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This Friday, the USDOT has been able to bring together industry leaders for a meeting of the National Coalition of Truck Parking to stop resources from the available options in President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to address the nation’s truck parking shortage. Near the time of the meeting, the DOT had shared the new handbook that shows strategies for developed truck parking and great practices on designing and building truck paring. Officials have been talking about new and expansive funding resources being that they are all eligible for truck parking projects. From the meeting of  the DOT on, there have been commitments of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Trucking Action Plan. ALl of which that address driver recruiting and retention, as well as other issues.

But truck parking itself has definitely been paramount among problems sent to the DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg, throughout his tenure. Of course, there’s a little bit of impatience coming in from the OOIDA (Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association) and the ATA (American Trucking Associations).

This is all while the organizations themselves have cited about98% of drivers are having problems in finding safe parking, with the main concern being that drivers are spending beyond 56 minutes of driver-time to find parking. So that time wasted is estimated to create about $5,500 in losses of annual compensation, which is about a 12% pay cut.

The Truck Parking Coalition is after a good cause to make life easier for commercial vehicle drivers.

There’s been plenty of truckers around the country talking about the shortage of truck parking costing the drivers time and money in order to mention that the roads have been made safer and weakened from the supply chain. This is all from the funds of President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to address truck parking shortages while developing parking for more safety and quality of life for the nation’s truck drivers.

The DOT has investments in truck paring throughout the INFRA programs, it all involved $15 million in order to add about 120 new truck parking spaces throughout the United States. For example, along the I-4 corridor in the Florida and right between Orlando and Tampa.  With a $22.6 million investment to bring up about 125 spaces throughout I-40 east of Nashville. The FMCSA has awarded about $1.4 million in grant funding, through Montana and Kentucky to upgrade truck parking throughout the High Priority Innovative Technology Deployment grants.

A good understanding of the parking situation in the United States may allow for the DOT to actually make a change and recognize that their drivers need all the help they can get, while receiving help from all partners in the industry.