Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/85415
Parking solutions It's not uncommon, especially in high-traffic lanes, to see trucks parked in odd places, such as these parked in a spot close to a motel and Highway 99 in Northern California. Governmental efforts to expand truck parking continue in many states. The next step — providing real-time space availability information — is just around the corner in select areas. BY MAX KVIDERA L arry Cunningham, an owner-operator leased to Tennessee Steel Haulers, pulled into a TA truck stop east of Seattle one recent night and found all parking spaces occupied. He circled five times before he saw the lights of a rig that was ready to leave. "I got lucky," he says. Such luck is too often missing. Since the 1990s, the federal government and some states have mounted studies and funded projects to address truck parking availability. While most federally funded programs are not developing additional parking spaces, they are focused on using Internet and other media to provide parking availability information to truckers. 32 OVERDRIVE JANUARY 2012 A few states have begun restoring rest area parking that had been closed, but little new capacity has been added. Truck stop chains, however, are opening new facilities. Fueling the initiatives is a concern that a parking shortage is forcing truckers to drive longer to find open spaces. That contributes to fatigue, possible hours of service violations and diminished safety. The safety aspect was tragically demonstrated in the case of Jason Rivenburg almost three years ago. Prevented from parking at a warehouse where he was scheduled to make a delivery, Rivenburg waited at an abandoned gas station, where he was murdered in a Max Kvidera