Dive Brief:
- Love’s Travel Stops will add 1,500 more trucking spaces to its national network by the end of the year as part of its $700 million 2026 facility expansion and update plan, the company announced Feb. 5.
- The company plans to build 20 new locations and update 35 existing sites, per the release. Once the additional spaces are available, Love’s will have more than 50,000 designated truck parking spots nationwide.
- Meeting truckers needs is a focus of Love’s. “Professional drivers have always represented a sizable portion of the company’s business,” Lauren Daniels, a company spokesperson, said in an email to Trucking Dive.
Dive Insight:
Government officials and industry leaders view private investment as essential to address the country’s truck parking shortage. The issue received a significant boost when President Donald Trump signed the $1.2 trillion federal spending bill, which included $200 million to expand public truck parking around the country.
Many states, including Minnesota, Wisconsin, Washington and Ohio, were already addressing the problem ahead of the recent government action. The states are working to add more public truck parking spaces and bolster technology to help commercial drivers find parking spots.
But Love’s hopes its other services for professional drivers are utilized when truckers stop for a break. In addition to parking and diesel fuel, all new Love’s locations offer services such as showers and laundry to professional drivers.
When the company seeks sites for new locations, Daniels said its focus is on highways “known to be highly trafficked by our customers and underserved by our current locations.”
Of the 669 Love’s locations around the country, 433 house a truck servicing operation, 420 of which are considered full-service centers, she said. The company also provides a nationwide mobile service that offers truckers roadside assistance, including tire replacement and light mechanical work.
Offering maintenance has opened doors for Love’s, which has contracts to provide servicing in multiple customers’ fleet yards, Daniels said.
