Federal and state transportation officials gathered in Sanford today to break ground on a massive expansion of truck parking along Interstate 4, a major move aimed at tackling a critical shortage of safe rest areas in Central Florida.
Backed by a $180 million federal INFRA grant, the project will add 917 new parking spaces across five different sites along the I-4 corridor. The highway serves as a vital logistics artery for the region, currently carrying roughly 95% of Florida’s consumer goods.
Finding a legal place to park has become a daily headache for commercial drivers. According to federal data, about 40% of truck drivers spend over an hour every single day looking for a spot to pull over and rest. This shortage frequently forces truckers to park on highway shoulders or off-ramps, creating safety hazards and costing the national economy billions of dollars in wasted time…