Assessment of Interstate Truck Parking Needs Using Wireless Truck Position Data

As part of the Freight Performance Measures (FPM) initiative, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) are currently investigating research methods that will determine the usefulness of wireless truck position data in identifying and improving truck parking deficiencies on interstate highways in the United States. This paper describes a new research methodology for measuring demand for truck parking through the use of vehicle position data. For truck drivers, especially those that are part of long-haul operations, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) hours-of-service rules require that adequate rest periods (e.g. 8 or 10 consecutive hours) be taken at certain intervals. To do so, truck drivers must locate a parking spot that supports safety, security and operational productivity for a consecutive 10 hour period. The authors note that trucks often must use highway off ramps, less-than-ideal surface lots, or even highway shoulder parking, to meet hours of service safety requirements. The authors also discuss the use of position data for mapping truck parking supply to demand, and thus identifying where truck parking facilities may be needed. The population of wireless systems that is used to collect and analyze trucking industry data currently includes approximately 500,000 units, representing about 15% of the large trucks operating in the U.S. In order to explore the utility of truck parking data produced by the modified FPM processing methodology, the research team first produced a ratio of demand, based on truck movements, for four major interstates in New York State, then juxtaposed trip and parking counts with the location of truck parking facilities. The authors conclude that, when used in conjunction with other planning tools, the research methodology proposed in this paper appears to represent an efficient and available method for assessing truck parking capacity.

• Corporate Authors:

  ITS America

  1100 17th Street, NW, 12th Floor
  Washington, DC  United States  20036
• Authors:
  • Short, Jeffrey Bradford
  • Murray, Daniel C
• Conference:
  • 15th World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems and ITS America's 2008 Annual Meeting
  • Location: New York NY, United States
  • Date: 2008-11-16 to 2008-11-20
• Publication Date: 2008

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: CD-ROM
• Features: Maps; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 10p
• Monograph Title: ITS Connections: Saving Time. Saving Lives

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Assessments; Demand; Global Positioning System; Intelligent transportation systems; Interstate highways; Parking demand; Parking facilities; Supply; Trucking; Trucks; Wireless communication systems
• Identifier Terms: Freight Performance Measures
• Subject Areas: Freight Transportation; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; I73: Traffic Control;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01138583
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Aug 19 2009 1:49PM