We're at Iowa 80!

Come see us at the Truckers Jamboree

Author

Reed Loustalot
July 10, 2026

TRUCK PARKING CLUB

Friday Bulletin • July 10, 2026

Good Morning Truck Parking Club Members,

Are You Using AI Out Here?

Everybody in the industry is talking about AI. We want to know if it's actually made it into the cab.

Nine quick questions. $25 promo code shown after you submit.

The Big Thing

The First Parking Checks Just Landed in Four States

Last week we told you the truck parking money was finally moving. This week some of it arrived. The Department of Transportation awarded $61.7 million in BUILD grants aimed squarely at truck parking: Kentucky gets $25 million to add spaces at seven rest areas along with real-time availability systems, Mississippi gets $22.1 million for 54 new spaces plus the same real-time tech, Illinois gets $13.2 million for 45 rest area spaces, and Wyoming gets $1.4 million to improve winter truck parking.

This is what years of drivers telling their story looks like when it finally lands. A USDOT study found 98% of drivers regularly have trouble finding safe parking, and ATRI's research shows the average driver gives up 56 minutes of drive time a day looking for it, worth about $6,813 a year in lost wages. Those numbers made their way from surveys to hearings to line items, and now to signed checks with state DOT names on them.

And the pipeline behind these grants keeps filling. Congress already put a record $200 million for parking into this year's budget, is working on another $200 million for next year, and the INFRA grant round with its dedicated $200 million parking set-aside takes its final applications July 15. The real-time availability systems in the Kentucky and Mississippi awards are worth calling out too: knowing a space is open before you get there is half the battle.

New public spaces take time to build. Grants become designs, designs become construction seasons, and these spaces will come online over the next few years. That is just how infrastructure works, and every one of them will be worth the wait.

In the meantime, our lane is a different one, and it works alongside all of this: there is parking capacity already sitting on the map right now, in yards, lots, and secured properties that owners are not fully using. Putting that underutilized space to work is what Truck Parking Club does, tonight, while the new spaces get built.

New spaces are coming. Underutilized space is already here.

Read more: The Trucker

Mile Markers

Where the numbers landed this week.

Diesel: $4.578/gal, down about 9 cents on the week. That is the eighth straight weekly drop, with all five regions falling, though the pump is still roughly 84 cents higher than a year ago. (EIA)

Spot rates (all-in, national average): Van $3.06, Reefer $3.47, Flatbed $3.68 per mile. The holiday week squeezed capacity and pushed rates up instead of the usual lull: van gained 4 cents, reefer jumped 7 cents with its linehaul rate matching the 2021 all-time record, and flatbed linehaul added 3 cents for its 16th straight weekly gain, now up 42% on the year. Load posts thinned out over the short week, but reefer volume still ran 32% above last year. (DAT)

Stay Off The Ramp

You shouldn't have to choose between a highway ramp and a HOS violation. Thousands of drivers make that call every night. We built Truck Parking Club so you don't have to.

Use code ramp25 for $25 off any daily booking at any of our 5,600+ locations. Find a real spot tonight.

Quick Hits

Super Trucker Membership - $9.99/month

Unmatched flexibility + brand new features, right at your fingertips.

  • 5 refunds per month (cancel before booking starts, money goes to Club Cash)

  • 5 free booking date changes per month

  • 5% Club Cash on every purchase (up from 1%), up to $50/month

  • Access to Truck Navigation with every booking

  • MORE BENEFITS TO COME!

Property Members: Free Signage & Access Controls

Need signage for your lot? Have an automated gate you want connected to our app? We cover it.

News

Blitz Week Is Back: Operation Safe Driver Week Runs July 12-18. Starting Sunday, CVSA puts extra patrols on the road for a full week, and this one is about how you drive, not what is in your logbook. Officers are watching for speeding, following too close, unsafe lane changes, distracted driving, and no seat belt, and they are writing tickets, not warnings. It also stacks on top of a busy July enforcement calendar, with revoked-ELD compliance deadlines landing the week after. The worst place to be during a blitz week is out of hours and circling for a spot, so lock in your parking before the clock gets tight. Read more on Tank Transport

FMCSA Just Killed Three Paperwork Rules. Effective July 22. The agency finalized three deregulatory rules that take effect July 22: you no longer have to self-report traffic convictions to your licensing state, the ELD operator's manual no longer has to live in your cab, and signed roadside inspection reports only go back to the state when the state asks. None of it touches hours of service, drug and alcohol testing, or CDL standards, and states have swapped conviction data electronically since 2024, so a ticket still follows you home either way. Less paper in the truck, same record on file. Read more on Trucksafe

Running a Revoked ELD Can Now Park Your Truck. FMCSA pulled Safe ELD and MYLOGS from its approved device list, and the deadline to replace them came and went on July 7. The agency has now revoked 67 devices since the start of 2025, with more compliance deadlines hitting later this month. If your device is on the revoked list, you are treated as having no record of duty status at all, which means citations and a possible out-of-service order at the roadside. Take two minutes this weekend to check your device against FMCSA's registered and revoked lists before an inspector does it for you. Read more from FMCSA

The Walcott Truckers Jamboree is now!

The 48th Annual Walcott Truckers Jamboree returns to the Iowa 80 Truckstop off I-80, Exit 284 in Walcott, Iowa.

We are onsite for the show. If you’re going be sure to stop by our booth!

The Regulars

📍 Map Check: 5,917 Locations

🎖️ Customer Care Corner

24/7 support staffed entirely by former drivers.

⭐ Review of the

Week

Thank you for your feedback and for being a Trucker Member, Robert!