Massive trucking yard taking over former landfill in West Dundee

A truck yard with parking for more than 1,000 semis will be opening in West Dundee in late October.

The 30-acre yard is located at 70 Airport Road, near I-90. It is one of four new yards recently announced by Outpost, a Texas-based company with more than 20 locations in the United States.

"For us, getting into the Chicagoland market has always been a major goal," said Pat Hardin, Outpost's vice president of revenue.

The new truck yard will be on the former Elgin landfill, which closed in the 1970s.

West Dundee Village Manager Joe Cavallaro said the massive asphalt parking lot built for truck parking provided "the best environmental solution" to cap the shuttered landfill.

The West Dundee yard will offer more parking than Iowa 80 truck stop, which bills itself as the world's largest truck stop and offers 900 parking spaces.

However, the West Dundee yard will not be open to the motoring public. It also will not feature the large fueling center with shops and restaurants typically found at truck stops like the Iowa 80.

Hardin said the new yard will help meet a dire need for truck parking spots. According to the American Trucking Association, there is only one parking spot for every 11 trucks on the road.

"Truck parking is essential infrastructure for our supply chain and the U.S. economy — no different from roads and bridges," Outpost co-founder and CEO Trent Cameron said in a news release.

Trucking companies using the West Dundee yard will have to make a reservation for a spot and enter a code to get into the yard. Reservations are often for multiple months, Hardin said. Companies can use the yard for a single truck or reserve parking for a fleet.

"Everyone who is on the yard is preregistered when they come to check in," Hardin said.

He added each yard is staffed and has security cameras and lighting.

A fueling station with a 3,000-square-foot building that will include a convenience store and office space also will be built on the property, Hardin said.

Cavallaro noted that as part of the development agreement, 1.5 acres of property, including frontage along the Fox River , was donated to the Kane County Forest Preserve District to extend the Voyageur Landing Forest Preserve.