southeastern Arizona.

[Above photo by Arizona DOT]

It is part of a $13.7 million initiative – which includes a $6.85 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation – spearheaded by the I-10 Corridor Coalition, through which Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas are providing truck drivers with information on more than 550 parking spots across their respective states on the stretch of highway.

According to a poll conducted five years ago by the I-10 Corridor Coalition, 78 percent of truck drivers spend more than 30 minutes seeking safe parking – with a lack of safe parking often leading many to park on shoulders, ramps or other undesignated areas.

[Editor’s note: In December 2023, the nonprofit research group TRIP issued a report that the examines the reliability, capacity, sustainability, and safety of the U.S. freight transportation system; factors that TRIP argues will be “critical” to nation’s ability to provide a supply chain that will meet the growing need for timely and safe movement of goods.]

Arizona DOT noted in a statement that is also working to provide more truck parking on state and interstate highways within Arizona itself.

Its Statewide Truck Implementation Parking Plan has proposed 842 parking spaces that include expanded parking at rest areas and three new lots for truck parking. That plan includes $32 million in funding to add 370 spaces at I-10 Burnt Wells Rest Area near Tonopah, I-40 Meteor Crater Rest Area near Winslow and a new at I-10 and State Route 186 west of Willcox.

The agency has also expanded truck parking at two rest areas since 2019, nearly doubling truck parking by adding 56 spaces to the Meteor Crater Rest Area on I-40 between Flagstaff and Winslow, along with adding 38 new spaces to the Haviland Rest area on I-40 west of Kingman.