Arkansas Trucking Association

House Transportation Leaders Call for Truck Parking Funding

In a letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Reps. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) and Sam Graves (R-Mo.), the chairman and ranking member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, respectively, called for an expansion of parking facilities for truck drivers.

“We believe that focusing funding on truck parking will improve highway safety for all road users and help to alleviate longstanding supply chain inefficiencies,” the letter stated.

The Congressmen highlighted programs the DOT already has available, including grant programs designed to expand regional freight and infrastructure projects like the Infrastructure for Rebuilding America, Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity and the national infrastructure project assistance program.

The letter was sent shortly after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration indicated an increase of 10.5% over traffic fatalities in 2020.

Earlier this year, Buttigieg told a Senate panel his department was pursuing strategies to increase access to parking for the country’s truck drivers. “This is a very important issue and as you talk with any truck driver, it is not only an issue of convenience, it is an issue of safety,” the secretary said during a hearing of the Senate committee on highway policy.