Which are the busiest counties in North America in terms of truck stop congestion, and where might you find more tumbleweeds than trucks in those parking spots? Data from Trucker Path, maker of a popular parking and planning app for truck drivers, reveals the top 10 counties with the most — and least — busy truck stops.
Trucker Path has been building quite a useful data sample to determine this kind of information. The company says its free mobile app — described as crowd-sourced trip planning and resource locator software — is the most popular in the United States, with an active user community that in June surpassed 450,000, nearly a third of U.S. Class 8 truck drivers. The app lets drivers find and report on parking availability and also provides truck stop reviews, weigh station status and info on truck wash facilities.
Based on the app's crowd-sourced data, here are your top 10s:
LEAST BUSY, where less than 3% of truck drivers
report that truck stops are congested
• No. 10: Union County, SD. With a population just under 15,000, this South Dakotan county got its name to show what side folks were on the year before the American Civil War ended.
• No. 9: Algoma District, ON. Good thing there's little trouble parking in this district in the Canadian province of Ontario — you may want to stay awhile and take in some scenery or go kayaking.
• No. 8: Montezuma County, CO. This county forms the southwestern tip of Colorado and is part of the Four Corners region where that state, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona meet, which made a comedic appearance in the 2015 movie "Vacation."
• No. 7: Waushara County, WI. You can check out glacial landscapes in this scenic Wisconsin county's Ice Age Trail. The county is about 20 mi. west of Lake Winnebago and 50 mi. west of Lake Michigan.
• No. 6: Republic County, KS. Today with a population dwindling below around 4,700, this county at Kansas' northern border was settled in 1860 and had been inhabited principally by nomadic First Nations tribes.
• No. 5: Seneca County, NY. Some believe Seneca Falls, a town in this New York county situated between the Finger Lakes and Cayuga Lake, inspired the idyllic fictional town depicted in the 1940s classic "It's a Wonderful Life."
• No. 4: Missoula County, MT. There may not be many parked trucks, but north of Missoula, MT — the seat of this county bisected by Interstate 90 — you'll find the largest population of nesting loons in the western U.S.
• No. 3: Indian River County, FL. Here's one county along Interstate 95 where you'll find a parking spot; the county seat, Vero Beach, is part of Florida's Treasure Coast.
• No. 2: Wharton County, TX. This county southwest of Houston was named in 1846 after brothers John Austin Wharton and William Harris Wharton, the latter of whom fought in the Texas Revolution and had a son, also John Austin, who served as a Confederate general in the American Civil War.
• No. 1: Noble County, OK. 'Tis a noble thing indeed not to have to hunt for parking. And it's a very good bet you won't in this north-central Oklahoma county, to which the 18th U.S. Sec. of the Interior John Willock Noble lent his surname.
MOST BUSY, where more than 60% of truck drivers
report that truck stops are congested
No. 10: Shelby County, IN. Interstate 74 runs right through this county — which gets its name from a Revolutionary War and War of 1812 hero, General Isaac Shelby — and it's nestled in a triangle formed by Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Louisville.
No. 9: Franklin County, OH. Another county named after someone famous: Benjamin Franklin. Columbus, OH, the county seat, is right in the middle, and a number of highways (and trucks) run through it.
No. 8: Monterey County, CA. Right on the U.S. Pacific coast and bordering Monterey Bay, tourists worldwide know this location; you might have more luck finding a spot for a surfboard than a big truck.
No. 7: Los Angeles County, CA. Very little introduction's needed for this California county, which houses some of the most famous — and busy — cities, ports, and multi-lane highways in the world.
No. 6: Jefferson County, OH. Near the eastern border of the state and west of Pittsburgh, lots of freight gets trucked through this county, which dates back to 1797 and is named for Thomas Jefferson.
No. 5: Miami-Dade County, FL. This county at the southeastern border of Florida is also the southernmost terminus of Interstate 95; commerce, shipping and goods transport abound.
No. 4: Livingston Parish, LA. Interstate 10, another major trucking route, runs through this county just east of Baton Rouge, LA. I-10 and arterial highway congestion here can be a significant impediment to businesses and goods transport, often causing shipping delays.
No. 3: Mecklenburg County, NC. Charlotte, NC is the seat of Mecklenburg County, and both those names come from Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, wife of King George III of England. The state's transportation dept. is looking to alleviate growing congestion where Interstates 85 and 77 converge.
No. 2: Botetourt County, VA. If you drew a rough circle on a map touching Charleston, WV, Richmond, VA, Raleigh, NC and Charlotte, NC, Botetourt County would be near the center. Interstate 81 runs straight through it, and a major interchange improvement project is underway at I-81 Exit 150.
No. 1: DeKalb County, GA. On a map, the highways converging in this county housing Atlanta's eastern metro region look a bit like a brain aneurism on an MRI. Last year, the American Transportation Research Institute identified Tom Moreland Interchange, a.k.a. "Spaghetti Junction," in DeKalb County as the nation's #1 truck bottleneck.
New load board app
The main Trucker Path app has been available since 2013, but just four months ago, Trucker Path launched its Truckloads load board/ transportation marketplace app. Truckloads has also marked a significant user milestone and recently topped 100,000 downloads, according to the company.
Truckloads allows freight companies to access available trucking capacity across North America and Canada, Trucker Path explains, and motor carriers can find and book loads and check free freight brokerage credit information. More than 400 freight brokers post some 1.2 million loads each month on Truckloads, the company says.
Here's one last tidbit: According to data from Truckloads, the top five states by loads posted on the app are Alabama, Texas, Georgia, Arkansas and North Carolina — right through the middle of the Bible Belt. During seasonal highs, the app now helps move 5-10% of all North American freight, Trucker Path says.
