- WHAT: Truck Parking Lot
- WHERE: Central Texas
- SIZE: 236,500 sq. ft.
A developer had plans to build an overnight parking location for 18 wheelers on major truck line in West Texas. The site was 5 1/2 acres and a 35,000-square-foot and 4-foot-deep detention pond was required along with a major additional drainage element to handle and route stormwater runoff. Due to being a quite flat land with little slope, expensive sump pumps would have been required as well. Projected costs for both asphalt and concrete exceeded the targeted budget and an alternative was needed.
Project Scope
Adding asphalt under the hot Texas sun would cause it to soften and absorb heat causing extreme discomfort for truckers and maintenance. A gravel-only option was not considered due to high-maintenance needs and its constant generation of dust clouds caused by heavy truck traffic.
The land was cleared and graded. Six inches of locally sourced 3/4" clean limestone was laid, spread and lightly compacted for the sub-base. This sub-base will remain highly permeable for the 25 to 40 year life of the site and will assist in bioremediation of pollutants, such as diesel, oil and coolant that may drip from the 18-wheelers, all before reaching local aquifers and waterways.
The TRUEGRID pavers were laid and connected on top of the sub-base rock. The 1/2" clean limestone fill aggregate was poured directly from a 76,000 pound dump trucks into the grid. Grid without gravel fill can withstand these heavy trucks during the dumping process, which is a huge time-saver and not seen in other weak rollout-style paver products on the market.
Solution
TRUEGRID permeable pavers fit the equation perfectly. TRUEGRID's best-in-industry strength, exceeding H20/HS20 rating, performed optimally for heavy trucks and traffic. Locally available clean #57 angular rock provided a source for inexpensive base material as well as fill material. The 90 percent porosity of the TRUEGRID system allowed for quick drainage during the heaviest of rainstorms, and the recommended 6" base plus the 2" height of the grid with fill provided plenty of detention of storm water during heavy storms.
TRUE RESULTS
Cutting out detention pond and drainage system costs, a requirement if they opted for concrete, saved them a total of $459,000. A large amount of $472,000 was saved using TRUEGRID compared to concrete and concrete installation costs. Due to elimination of detention pond, there was a 14 percent additional amount of land to be utilized. In total, TRUEGRID saved this commercial truck parking lot $931,000 on top of additional land.
