The Federal Highway Administration has left the time frame for its next update on states’ ability to offer appropriate parking and rest facilities for truck drivers open.
The study and subsequent modifications, known as Jason’s Law, were mandated by law in 2012 as part of a federal highway funding package. The first survey, done in 2015, discovered that truck parking in the United States was significantly deficient, and a 2019 update, released in December 2020, confirmed that the problem had worsened.
The US Department of Transportation is required by law to “periodically” update the survey. However, the FHWA has not yet confirmed the date of the next survey. “In the coming years, we will conduct additional surveys on a regular basis, as required by statute,” the agency said in answer to a question about the situation.
According to the American Transportation Research Institute’s recent study of top trucking industry issues, truck parking tied for the top spot (along with wages) hurting commercial drivers.
The American Trucking Associations and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association recently reminded Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg of the wide-ranging impacts of a lack of parking capacity in a joint letter, noting that there is one truck parking place for every 11 drivers.
“The scarcity of truck parking spaces across the country reduces safety for all highway users, exacerbates the industry’s long-standing workforce challenges, negatively impacts driver health and well-being, reduces trucking productivity, and results in unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions,” the organizations wrote.
They also noted the 2019 Jason’s Law report, which revealed that 98 percent of drivers have difficulty locating safe parking on a regular basis, up from 75 percent in the 2015 survey. “Unfortunately, the entire 2019 Jason’s Law Report has not yet been released, and we hope you will hurry up and do so.”
When asked for clarification, Norita Taylor, OOIDA’s director of public relations, stated that, unlike the 2015 survey, which included a complete final report, the DOT has only issued a slide presentation on the updated data thus far. Taylor told FreightWaves, “There’s no genuine report to speak of, just a top-level summary.”
FHWA informed FreightWaves that the Department of Transportation will react to the groups’ letter, but did not address the 2019 Jason’s Law poll. The FHWA website links to the 2019 update and states that “no additional material is scheduled to be published.”
The agency emphasized that the administration is serious about truck parking, citing Buttigieg’s recent testimony before a congressional committee that “there are a number of programs” that states can use to fund truck parking expansion, including the Surface Transportation Block Grant Program, the National Highway Freight Program, and the Highway Safety Improvement Program.
