Despite heightened attention from both the trucking industry and the Biden administration, efforts to secure Congressional approval for legislation addressing the shortage of truck parking spaces continue to elude industry lobbying groups.
During a Dec. 5 session of the National Coalition on Truck Parking, a collective organized under the Federal Highway Administration, Bryce Mongeon, the director of Legislative Affairs for the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, expressed optimism about the progress on Capitol Hill regarding the allocation of $755 million over four years for expanding truck parking. However, he hedged this statement.
“While we’ve put in a lot of work, there’s still a lot of hard work to do,” Mongeon said. “It’s interesting because truck parking and this bill is not an issue where there’s any opposition on Capitol Hill, and that’s unique among trucking issues. The biggest challenge is getting this issue to the top of lawmakers’ priority list and getting them to dedicate the time and political capital to moving it forward.”
While the Biden administration has urged state and local agencies to seek truck parking funds through federal grant programs, competition with other infrastructure projects for this fiscal support remains a pertinent challenge.
The Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act introduced multiple times in the House and Senate over the past four years, proposes establishing a dedicated grant program exclusively for truck parking. Under this act, any public entity with authority over truck parking, including public-private partnerships, would be eligible for the funds.
Tiffany Wlazlowksi Neuman, the vice president of Public Affairs for NATSO, representing truck stop and travel plazas, identified local-level resistance as a significant obstacle during the meeting.
“When a local community does not want truck parking, they will fight it tooth and nail,” Neuman said. “I use that to illustrate how strong citizen opposition can be.”
Mongeon still believes there’s reason to be optimistic.
“We’ve seen a lot of activity and support on this bill in both the House and Senate,” he said.
He pointed out that the House version of the legislation advanced to the floor in May after receiving an overwhelming 60-4 vote in favor from the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Additionally, Mongeon emphasized that the truck parking shortage and related legislation took center stage as the most discussed topic during a recent Senate subcommittee hearing on highway safety.
“We’re hopeful this hearing helps us keep attention on this issue in the Senate,” he said. “As we continue to meet with [Senate] offices to get more co-sponsors, our ultimate goal is that the [Senate Environment and Public Works] committee will mark up this bill and follow the House’s lead. Overall, we’re at a point with the legislation where we, along with our [truck parking] coalition members, have laid a lot of the groundwork that needs to be done to be successful and actually get this signed into law.”
Source: Freightwaves
