National Coalition on Truck Parking: July 2019 Webinar - July 18, 2019

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Contact Information: Freight Feedback at FreightFeedback@dot.gov

U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
Office of Operations
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20590

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Facilitators:

• Tiffany Julien, FHWA
• Jeff Purdy, FHWA
• Jordan Wainer, Volpe

Welcome and Introductions

Jordan Wainer welcomed the Working Group members to the meeting and provided an overview of the phone settings and webroom. She also stated that the meeting is being recorded for those who cannot attend and that the link to the recording will be available upon request. Jordan reviewed the agenda for the meeting and then introduced Tiffany Julien, who also gave welcoming remarks. Tiffany then turned the meeting over to Jeff Purdy to provide an update on Jason's Law.

Jason's Law Update

Jeff Purdy provided an overview of the Jason's Law Survey Update. He discussed what the updated survey includes and how it compares to the 2014 version. The new survey includes more questions related to truck parking information systems, truck parking reservations, State freight plans and questions targeted to Port Authorities. It also includes a 2014 comparison, truck volume analysis, truck parking plans and metrics update.

Jeff also discussed the target group of agencies and organizations that FHWA sent the survey to. Over 11,000 truck drivers responded to the survey in addition to the number of responses received from other organizations. Overall, there was a much larger increase in responses than the 2014 survey.

Jeff discussed the timeline for the Survey report. FHWA is currently reviewing and analyzing the data. FHWA anticipates releasing the report at the end of 2019. Jeff plans to provide a presentation of the results to the NCTP Working Group. Jeff also indicated that the report will be structured similarly to the 2014 report with recommendations. It will also reflect some of the results from the NCTP Working Group.

Previous Meeting Overview

Jordan provided an overview of the February and March Working Group meetings. She announced that the meeting notes from those meetings are available on the . National Coalition on Truck Parking (NCTP) website. She discussed the potential following deliverables derived from the meetings.

• A guide to increasing truck parking areas directed toward a city, county, and regional government audience
• A summary of existing benefit/cost analyses for truck parking

Recent Updates

Jordan discussed the updates since the last meeting. Volpe developed a summary of existing benefit cost/analyses of truck parking and shared the draft with the Working Group prior to the meeting to review.

FHWA/Volpe decided to focus on creating a case study on zoning for truck parking. She will provide an overview of the cities that were interviewed later on during this meeting.

Benefit/Cost Analysis (BCA) Product Review

Jordan reviewed the BCA product and asked the Working Group to provide feedback. The BCA product includes a summary of the BCAs developed for the Florida and Mid-America Association of State Transportation Officials (MAASTO) truck parking information systems grant applications. It also includes a list of other related resources. Working Group members suggested the following:

• Identify who is paying for and benefiting from truck parking investments to incentivize private sector involvement.
• Include information about how the organization won the grant award.
• Clarify that these are examples for the public sector.
• Include an archive folder on the NCTP website to store publications from other sources to avoid web links issues.
• Add more background on the success of the projects listed.  
• In general, simplify text to focus on the main message.
• If possible, develop an excel BCA template for public agencies to use to determine if a public investment would be beneficial. A member suggested referencing a tool by FRA for at-grade crossings.
• Include other resources recently available on the HOFM site.
• Include infographics.
• Add more detail on results/outcomes of the examples mentioned.
• Include how the public sector could encourage/incentivize the private sector to build truck parking.

Jordan noted throughout the discussion that Volpe will conduct additional research to try to incorporate as many of the suggestions as possible.

Case studies

Kara Chisholm, Volpe, provided an overview of the case studies in development. Volpe conducted background research on cities that include truck parking in their zoning codes. Volpe identified and reached out to several candidates but only heard from Portland, OR and Mills County, IA. Volpe conducted interviews with practitioners from Portland, OR and Mills County, IA involved in incorporating truck parking into their zoning codes.

Portland, OR Interviews

Kara gave an overview of the Portland interviews. In the interviews, the Portland DOT discussed the history of the industrial zoning districts created to protect industrial land near the city center. They indicated that truck parking is allowed in the industrial districts; however, there are no staging requirements.  The Portland DOT also discussed the challenges of truck parking and deliveries along the curb space in urban areas. Portland is currently working on developing a better strategy for loading zones. Overall, Portland has a strong industrial district but does not include much about overnight truck parking provisions that may be pertinent to the Working Group.

Mills County, IA Interviews

Jordan provided an overview of the interviews with Mills County, IA. In the interviews, Mills County discussed how their zoning was altered to incorporate truck parking provisions when Highway 34 was extended into the community. The zoning change allowed truck stops by right in industrial districts and by Conditional Use Permit in "Highway-Oriented Commercial Districts." Love's Truck Stop approached Mills County to build a truck stop in the area. Once it was built, it was successful, however, because it was built in a flood plain, recent flooding closed down the truck stop.

Next Steps

Jordan asked the group if Volpe should develop these interviews into case studies and asked for general feedback. The Working Group members discussed the following:

• Members agreed that the Mills County case study is more relevant than the Portland case study because it showed how a change in zoning led to the development of a truck parking stop. The fact that it closed due to flooding is a lesson learned.
• A member mentioned that a truck parking study is coming out in Portland, OR.
• Tiffany mentioned that a more comprehensive guidebook is still being considered to be developed through other avenues.
• The group discussed including other ordinances in addition to zoning laws and developing a case study that highlights how the municipality incorporated the zoning/ordinance changes.
• A member suggested reaching out to New Yok City DOT to highlight the work they have done with truck parking.
• The group discussed the need to include truck parking into development requirements and policies.

Tiffany discussed next steps. She thanked the group for their feedback and eagerness to continue research on truck parking in particular to developing a truck parking zoning guide. This feedback will help develop a statement of work to develop a truck parking zoning guide. She mentioned that some of these items are larger efforts than what can be done at this time and so plans to share these ideas with Transportation Research Board (TRB) committees to further develop these truck parking ideas and initiatives. Tiffany also indicated that FHWA anticipates holding another NCTP meeting at the of this year to share final results on Jason's Law and the product developed with this group.

Working Group members who are a part different TRB committees agreed to push this out as a topic for further research.

Jordan closed the meeting by thanking everyone for participating.