The Nevada Trucking Association says that the Las Vegas area, as well as the entire country, is facing a serious commercial truck parking crisis.
Though issues regarding truck parking have been around for a while, Las Vegas residents were recently made more aware of the issue when a local news station published an article depicting the issues surrounding the “pop-up truck stops” appearing in local neighborhoods, and now local trucking companies are desperately searching for truck parking alternatives.
“We are not bugging anyone, we’re just parking there for just a couple days while my husband can recuperate and has some rest,” said Nancy Amezola, co-owner of LAN Transport based in Las Vegas.
“I don’t know where to park, I really don’t know anymore… it’s a crisis,” she said.
According to the Nevada Trucking Association, trucking companies are already operating on an average profit margin of 1.75%, leaving companies little room for additional costs such as storage, parking, or parking violation costs.
“Truck parking is a huge issue both within the state of Nevada and across the country,” said CEO of the Nevada Trucking Association, Paul Enos.
“They don’t want to park somewhere that will upset their neighbors but a lot of times they don’t have another choice… Truckers do not want to park in an unsafe place either,” Enos added.
At present, Nevada is conducting a study on truckers aimed at coming up with parking solutions that is scheduled to conclude in July of 2019, but local truckers and trucking companies are unsure of what to do until then. With land in the Las Vegas area selling at high prices and strict air quality regulations, construction of a new truck stop could prove more difficult than it would seem, reported KTNV News.
The Nevada Trucking Association predicts that it would take the construction of at least three truck stops to ease the truck parking woes of the Las Vegas area – each of those truck stops costing around $10 million to build.
“I hope a fix is coming,” said Enos.
“It is something we are aware of and it is something we are looking at and there is a study currently in place.”
