Truck drivers are probably burned out on and frustrated by truck parking surveys. However, the third version of Jason’s Law survey is one on which truckers cannot fall asleep at the wheel.
Although truck parking has been a significant issue in the industry for a long time, the federal government did not start taking it seriously until 2012. That was when the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) was signed into law, which included Jason’s Law.
Jason’s Law declared addressing the truck parking crisis as a “national priority.” In addition to opening parking projects to more federal funding, the law also requires the Department of Transportation to conduct a survey that quantifies the extent of the problem nationally and in each state. That survey is to be updated “periodically.”
Results for the first survey were published in 2015. The 180-page document was a detailed, comprehensive analysis of the truck parking crisis. It was the first such survey to show the public and, more importantly, state transportation officials the scope of the problem. Jason’s Law survey was intended to get the ball rolling in addressing the issue.
An update to Jason’s Law was published in 2019. It revealed many of the same problems, showing that few new truck parking spaces had been built in the four years between the two surveys. The Federal Highway Administration said there were challenges in planning, funding and accommodating truck parking.
A third Jason’s Law survey is underway. Every truck driver needs to participate, and here’s why.
A lot has changed in the seven years since the last Jason’s Law survey. Thanks to the law, the truck parking crisis has been amplified, leading many state DOTs to prioritize addressing it. A few hundred million dollars in federal grants have been awarded to parking projects.
Last year, the DOT announced more than $275 million in grants to increase truck parking availability as part of its “Pro-Trucker Package.” In 2024, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act paved the way for nearly $300 million in parking projects. Millions more have been awarded in smaller packages.
In the years since the last Jason’s Law survey, the truck parking landscape has certainly changed. Ohio is adding a whopping 1,400 parking spaces at rest areas. Indiana and Pennsylvania are adding 1,200 spaces.
Then there is the proliferation of paid parking. Entrepreneurs have seized on an opportunity of very high demand and very low supply. While truck drivers are calling paid truck parking “ridiculous,” the private sector has made a larger dent in solving the shortage than the government.
All of this progress is possible because of Jason’s Law survey and the hard work of trucking advocates. However, the truck parking crisis is best solved with high-quality data, and the output is only as good as the input.
This is why widespread participation in the latest Jason’s Law survey is vital to ensuring more truck parking is created in the right places.
Before state DOTs spend millions of dollars on any given project, they must prove to lawmakers and the public that there is a need. That can only be done with empirical data that quantifies and definitively reveals the problem. The same is true at the local level, where city councils must approve certain parking projects.
Dr. Nicole Katsikides has spent most of her career researching truck parking. Currently a senior research scientist at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, she has spent time at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, FHWA and the Maryland DOT. In 2021, she told Land Line why parking studies are so important.
“It’s not as easy as the state just using their formula funds to build parking,” Katsikides told Land Line. “It’s a conversation with locals. It’s a local land use discussion. It’s a business arrangement discussion, and states don’t have a lot of resources to understand these arrangements.”
There is no truck parking study more consequential than Jason’s Law survey. It will be used to guide the decisions of local, state and federal officials on the matter. If few truck drivers take the survey, the results may not reflect reality on the ground. That will lead transportation officials to make misinformed decisions, which helps no one.
Truck drivers should participate in every truck parking survey they can. But if they take only one this year, it needs to be Jason’s Law survey, which can be done here. LL
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