Know Which LTL Hub Size Your Site Can Hold
Start from an LTL regional hub with cross-dock terminals in a mix of sizes, a large trailer yard and a perimeter truck loop, fitted to your parcel. You see which hub size and dock count work before you buy.
Will an LTL Regional Hub Fit My Site?
TestFit is real estate feasibility software that generates site plans on your parcel and calculates what they yield. For an LTL regional hub, the answer comes down to three things that are hard to judge from a parcel map.
Length sets the door count
An LTL hub's capacity is its dock doors on both long sides. The parcel's long dimension decides how far the terminal can run and how many doors it holds.
The yard competes for land
Hubs stage trailers and tractors between linehaul runs, and that yard comes out of the same land as the terminal. How much yard the operation needs sets how large a hub the site can carry.
A loop around everything
The perimeter truck loop has to wrap both the terminal and the trailer yard. On an irregular parcel, corners and setbacks along that loop can decide which hub size fits.
From Your Parcel to a Deal You Can Underwrite
Start from the LTL hub your team would build, tune it to your standards, and finish with one model for the site, plan, tabulation and pro forma.
Your parcel and its constraints
- Site boundary: pick the parcel from built-in parcel data with current owner info, draw it, enter metes and bounds, or import a KML/KMZ file
- Setbacks and frontage: front, side and rear setbacks set to the parcel edges
- Zoning: FAR, building and impervious coverage, height limits and parking ratios, pulled in for your parcel so you don't have to dig through the zoning code
- Easements: areas the layout keeps buildings out of
- Site conditions: flood zones, wetlands and topography from Site Intelligence
Every layout starts inside your site's real constraints.
Your product, fine-tuned on the site
- Product: 1-story LTL cross-dock terminals, 18 ft clear, 5 sizes from 120k to 160k sf
- Site layout: dock doors on both long sides, large trailer and tractor yard, perimeter truck loop
- Your edits: building sizes, docks, trailer yard, parking and circulation
You see the building your team would propose, on your parcel.
A source of truth for the deal
- Site plan geometry: buildings, courts, parking and drives drawn to the parcel
- Tabulation for this product: building sf, dock doors, trailer and car stalls against what's required, site coverage and FAR
- Earthwork: cut and fill for the layout
- Financials: the geometry turned into development costs, revenue and returns
- Shareable results: a link or PDF report for your team, partners and other stakeholders
You know whether the deal works, with numbers to back it.
TestFit is transformational. We've shaved days off of our analysis by using the AI capabilities of this software, which allows us to make smarter decisions faster.
LTL Hub Site Planning FAQ
What is an LTL regional hub?
A less-than-truckload terminal where a carrier transfers freight between regions. It is a long, narrow cross-dock with dock doors on both sides and a large yard for trailers and tractors.
How is an LTL terminal different from a cross-dock distribution center?
Both have dock doors on both long sides. An LTL terminal is much narrower and built to move freight across the dock between trailers rather than store it, so the trailer yard drives the site more than the building does.
How much land does an LTL hub need?
The trailer and tractor yard usually decides it. The parcel has to fit a long terminal, room to stage trailers on both sides and a truck loop around it all. Load your parcel in TestFit with this layout to see which hub size fits.
Why does this layout use five building sizes?
It tests five terminal sizes from 120k to 160k sf against your parcel, so you can see which hub the site supports once the trailer yard and truck loop take their share.
Can I change the layout after it generates?
Yes. Start from this layout, then edit the terminal, docks, trailer yard, parking and circulation in TestFit. The site plan and yield recalculate as you go.
Find it in TestFit
Test This Layout on Your Next Industrial Site
Load your parcel and get the site plan, yield, and costs in one place.