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The deregulation of the trucking industry in the early 1980s led to significant changes in the way goods and products are moved throughout the United States. Prior to deregulation, approximately 20,000 motor carriers operated in an environment where operating authority was issued by the Interstate Commerce Commission and entry into the industry was difficult. As of 2000, approximately 500,000 Interstate motor carriers operated in the United States, and projections over the next 20 years estimate continuing growth. As truck traffic on America's highways increased, the demand for services and facilities for the trucking industry, including the demand for truck parking spaces, increased as well.
Another significant change in the movements in goods and services was the advent of "just-in-time" delivery. Manufacturers now operate in an environment where large warehouse inventories of parts and supplies are no longer maintained, but instead are delivered by trucks in tightly scheduled deliveries so that these inputs arrive "just-in-time" to be used in the manufacturing process. "Just-in-time" delivery places new demands on truck parking facilities as trucks use these facilities as staging areas in order to better meet their delivery requirements. The combination of increased truck traffic and tighter delivery schedules are two of the primary reasons for the increased demand for truck parking, and this increased demand has resulted in perceived shortages of truck parking space in some parts of America.
This report documents the findings of a study to investigate the adequacy of commercial truck parking facilities throughout the Nation in response to Section 4027 of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21). Section 4027 requires FHWA to prepare the following:
...a study to determine the location and quantity of parking facilities at commercial truck stops and travel plazas and public rest areas that could be used by motor carriers to comply with Federal hours-of-service rules. The study shall include an inventory of current facilities serving the National Highway System, analyze where shortages exist or are projected to exist, and propose a plan to reduce the shortages. The study may be carried out in cooperation with research entities representing motor carriers, the travel plaza industry, and commercial motor vehicle drivers.
To assist in the preparation of this report, FHWA encouraged the creation of partnerships of public and private sector stakeholders at the State level and provided a technical guidance document for their use in conducting an inventory of current facilities serving the NHS, analyzing current and projected shortages, and developing plans for action at the appropriate jurisdictional levels. The FHWA provided technical assistance to the partnerships to guide them in the completing these activities. The FHWA division offices worked closely with the partners for approximately 1 year and provided guidance and advice on forming and structuring partnership membership, conducting partnership meetings to review inventory and analysis results, and preparing partnerships status reports that describe actions to mitigate any parking shortfalls identified. This report summarizes the results of this effort. A more thorough discussion can be found in the Technical Report.(2)
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has tentatively estimated that driver fatigue is a primary factor in 4.5 percent of truck-involved fatal crashes and is a secondary factor in an additional 10.5 percent of such crashes.(3) A 1995 study conducted by the National Transportation Safety Board asserts that the most important factors in predicting a fatigue-related accident are the duration of the last sleep period, the time slept in the past 24 hours, and interruptions in sleep periods.(4) The availability of parking for commercial vehicles can affect all of these factors.
In 1996, the FHWA funded a study entitled Commercial Driver Rest and Parking Requirements: Making Space for Safety.(5) This study of parking along the Interstate Highway System was conducted in response to a Senate recommendation to evaluate the adequacy of places for truck drivers to stop and rest. This study estimated a shortfall of 28,400 public truck parking spaces nationwide. While a detailed survey of public rest areas was conducted, the survey of private truck stops was more cursory and relied on a statistical weighting of the 17 percent of private truck stops and travel plazas that completed and returned the survey.
In 2000, the National Transportation Safety Board published a Special Investigation Report that summarized the results from four public hearings pertaining to relevant safety issues regarding trucks and how to address them.(6) The major issue addressed in the Safety Board investigation was the lack of safe available commercial vehicle parking on or near Interstates. The report also addressed the lack of information about parking available to truck drivers and the State-enforced parking time limits.
This report summarizes the inventory, analysis, and planning methodologies employed by partnerships; documents the compiled National inventory of parking facilities serving the NHS; describes the nature of truck parking shortages nationwide; outlines plans to address those shortages; and highlights progress toward implementing these plans. In addition, this report incorporates results from the research conducted to clarify drivers' parking-related needs and decision making.
The research presented in this report is focused on 49 States, and excludes Hawaii, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. The FHWA organized "Partners for Adequate Parking Facilities" in each State. Discussions among these partners formed the basis for understanding truck parking demand and supply and helped develop a plan of action to address any problems that were identified. These partners typically included membership representing motor carriers, the travel plaza industry, and commercial vehicle drivers.
To assist partners in providing the necessary input to the Section 4027 Study, FHWA prepared a Technical Guidance Document that described an approach to determining commercial vehicle driver rest parking requirements.(7) Each partnership was encouraged to consider using the methodology contained in the guidance document for identifying parking needs and developing a plan of action to mitigate any problems identified.
A nationwide survey of parking spaces at public rest areas was conducted during the summer of 2000 to ascertain the number and characteristics of publicly owned and operated spaces for heavy trucks. An inventory of commercial truck stop and travel plaza spaces was created using a proprietary database developed and maintained by Interstate America. The information from the survey and the inventory comprised the basis to determine the location and quantity of both public and commercial parking facilities that could be used by motor carriers to comply with Federal hours-of-service rules as required in the TEA-21 Section 4027 study.
Demand for parking on a highway segment was estimated through a modeling approach that considered the daily volume of trucks traveling across the segment and duration of stops anticipated to comply with hours-of-service rules. The parking demand and parking supply values over the full length of a highway segment were compared to determine the magnitude of parking shortfall. Partners examined these model estimates in light of actual observational studies or experience to provide a basis for determining validity of the results. Where appropriate, model parameters were adjusted to better replicate observed parking demand values against modeling results.
Finally, partners discussed the supply and demand analysis results to identify roadway segments with a parking shortage. In cases where either current or future shortfalls were identified, partners worked together to develop strategies to mitigate these shortages. As discussed later in this report, these strategies fell into six broad categories:
This report is divided into six parts. Following this introductory section, Section 2.0 contains an overview of factors affecting commercial vehicle parking demand and the modeling approach used in this study. Section 3.0 describes the commercial vehicle parking supply, and Section 4.0 compares parking supply and demand. Section 5.0 outlines the recommended actions proposed by partners to reduce any shortages that were identified. Finally, Section 6.0 contains a summary and recommendations for States and the Federal Government, including recommendations for Federal surface transportation reauthorization and technology recommendations.
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