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driver facilities. This bill would go a long way toward preventing
that in the future,” added Heller.
While the $755 million would only put a dent in creating the
needed spaces, D.M. Bowman President and CEO and First Vice
Chairman of TCA Jim Ward said it’s a start.
“The level of funding, used appropriately, is a good starting
point to address some of the critical locations lacking adequate
parking space for drivers,” he said.
“Adequate is the optimum
word,” said NATSO Vice President
of Government Affairs David
“
Fialkov. NATSO represents travelplaza
and truck-stop owners and
operators, who manage 90% of
the truck-parking spaces available
in the U.S.
“Truck-parking availability is not a
problem in most parts of the country
at most times of day,” he said.
There are, he noted, hot spots
where availability is low because the
price of land is prohibitively high or
areas — mostly high-volume metropolitan
areas — where hundreds
of drivers tend to stop to stage deliveries
for the next day.
While the $755 million is a start,
trucking stakeholders are hoping
that the federal government is in a
sharing mentality if the bill passes and is fully funded.
“It is currently within every state department of transportation’s
prerogative to fund additional truck-parking capacity
with existing federal dollars,” added NATSO Vice President of
Public Affairs Tiffany Wlazlowski Neuman, noting the average
cost of a new parking space at a private facility is $10,000.
“NATSO also has long advocated for the federal and state departments
of transportation to remove barriers to private sector
investment in truck-parking capacity.”
“I believe the private truck-stop business needs to be involved,
because it’s their core competency,” said D.M. Bowman’s
Ward. “They know what needs to be done and how best
to execute this service that most effectively meets the commercial
driver’s needs.”
NATSO’s Fialkov urged the trucking industry to refrain from
using a shotgun approach when developing new capacity.
“Efforts to expand truck parking should explicitly target areas
where we know there is a serious problem,” he said.
NATSO has another potential solution to the sometime shortage
of spaces.
“We’ve long maintained that the best way to address any truckparking
capacity concerns is for motor carriers to negotiate truck
parking in their contractual relationships
with truck stops and
travel plazas like they negotiate
It is currently within
every state department
of transportation’s
prerogative to fund
additional truck-parking
capacity with existing
federal dollars.”
for fuel,” Neuman said.
Solving the capacity issue
will require public and private
entities working together, she
noted.
“The travel-center industry
spends considerable resources
working with the Federal Department
of Transportation and
dozens of state and local governments
to help address their
concerns surrounding truckparking
availability,” added
Neuman. “Yet one of the biggest
challenges faced by the truckstop
and travel-plaza industry
in expanding or building truckparking
capacity is oftentimes
local governments and local community opposition.”
TCA’s Heller called truck-parking capacity a “critical safety
obstacle.”
“Truck parking consistently ranks as one of the most important
issues for the Truckload Carriers Association and trucking
stakeholders across the country,” Heller stated. “On a daily basis,
our companies’ drivers face dangerous conditions because of
the lack of safe and convenient parking options.”
Whether the Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act will be
the catalyst to a resolution to truck parking capacity remains
to be seen.
The industry “hopes”
that it will.
— NATSO Vice President of Public
Affairs Tiffany Wlazlowski Neuman
TCA 2020 www.Truckload.org | TRUCKLOAD AUTHORITY 7