SOUTHERN COLORADO — The Colorado Department of Transportation announced on Thursday a change for food truck operators, who can now apply for a permit to serve people at highway rest areas.
CDOT issued an emergency rule that allows food truck operators to obtain permits to serve food at eight different highway rest areas. On May 2, Governor Jared Polis issued an executive order to suspend a section of state statute and allow food trucks to operate at Colorado’s rest areas. "We've been hearing about this need, particularly from the trucking community, and we know that business is a little strange for food trucks, and we just happened to have the space and potentially the opportunity for a couple folks to come together in a new way," said Matt Inzeo, CDOT's Communications Director.
Inzeo said they are taking a phased approach to this new program, and will potentially be evaluating more rest stops in the future. "In this first phase, we're looking at basically the best candidate rest stops. Places where we have good bathroom and water facilities, where there's plenty of room in the parking lots for a food truck to set up, and for people to stay spaced out as they wait their turn in line," said Inzeo.
As of now, there will be one food truck at a rest stop at a time, and the application portal opened on Thursday afternoon. Inzeo said he expects some could be setting up shop by Saturday.
News5 also spoke with a Driving Instructor for the U.S. Truck Driving School, Christopher Dittmar, who said this is a step in the right direction. "Hopefully you'll keep in mind the nature of us being out on the roads for long amounts of time and our health. So have some healthy options ready," said Dittmar.
For those interested, you can view the requirements, rest area sites, and apply for the permit here.
Currently, the CDOT rest areas where a food truck could get a permit are in Colorado City, Edwards, El Moro Trinidad, Cortez (Sleeping Ute), Rifle Rest Area, Shaw Creek (South Fork), Sterling and Wiggins.
