A Pilot Travel Center near Urbandale , IA , is scheduled to add 72 IdleAire spaces to its existing parking area.

The Des Moines Register reported that the Urbandale City Council approved the IdleAire construction at its meeting Nov. 8.

Construction on the spaces – which will be in addition to 154 regular spaces at the site – is expected to begin sometime in 2006. Once complete, the spaces will provide drivers with access to electricity, phone and Internet services.

According to The Register, the plan was brought up at the council’s October meeting, but was put on hold because of concerns over how the structures needed to support the system would look.

The IdleAire system requires 18.6-foot-high metal trusses to support its modules. As part of a compromise for approving the plan, buffer plantings will be added in the northeast corner of the site to provide a screen from Interstate 35.

Construction will not be allowed until the plants are in, which will happen sometime this fall.