The House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee approved a bill on Wednesday that will focus on the expansion of the truck parking facilities throughout the U.S.

The Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act provides $755 million in competitive grants over four years (2023-2026) to expand truck parking capacity. This original bill was amended on July 20th 2022 to make sure that the funds are not used for electric trucks or vehicles and EV charging stations.

As we know, the U.S. is facing the truck parking shortage from decades. In March 2021, it reached to the point where U.S. Reps. Mike Bost, R-Ill., and Angie Craig D-Minn., introduced this legislation.

“This is long overdue,” said committee chairman Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., during the bill’s markup Wednesday. “It’s one solution to try to make the lives of drivers safer and less stressful and perhaps allow for more [driver] retention. This will really help improve the efficiency of trucking.”

DeFazio added he hopes the bill receives “favorable attention” in the Senate.

“It may be something that goes into the year-end omnibus [spending bill],” he said. “I hope we can pass it out of the House unanimously when we come back after the August break.”

ATA (American Trucking Associations) and the OOIDA (Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, both, welcomed the legislation in a joint letter to Pete Buttigieg in February which we discussed in our earlier articles.

“The availability of safe and secure truck parking is not just a challenge for current drivers, it is a barrier our industry must overcome in attracting new drivers — particularly women,” ATA President and CEO Chris Spear said Wednesday. “Solving it won’t just help today’s industry. It will go a long way toward helping trucking recruit and attract a more diverse workforce.”

There is a eligibility criteria for the truck parking projects before they get funded. The criteria includes,

• Building additional parking capacity adjacent to private commercial truck stops and travel plazas;
• Within the boundaries of or adjacent to a publicly owned freight facility, including a port terminal a public authority operates;
• and at existing facilities, including inspection and weigh stations and park-and-ride locations.

Semiyard Inc. is committed to solve the truck parking shortage problem by offering state of the art technology, leasing of real estate properties, and truck parking operations solutions. We are looking forward to working with all the stakeholders of the #transportation industry to help each other grow by saving costs and liabilities that are caused by truck parking shortage.