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CAPITOL recap
PARKING, FROM PAGE 10
and Senate Bill 1035 — that call for $755 million over three
years to address the issue. Working with our lobbyists on
Capitol Hill, we’re probably about five to six co-sponsors
away from actually getting something moving on truck
parking that would really make a difference.”
The U.S. Department of Transportation recently announced
more than $300 million to address the national truck parking
crisis, so some headway is being made.
Officials in Wisconsin announced in February that they
are spending $8 million of those federal funds to revamp a
rest stop in Sparta to add truck parking spots.
This project increases truck parking capacity from 16 to
approximately 70 spots, adds a staging area for oversizedoverweight
vehicles and leverages technology to proactively
communicate open truck parking spots to commercial
drivers moving along Interstate 90 through Sparta.
Other truck parking projects around the nation include:
• $180 million for the Florida Department of Transportation
to build more than 900 trucking parking spaces along
Interstate 4 in Central Florida along four sites in Volusia,
Seminole and Osceola counties.
• $40 million for a project at Lehigh Valley International
Airport in Pennsylvania, which will include the creation of
a safe truck parking area as an alternative to the current
practice of parking off-site in unauthorized locations nearby.
• $12 million for the Washington State Department of
Transportation to deploy a regional truck parking information
management system at 54 truck parking facilities along the
Interstate 5 corridor in Washington, Oregon, and California
to connect truck drivers with available parking.
• $92 million for the Missouri Department of Transportation
to improve Interstate 70, which includes new truck parking
facilities and truck parking information systems.
Turning to infrastructure spending, the $110 billion
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed in 2021 has helped
greatly, but there are still issues.
“What happened between now and when the infrastructure
bill passed is that there was a tremendous increase in the
cost of construction and that increase rose dramatically,”
Heller explained. “The funding that was passed in the
infrastructure bill, doesn’t equate to 2023 prices that it cost
to actually build roads and bridges.”
Supply chain solutions and other trucking bills are still in
the works, according to Heller.
“There are several pieces of legislation that are currently
being talked about on Capitol Hill,” he said. “The Highway
Accident Fairness Act, which is lawsuit abuse, anything
size and weight certainly has crept into the conversation,
autonomous vehicle centric legislation, along with
employee-driver-centered legislation like the license acts or
veterans or truck driver incentive acts. There’s also an antispeed
limiter bill we’re going to talk about.”
Other current bills include a Motor Carrier Safety Selection
Standard Act, a bathroom access bill, and the Workforce
Improvement act.
“The question is: Where does it go after they’re talking
about it?” Heller asked.
He also pointed out that the 2024 November presidential
election could impact legislation as the parties maneuver for
political points.
The Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse is still an issue,
as the numbers of drivers testing positive for alcohol or
controlled substances and declining the return to duty
process continues to grow, Heller said.
“Marijuana, by far, at 57.2% is the No. 1 substance
identified in these drug tests,” Heller noted. “You do have
to look about where you are in the United States in terms of
legalized recreational use states.”
Oral fluid and hair follicle testing remain active topics. The
U.S. Department of Transportation announced a rulemaking
that allows oral fluid testing but as yet there are no certified
laboratories to test samples. Hair testing has proven
effective but has not been approved.
“It’s one of those situations that we continue to talk about
with the agency hoping that we get some movement in
2024, getting the results of those hair tests and putting it
into the Clearinghouse,” Heller said.
A speed limiter rule has been in the works for some time
now but has now been postponed until at least May.
“A supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was
supposed to come out Dec. 29, 2023,” Heller said. “It never
came out.”
The initial proposal received over 15,000 comments but,
as yet no final ruling has been issued.
Heller also covered the topics of changes to the
compliance, safety and accountability program, the
carrier fitness determination process, the young driver
apprenticeship program, proposals for trailer side underride
guards, automatic emergency braking, lawsuit abuse and
electric vehicles.
RESTROOMS, FROM PAGE 11
drivers, but we face perpetual challenges with recruitment
and retention. One unique and unnecessary challenge these
drivers face is lack of restroom access at delivery points
while on the road. This is especially difficult for female
drivers, which are a growing demographic of truckers who
helped power our economic recovery from the pandemic,”
said Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA). “I’m proud to
reintroduce this bipartisan legislation to ensure every truck
driver has the certainty that a restroom is accessible as they
do their jobs. There’s no reason truckers shouldn’t have the
same rights that other employees experience in their own
workplaces.”
Sponsored by SCALE FUNDING / GETSCALEFUNDING.com / 800.707.4845
12 Truckload Authority | www.Truckload.org TCA MARCH/APRIL 2024