ATRI Announces Launch of Detailed Survey to Reveal Extent of Truck Parking Shortage
This story appears in the March 28 print edition of Transport Topics.
The American Transportation Research Institute launched what it called the first detailed survey of truck parking based on reporting from drivers, with the aim of gaining insight into one of the industry’s most significant ongoing headaches.
Starting March 21, ATRI asked a group of drivers to log for 14 work days where and how long they park, how long it takes to find parking, why they picked that spot and other questions for both meal and rest breaks and for mandatory, daily 10-hour stoppages.
Tom Miller, an America’s Road Team captain, took the survey on a test basis. He said it includes the right questions and only took him about two minutes to fill out each day after his shift ended.
“Parking is a nightmare pretty much anywhere in the Northeast and New England and in congested areas like Houston and Los Angeles,” said Miller, a trucker for nearly 25 years who drives for Prime Inc. of Springfield, Missouri.
“There’s not a travel center with parking within 60 miles of Oakland [California],” Miller said. “Hopefully, after this study, some of the truck stop chains will say, ‘We need to place a travel center here’ to try to increase parking. And I hope that the states that are pretty routinely closing rest areas — like the one in Hamel, Illinois, 20 miles from my house — will see this as an eye-opener and decide to keep them open.”
Last year, parking ranked fifth on ATRI’s list of critical issues. The institute is an affiliate of American Trucking Associations.
“This [study] is going to raise awareness of the problem we have with limited parking,” said Todd Stine, a 16-year driver who works for tank truck carrier Carbon Express of Wharton, New Jersey.
“Time of day is important because parking gets very limited past 7 in the evening. If you start at noon and have to work until midnight, it’s very tough to find a parking spot,” Stine said.
“On more than one occasion, I’ve pulled into a truck stop at 10 or later, circled the lot three times and couldn’t find a space. So I just pull over onto the shoulder of the on-ramp to the interstate, and that’s where I sleep. I’ve had state troopers knock on my door to tell me I can’t park there, but I tell them I’m on a 10-hour break and I’m not moving until it’s over,” Stine said.
He also has parked in rest areas or at customers’ offices, but neither of those options provide restrooms or somewhere to buy food, Stine said.
“It’s imperative that our drivers get enough rest so they can do their jobs properly,” said Steve Niswander, vice president of safety policy for Groendyke Transport Inc. in Enid, Oklahoma, who serves as chairman of ATRI’s Research Advisory Committee. “I think this [study] will give some realistic data as to what a driver goes through to find a parking place and to do that in the timeframe not to go over his hours.
“How much time is lost sitting in traffic at ATRI bottlenecks? One of our drivers went to five places before he found a place to park, and as a result, he was over on his hours. Enforcement people would say he should have started earlier, but if it’s an hour and a half before your hours are up, not many guys are going to cut their day back then,” Niswander said.
Stine’s solution is building more truck stops, particularly more full-service facilities.
“At some point, if we have to pay for parking spots . . . maybe the driver, the carrier and the shipper could share the cost,” Niswander said. “People have been looking for places to build truck stops for 15 to 20 years, but the land is really expensive or it isn’t [available] because towns have grown up around the infrastructure.
“I’m hoping this study brings to light some areas that can be addressed. It’s going to take everybody: the shippers, the carriers, the drivers, the enforcement people, the infrastructure people, the truck stop operators.”
ATRI President Rebecca Brewster said she would like to see the survey completed by Memorial Day.
Interested drivers can go to ATRI’s website to complete a pre-qualifying survey or visit ATRI’s booth at the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Kentucky, from March 31 to April 2. The first 100 participants to return their completed diaries will receive $50 Visa gift cards.
