The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on July 20 advanced H.R. 2187, the Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act.
Introduced by Rep. Mike Bost (R-Ill.) and Angie Craig (D-Minn.), the measure authorizes $755 million in grants through 2026 for state and local governments to construct commercial truck parking.
The measure would allocate $175,000,000 for fiscal year 2023; $185,000,000 for fiscal year 2024; $195,000,000 for fiscal year 2025; and $200,000,000 for fiscal year 2026.
NATSO worked with lawmakers to ensure that eligible grant recipients, which include state transportation departments, metropolitan planning organizations and local governments, may partner with the private sector to carry out their projects.
The Truck Parking Safety Improvement Plan, which was introduced as an Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute, also prioritizes grant applications that demonstrate a shortage of commercial vehicle parking and have consulted with private providers of truck parking.
The measure does not call for commercializing rest areas as a means of increasing truck parking capacity. It specifies, however, that states could utilize funds awarded under the program to put in commercial truck parking adjacent to private commercial truckstops or travel plazas.
Eligible entities must agree not to charge for parking constructed with the grant money.
It is currently within every state Department of Transportation’s prerogative to fund additional truck parking capacity with existing federal dollars.
NATSO has long maintained that the best way to address any truck parking capacity concerns is for motor carriers to negotiate truck parking in their contractual relationships with truckstops and travel plazas.
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