What happened
How much does diesel cost in September 2026?
The numbers below come from AAA's daily survey and the U.S. Energy Information Administration's weekly one. They measure slightly different things on slightly different days, which is why both are here.
- $5.90 a gallon on 7 SeptemberThe AAA national diesel average on Labor Day, as reported by ABC17 News — up from $5.60 one week earlier and about $3.71 a year ago, a year-over-year rise of roughly 59%.
- The record fell on 4 SeptemberAAA's average reached $5.85 that day, passing the previous high of $5.8159 set in June 2022. A month earlier the average was $5.3715. The run-up is widely attributed to disrupted tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz since the conflict with Iran began earlier this year.
- Gulf Coast: $5.36 on 31 AugustThe EIA weekly survey put the Gulf Coast region — the district that includes Texas — at $5.360 against a national $5.599 that week. Texas remains the cheapest region in the country. That is still a price the corridor west of Houston has never run on before.
The hour nobody budgets
Why does the parking search matter more at $5.90?
Fuel is bought by the gallon but burned by the hour, and the least productive hour of a driving day is the one spent circling exits and lots. The industry numbers on that hour have not changed; the price of it just did.
The 14-hour window does not pause for the search, which is why seven in ten drivers admit it has pushed them over — the parking-clock post walks through that math. What follows is the fuel side of the same hour.
The arithmetic
How many gallons does an hour of hunting for truck parking burn?
Two ways to spend the hour, both priced at the 7 September figure of $5.90 a gallon. Put your own truck's numbers in; the shape of the answer does not change.
- Idling it: 0.8 gallons, about $4.72A heavy-duty truck at idle burns roughly 0.8 gallons an hour, per Argonne National Laboratory figures published by the Department of Energy. That is the cheap version of the hour — sitting on a ramp with the engine running, waiting to see if a spot opens.
- Driving it: about 2.7 gallons, about $16Call an hour of hunting twenty miles of exits, frontage roads and full lots. At the 7.43 mpg fleet average in ATRI's 2025 operational-cost study, that is about 2.7 gallons — roughly $16 at today's price, for zero revenue miles.
- All in: about $47ATRI puts the 2025 all-in cost of running a truck at a record $2.336 a mile. Twenty miles of searching is about $47 in operating cost — and that figure was built on fuel at $0.482 a mile, before this run-up. At $5.90 and 7.43 mpg, fuel alone is now about $0.79 a mile.
- Against the stall it was looking forA reserved night at this yard is $10–28 by stall size; the standard 80-foot stall is $14. The fuel in one wasted hour of driving already exceeds the night. A monthly stall at $129.99 works out to $4.33 a night across thirty nights — less than the idling hour.
The full break-even between nightly, weekly and monthly at published rates is in the line-item post; the market bands around Katy and Houston are in the cost anchor.
Cost certainty
What does a reserved stall change when diesel is at a record?
It converts a variable the driver cannot control into a fixed number the driver can. Four working parts:
- A destination known before the day startsThe last 45 minutes of the 14-hour window become driving to a point on the map, not a search. Every gallon in that stretch is a revenue gallon.
- A rate that is publishedEvery stall and every rate is on the site — from $89 a month for a 40-foot stall and $129.99 for the standard 80-foot cut, $10–28 a night, $67.99 a week. The number in the spreadsheet is the number on the invoice.
- A gate that opens when you arrive24/7 access with individual credentials, LED lighting end to end, cameras, and a resident manager on the property. Confirmed round-the-clock access is rarer than listings suggest, so it is worth stating plainly: the gate works at 4 a.m.
- Five minutes off the interstateThe yard is at 3485 FM 362 in Brookshire, five minutes north of I-10 at exit 732, fifteen minutes west of Katy. The corridor guide maps what else is out here; the short answer is that options thin out fast west of the Grand Parkway.
Five or more trucks? A fleet account puts all of them on one invoice with one renewal date.
At a glance
Where is secure truck parking near Katy, off I-10?
LockRig Storage & Parking is a gated, lit, resident-managed truck parking yard at 3485 FM 362, Brookshire, TX 77423 — five minutes north of I-10 exit 732, west of Katy and Houston. It offers overnight truck parking and monthly truck parking for semi-trucks, tractor-trailers, bobtails, box trucks and cargo vans, with 24/7 gate access, published rates from $89 a month and $10 a night, a tire shop operating on the property, and 8×20 drive-up storage vaults on the same site. Availability changes daily; the booking page is the accurate source for what is open tonight.
Find the yard
Five minutes north of I-10, exit 732
3485 FM 362, Brookshire, TX 77423 — tap the map and Google Maps takes you straight to the gate.
The entrance is signed from the road — no hunting an unmarked driveway in the dark.
Fix the one fuel line you can
A reserved, gated, resident-managed stall five minutes off I-10 at Brookshire — published rates from $89 a month or $10 a night, a gate that opens at any hour, and no last hour spent looking.
