The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association has already called the BUILD America 250 Act “the most pro-trucker highway bill in recent memory.”
There are plenty of reasons for that declaration. The highway bill that recently advanced out of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is full of provisions that OOIDA lobbied for in 2025. That includes things like restroom access for truckers, a prohibition on predatory lease-purchase agreements, measures to combat freight fraud, increased barriers to entry for brokers and motor carriers to keep bad actors out, a more fair and transparent DataQ process, an improved National Consumer Complaint Database and incentives for driver training schools to require a minimum number of behind-the-wheel hours.
While all of those provisions are important to truck drivers, the one that OOIDA arguably lobbied the hardest for was truck parking.
For decades, OOIDA has told lawmakers that the lack of truck parking nationwide had reached crisis levels, creating safety concerns for truckers and the general motoring public. The Association explained that there was only one safe truck parking space for every 11 trucks on the road and that truck drivers often have to choose between violating their hours-of-service requirements and parking in unsafe places, such as the shoulder of a highway.
These reasons led OOIDA to make an ultimatum. In 2025, the Association said it would not support any highway bill that did not include a substantial investment in truck parking.
“If the next surface transportation reauthorization fails to provide dedicated funding for truck parking, but authorizes even a single penny of funding for new initiatives, OOIDA will use every tool it has to ensure the legislation is defeated,” the Association wrote in 2025. “Based on a history of strong bipartisan support for the Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act, we are confident the House will again agree this crisis requires federal leadership to solve. Together, we can deliver a key victory for hundreds of thousands of truckers across the country.”
OOIDA’s message reached the House T&I Committee, as its highway bill, HR8870, includes a provision to dedicate $750 million to creating new truck parking spaces over the next five years.
The provision is essentially a direct inclusion of Rep. Mike Bost’s (R-Ill.) Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act, which OOIDA helped craft. Specifically, the provision in the BUILD America 250 Act would allocate $150 million per fiscal year from 2027 through 2031.
Although the inclusion of $750 million in truck parking funding is significant for truckers, it’s important to remember that there’s still more work to be done. The T&I Committee’s highway bill advanced out of committee and now heads for the House floor. It still needs approval from the full House and the Senate before it would be sent to President Donald Trump to be signed into law.
If you remember, in 2021, the House version of the highway bill included $1 billion for truck parking. The bill passed the House before dying in the Senate. The Senate version, which became the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, ultimately passed.
OOIDA is working to ensure that doesn’t happen again. To help that cause, OOIDA is asking truck drivers to go to its Fighting For Truckers website and send a message to their lawmakers in support of the BUILD America 250 Act and truck parking funding. LL
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