Dive Brief:
- The Wisconsin Department of Transportation is conducting a survey aimed at gathering information to shape strategies to ensure the state’s truck parking needs are being met, a state transportation official told Trucking Dive.
- The survey seeks insight from drivers, carriers and private truck stop operators, as each party offers a different perspective on the issue, Dave Leucinger, freight program and policy analyst with WisDOT, said in an email.
- “Many other states have conducted their own studies,” he said. “With Wisconsin adding truck parking as it reconstructs older facilities, WisDOT is seeking to document the locations where the needs are the greatest to help inform future investments.”
Dive Insight:
The survey is actually three rolled into one, and WisDOT hopes to gain unique perspectives from each of the target groups of truckers, carriers and truck stop owners/operators, Leucinger noted. The survey will remain open through Jan. 19.
The survey’s launch follows the November ribbon cutting of a $12.5 million renovation of a rest area along Interstate 90 in Sparta, Wisconsin, located on a key freight corridor in the state. The project was the recipient of $8 million in federal grant money which helped the state improve accessibility as well as expand truck parking from 12 to 70 spaces.
Leucinger said Wisconsin encounters truck parking congestion along the I-90 / I-94 corridor, but the state has been working to address the issue in recent years. WisDOT provides over 1,000 designated parking spaces for trucks statewide, but dozens more are under construction and are scheduled to open over the next three years, he said.
The state hopes the survey will offer insight to determine where more parking spaces are needed as well as what amenities or other issues should be explored. Leucinger said as a member of the multi-state Mid-America Freight Coalition, Wisconsin will share any data or insights found through its survey with any state that requests it.
“One area of concern raised in our communications with the Wisconsin Motor Carriers Association is safety for female drivers,” Leucinger said. “They expressed concern that some corridors in other parts of the country were unsafe.”
Wisconsin does its part to aid truckers in finding parking. WisDOT’s Truck Parking Management System is part of a multi-state effort that provides real-time parking information to drivers through messaging signage. Sensors and cameras monitor 483 truck parking stalls across 11 safety rest areas around the state with three more rest areas to be added by 2027.
But WisDOT recognizes providing adequate parking for truckers is a national issue, which also can be aided by the private sector. The agency’s research has found 238 private sector locations across the state for truck parking that provide more than 4,600 stalls.
“WisDOT understands that the private sector truck stops are a critical part of providing not just parking, but other services that our Safety Rest Areas and SWEFs don’t offer such as showers, trucking-oriented convenience stores, hot meals, and more,” Leucinger said. “That’s why we are looking forward to the responses from the truck stop owners and operators — so we can learn from them where they expect to add capacity over the next few years.”
WisDOT developed its survey after consulting with several trucking organizations, including the American Trucking Associations, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, NATSO, the Specialized Carriers and Rigging Association and the Wisconsin Motor Carriers Association.
