Despite the difficulty in finding truck parking – especially becauseof the Hours of Service (HOS) requirements enforced by ElectronicLogging Devices (ELDs) – there is room for optimism, according to thoseinvolved in the issue. However, they say the solution must be big and inthe right places.
“Let me be an optimist for a minute,” said Dan Murray, vice president atthe American Transportation Research Institute, part of the AmericanTrucking Associations. “We’re about to undertake the second Jason’s Lawtruck parking study. It should be kicking off in late 2018. I think thatcould be the impetus for moving to that next stage of truck parkingcapacity development. When that report is complete, it’s going to bereally hard to dispute that there is a need for more capacity and formore parking information. I think that’s going to be an eye-opener forsome and a motivator for others to leap to that next phase of capacitydevelopment and more information systems.”
Murray, who is on the Department of Transportation’s National Coalitionon Truck Parking, adds that the challenge is to find vacant areas wheretruck drivers can park while they’re on the road and are edging upagainst HOS constraints. In his opinion, it doesn’t take much money oreffort to change empty or underused areas into truck parking in ruralareas but that truckers need parking in congested, populated regions.
“We’re highly constrained in certain locations such as those on the EastCoast, and particularly the Northeast, also Los Angeles. There’s noquestion that its catastrophic in some locations. It doesn’t take muchmore than a brownfield, a bathroom, some garbage containers, and someeither permanent or temporary lighting to turn it into an adequate truckparking facility.”
He notes: “I say adequate because that may not be ideal in terms of allthe amenities desired but it’s plenty adequate and far, far lessexpensive than a formal public rest stop would be. That’s low-hangingfruit in just about everybody’s mind.” He warns, though: “You cannotlook at brownfields that are 15 miles off the interstate.”
One company is moving in the direction of urban parking. Scott Grenerth,a consultant at Truck Specialized Parking Services (TSPS), said thatone of the company’s founders has several empty lots in the Detroit areawhich have been turned into basic truck parking lots. The current totalcapacity for locations in Detroit is about 950 to 1,500 depending onpercentages of usage (bobtail, dropped trailers, tractor trailers).
“We are not a truck stop operator in the sense of, like a TA Petro,Pilot, Flying J, or a Love’s,” said Grenerth, who is also a member ofthe National Truck Parking Coalition. “Our priority is security. We’vegot a fence around the property, a seven-foot high fence, plus razorwire, and it’s electric, and there’s one way in and one way out. It’s inthe heart of the Detroit industrial area. We have a basic driver loungewith leather couches, good quality Wi-Fi, showers, washers, dryers, andsome vending machines.”
There is no other food available but drivers are permitted to drop theirtrailers and bobtail out to eat or do errands. He emphasizes that thearea is strictly controlled, and no one can just wander in like atpublic truck stops.
Will this model be expanded to other areas? “We want to be where thedemand is,” said Grenerth. “We know that in other major market areasthere are places where there’s land available, and a major part of ourgoal is to find these underutilized assets.”
Like Murray, he is looking forward to the Jason’s Law report that isexpected by year’s end. One of the outcomes of the report will be atemplate to help drivers approach government officials about possibleparking lots in areas in which they’re familiar. “These areas might bewhere they live or where they drive. For me, for example, that would beNashville. I know it really well. I don’t live there, but I trucked inthere all the time.”
Although he acknowledges the effort by states like Missouri that arerazing worn-out rest areas and turning them into basic truck parkinglots, and towns like Weed, CA, and Elmira, NY, that have turned unusedland into parking areas, as well as the repurposing of a cloverleaf voidin Big Springs, NE, these initiatives may not be enough. “At the end ofthe day, no matter what anyone is doing, it’s the tip of the iceberg.We have a serious lack of capacity. I cheer on the attention, interestand research. We’re involved in a dozen state truck parking studies, andthat’s step one in what we hope becomes a much bigger and broaderinitiative to increase capacity and provide real-time information onwhere that capacity is. I’m excited about the trend, but in terms of thenumber of new spaces that are entering the marketplace now, it’s stillinsignificant.”
He adds: “I think we’re setting a baseline for where we’re at now andwhere we need to be. I’m hoping [that all the interest] becomes agroundswell to two solutions. Number one, first and foremost, morecapacity. Number two, information on where that capacity is”
Once capacity is increased, Murray said, truckers need a simple way tofind empty spaces. “Some folks are color coding green through red interms of availability. Other people are providing real-time spacecounts. Someday, we’ll have to standardize the information so that truckdrivers don’t need to use five different apps on their phone,particularly while they’re driving.”
Grenerth concludes: “I think the general direction and consensus of bothstates and the federal government is very positive, but at some point,we’re going to need to bring all of our findings together and say, ‘whatis that next step that’ll have a big impact on capacity andinformation?’ We’re getting really, really close, but I wouldn’t saywe’ve pulled the trigger yet on that next leap of activity.”
Original article provided by: https://www.fleetowner.com/infrastructure/truck-parking-problems-search-solutions-big-cities
