Truck Parking Issue Comes to Fore in House Hearing

The lack of adequate truck parking was raised June 8 during a House hearing on highway safety.

“We must ensure that our truck drivers have a safe place to park and rest, to make their difficult jobs safer and protect everyone who shares the road,” said Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, during his opening remarks before the Highways and Transit subcommittee.

DeFazio noted a recent truck parking study conducted by the Texas Department of Transportation found more than 2,300 crashes involving parked trucks occurred between 2013-2017. These crashes resulted in 138 fatalities.

DeFazio, along with ranking member Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), sent a letter to Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg the day before urging the Transportation Department to use the resources and authority provided by Congress in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to invest in projects to address the truck parking shortage.