Truck parking is focus of Pennsylvania legislation -

Multiple pursuits at the Pennsylvania statehouse focus on truck parking shortages.

Truck drivers are well aware that the lack of available truck parking continues to be an issue throughout the country.

A Jason’s Law survey showed there are about 313,000 truck parking spaces across the nation. The figures include 40,000 spaces at public rest areas and 273,000 at private truck stops.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association has maintained that expanding safe truck parking improves safety for all road users.

Truck parking study

One House resolution calls for action to address a truck parking shortage in the state.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation reported there are 11,500 truck parking spaces available throughout the state. The spaces included are at private truck stops, PennDOT rest areas and welcome centers and Pennsylvania Turnpike service plazas.

The Pennsylvania Transportation Advisory Committee previously indicated there is a shortage of about 4,400 truck parking spaces across the state. The shortfall results in about 1,100 trucks parked nightly on highway shoulders and ramps.

To help counter the problem, Rep. Doyle Heffley, R-Carbon, introduced a non-binding resolution that directs the Joint State Government Commission to conduct a “thorough and comprehensive study of truck parking” in Pennsylvania.

Heffley said that the study is intended to provide recommendations for achieving adequate truck parking across the state.

“The supply of truck parking has failed to keep pace with the escalating demand, leading to a widespread shortage of truck parking across Pennsylvania,” Heffley wrote in a bill memo.

He added that the “predicament is further compounded by several other factors, including facility types, enforcement of highway safety laws, idling restrictions and federal truck driver hours-of-service regulations.”

His resolution, HR20, is in the House Transportation Committee.

Tax credit

A Pennsylvania House bill would create a truck parking space tax credit to help address the issue.

Sponsored by Rep. Kerry Benninghoff, R-Centre/Mifflin, the bill is intended to increase the availability of truck parking by giving businesses a tax credit for building additional truck parking spaces.

Benninghoff, Republican Chair of the House Transportation Committee, said available truck parking has been a problem for decades. In a memo to House lawmakers, he highlighted the story of Jason Rivenburg.

Rivenburg was killed while parked at an abandoned gas station. He was fatally shot and robbed for $7. Rivenburg was parked at the location because he arrived early for his delivery and was turned away by the receiver.

“Despite this issue causing a major uproar surrounding the problem of truck parking, the issue has only become worse,” Benninghoff wrote.

He cited two main reasons for the need for truck parking: distribution centers and inadequate truck parking.

“Distribution centers do not allow truckers to stay on their property should they arrive early with their load. This gets coupled with the reality that truckers must abruptly stop their journeys to comply with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration hours-of-service rules,” Benninghoff said. “With these centers being concentrated in cities and near to each other, this means that the trucks run into the issue of having to compete for the limited number of spots that are available at one location.”

As a result, truckers are forced to illegally park on shoulders and ramps “that create an unsafe situation for the truck driver and other motorists,” he said.

Benninghoff added that businesses along highways do not provide needed truck parking because there is not an economic incentive to do so.

“This tax credit aims to be the economic incentive needed for businesses to create truck parking,” he said.

Pennsylvania DOT Secretary Mike Carroll has expressed support for creating “safe places for truck drivers to take a rest.”

“Collective efforts to advance truck parking is a worthy conversation,” Carroll said at a recent statehouse hearing.

House Bill 709

The bill, HB709, would create a $5,000 annual tax credit to apply to each publicly available and free truck parking space created in certain areas.

A minimum of five new spots would be required to qualify for the tax credit. The maximum amount a taxpayer could claim would be $100,000.

The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue would be granted a total of $10 million in tax credits the first year. The amount would increase $1 million yearly until 2035, when the tax credit would be capped at $20 million per year.

If the full amount is not used in a year, the fund may roll over to the next year.

Eligible businesses would be limited to locations within the state’s Tier 1 or Tier 2 corridors identified in a truck parking study done by the Transportation Advisory Committee.

“Overall, our truckers who transport our food, medicine and goods deserve more action from our state government here in Harrisburg to make sure that they remain safe and in compliance with the law without endangering them,” Benninghoff said.

HB709 is in the House Finance Committee. LL