OOIDA asks Buttigieg to dedicate $1 billion for truck parking

After Congress failed to dedicate any funding to the truck parking crisis in its infrastructure bill, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association is asking the U.S. Department of Transportation to step up.

In a letter sent to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Monday, Nov. 29, OOIDA asked for $1 billion in discretionary funding to be dedicated to the lack of truck parking.

“The enactment of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act presents an opportunity for you to address a safety crisis that America’s truckers have faced for decades – the national shortage of truck parking,” OOIDA wrote in a letter signed by President and CEO Todd Spencer.

When truck drivers can’t find a safe place to park, they can be forced to choose between parking on the shoulder or with being in violation of the hours-of-service regulations. OOIDA said the lack of truck parking creates a major safety concern for truck drivers as well as the motoring public.

“We are extremely disappointed that the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act does not dedicate any funding exclusively to truck parking, despite the broad bipartisan and industry support for federal investment,” OOIDA wrote. “With the significant amount of new discretionary funding your department will be responsible for allocating under the IIJA, we believe that you have the ability to direct funding to critical truck parking projects across the country.”

A House version of the highway bill included a measure to dedicate $1 billion for truck parking construction. The bill passed the House, but then died in the Senate. The Senate version, which ultimately passed, did not dedicate any money toward truck parking.

Truck parking’s role in the supply chain

OOIDA says that fixing the truck parking crisis could also contribute to fixing the nation’s supply chain crisis. At a House Transportation & Infrastructure hearing on supply chains earlier this month, transportation expert David Correll said the American Trucking Associations’ estimated 80,000 driver deficit could be resolved by simply improving the utilization of America’s existing truck drivers by 18 minutes per day. According to Correll’s data, truckers typically drive only 6.5 hours a day even though they are allowed a maximum of 11 hours.

“My research leads me to see the current situation not so much as a headcount shortage of drivers but rather an endemic undervaluing of our American truck drivers’ time,” Correll said.

OOIDA pointed out that studies indicate truckers spend an average of 56 minutes per day of driving time looking for parking.

The Association says that solving the truck parking crisis will benefit safety, improve the efficiency of the supply chain, and help retain truck drivers.

“Truckers consistently rank the lack of truck parking as one of their top concerns, and there are few better ways you could improve their safety and livelihoods than by addressing the parking crisis,” OOIDA wrote. “It should not be a shock to anyone that good drivers leave the industry over the inability to find something as basic as a safe place to rest when they are weary.

“We can and should do better by these absolutely and always essential workers.” LL