Truck parking is focus of legislation at statehouses

State lawmakers along the East Coast of the United States want action to address truck parking shortages.

Truck drivers are well aware that available truck parking continues to be an issue nationally.

In 2019, a Jason’s Law survey showed there were about 313,000 truck parking spaces across the nation. The figures include 40,000 spaces at public rest areas and 273,000 at private truck stops.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association has stressed that expanding safe truck parking improves safety for all road users.

Pennsylvania

One Pennsylvania state lawmaker is again pursuing action to take steps toward addressing a shortage of truck parking in the state.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation reported there are 11,500 truck parking spaces available throughout the state at private truck stops, PennDOT rest areas and welcome centers, and Pennsylvania Turnpike service plazas.

Data from the Pennsylvania Transportation Advisory Committee indicated there is a shortage of about 4,400 truck parking spaces across the state. The shortfall results in about 1,100 trucks parked nightly on highway shoulders and ramps.

Rep. Doyle Heffley, R-Carbon, reintroduced a resolution to help counter the lack of truck parking in the state.

His non-binding resolution, HR20, directs the Joint State Government Commission to conduct a “thorough and comprehensive study of truck parking” in Pennsylvania.

Heffley wrote in a memo to House members that the study is intended to provide recommendations for achieving adequate truck parking across the state.

“The supply of truck parking has failed to keep pace with the escalating demand, leading to a widespread shortage of truck parking across Pennsylvania,” he wrote. “This predicament is further compounded by several other factors, including facility types, enforcement of highway safety laws, idling restrictions and federal truck driver hours-of-service regulations.”

Heffley added that “by taking proactive measures and implementing strategic initiatives, Pennsylvania can overcome the truck parking shortage and ensure safe transportation and truck parking practices throughout the Commonwealth.”

His resolution is in the House Transportation Committee. The committee voted unanimously to advance the legislation during the previous regular session, but it did not come up for a House floor vote, effectively killing it.

Virginia

Truck parking along Interstate 66 and Interstate 95 are the focus of a Virginia House Joint Resolution.

Delegate Rozia Henson, D-Prince William, highlighted that the Federal Highway Administration has identified truck parking shortages as a national safety concern.

Henson is focused on the lack of truck parking availability in Prince William County.

“Prince William County, which is situated between I-66 and I-95, has such shortages of safe, secure and accessible parking for tractor-trailers, and with increased freight activity due to its location, has consequently seen an increase in parking of tractor-trailers in residential and mixed-use areas,” Henson wrote.

He emphasized the importance of providing truck drivers with additional parking options.

“Commercial vehicles play a critical role in the function of local and regional economies, as well as the economy of the Commonwealth as a whole, and growing demand for freight has outpaced current remedies such as restricting commercial vehicle parking,” he said.

Henson added that there is a need to provide dedicated truck parking facilities and rest areas in appropriate locations, especially near and along major freight corridors that include those near Prince William County.

HJR462 directs the Virginia DOT to study the needs and capacity for expanded truck parking near and along the I-66 and I-95 corridors. An executive summary and a report of its findings and recommendations would be required for submission to the governor and the General Assembly by Nov. 30.

New Jersey

A New Jersey bill would create a rule to require that truck parking be included in any plans for certain warehouse developments.

Assemblyman Sterley Stanley, D-Middlesex, is behind the effort to require as a condition of preliminary site plan approval an application for development proposing a large warehouse to provide an “adequate number of onsite parking spaces” to accommodate tractor trailers servicing a warehouse.

A3370 states that trucks servicing a warehouse must not contribute to an overflow of tractor-trailer parking onto other local properties or rights-of-way between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.

A municipality may also enact a zoning ordinance to allow the number of onsite parking spaces required for overnight truck parking to be reduced, and to allow that an application for development for a large warehouse that contributes to an overflow of truck parking onto other local properties or rights-of-way be approved, as allowed by the zoning ordinance.

The bill has sat in the Assembly State and Local Government Committee since it was introduced in February 2024. New Jersey has a two-year regular session that runs from 2024 through 2025. LL

More Land Line coverage of state news is available.