National Coalition on Truck Parking: Technology and Data Working Group Meeting 4 - August 16, 2018

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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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Champion:

• Dan Murray, American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI)

Facilitators:

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

Welcome and Introductions

Jordan welcomed the group 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 distributed via email later. Jordan then introduced the agenda of the meeting and turned the discussion over to Dan Murray, the Working Group Champion.

AASHTO Webinar Debrief

Dan began with an overview of the AASHTO webinar that took place on August 6, 2018. Dan thanked Susan Howard from the American Association of Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO) for her help in coordinating the webinar. The webinar highlighted how truck parking has become one of the top issues for truck drivers. Rickey Fitzgerald from Florida Department of Transportation (DOT) presented on the Real Truck Parking Information System in Florida and Florida's future truck parking study. Jason Wallis from Colorado DOT described the status of their truck parking study emphasizing the implications of road closures from winter weather and what trucks do in those situations. Susan Howard provided insight on AASHTO's truck parking work and their role with the upcoming Jason's Law survey update. Over 200 participants attended the webinar. Jordan stated that the recording of the webinar was sent out to the working group members and registrants is available upon request for those who did not receive it.

Working Group Products Discussion

Jordan listed the products for the working group and stated that the purpose of this discussion is to review and polish the finalized versions of these products. Volpe verified all information in the products with the appropriate agency represented. The Working Group products created are:

1. Truck parking APP Survey Results
2. Best Practices for Truck Parking Availability Detection and Information Dissemination by States

Jordan and Dan went through the products one by one and solicited feedback from the group.

1. Truck Parking APP Survey Results

• Jordan stated that this product is a summary of the survey conducted at the Mid America Trucking Show by ATRI in March 2018.
• Dan stated that Trucker Path app data is changing and evolving and could have a different impact than it does currently. On the survey, it was listed as the most popular app trucker drivers use. Dan will confirm if the updated app will impact the information in this product.
• A working group member suggested reflecting the pie chart to look like the first bar chart.

2. Best Practices for Truck Parking Availability Detection and Information Dissemination by States

• Jordan noted that Volpe conducted additional research to make this product more thorough. Volpe also verified the data with all appropriate agencies listed with the exception of Wisconsin. Dan mentioned he could verify the information with Wisconsin through another point of contact.
• Dan confirmed the information about Colorado on behalf of ATRI.
• A working group member confirmed the information for the I-10 project.
• Working group members provided the following suggestions:
  • Confirm with Florida when their statewide system will be complete and available online.
  • Include information about the analytics being used to predict availability being done in California and Florida.
  • Update the document footer.
  • Confirm with Tennessee on their budget operations and maintenance funds for their Smart Park program.
  • For the summary chart of significant of truck parking projects, update the language to inform readers that this is not a comprehensive list and that it captures a static snapshot for a certain period of time.

Next Steps

• Product Packaging Options
  • Jordan asked the working group if there is a preference for packaging the products by topic, target audience or another way. The products will be available on the NCTP website as PDFs to download. Another working group discussed packaging their products by target audience and as standalone.
  • Tiffany indicated that all products will be available on the NCTP website under each working group section. All working group champions will be able to present their products at the annual meeting in December. FHWA may distribute these products at the Transportation Research Board (TRB) annual meeting as well.
  • Dan mentioned to include a legend, table of contents or diagram to explain how the products are organized so that anyone can understand it, not just a specific stakeholder.
• Jordan mentioned that Volpe will make changes to finalize the products based on the feedback received in this meeting. Volpe is also developing a final report detailing the process of these working groups over the past ten months. FHWA will review and publish the final report.
• Jason's Law Survey
  • Tiffany provided an overview of the update occurring in 2018 to Jason's Law survey. It will be published in 2019.
  • The survey will:
    • Update the inventory truck parking and identify improvements to truck parking availability since the previous survey.
    • Evaluate truck travel by state for the purposes of evaluating increases in truck parking demand.
    • Evaluate the types of technology being used to monitor availability and demand that have resulted from recent advances in truck parking information systems and applications.
    • Compile truck parking plans, studies, and projects completed by states and MPOs, particularly as it relates to new freight planning requirements of the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act.
  • If there are any additional questions, Tiffany indicated to reach out to Jeff Purdy.
• Annual Meeting
  • Jordan stated the annual meeting is tentatively scheduled the week of December 3. FHWA and Volpe are working to finalize the date in the next few weeks.
  • Tiffany indicated that this will be a web based meeting. It will not be onsite.
  • Tom Kearney may have a conflict Dec 4 through 6.
  • Jordan asked the working group for any suggestions that Dan can include during his presentation.
    • A working group member suggested highlighting the insights from the process of getting the truck parking survey information.
    • A working group member suggested a few minutes explaining the membership of the group, process of the meetings, some background on the AASHTO webinar, the work products that have been delivered and compelling points about them.
  • Dan asked how this activity will relate to the Jason's law process. This would be interesting to indicate at the annual meeting.
• Future Research Needs
  • Jordan asked the working group for future research ideas that FHWA can pursue. She listed the following research needs that were not pursued that came from previous working group meetings:
    • Utilize funding programs for new technology.
    • Tie parking apps/technology to existing platforms and parking reservations.
    • Technologies related to vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, connecting weather information to truck parking apps, and other new emerging technologies.
    • Research around data standards and APIs for apps; promoting common standards for apps.
    • Collect data about occurrence of parking on the side of the roads, on ramps.
    • Provide contour maps to predict truck parking needs.
  • Working group members discussed the need for a standard platform across information systems and apps to make understanding data easier for truck drivers. This can be tied into the fourth bullet point above.