On Friday, the federal Department of Transportation announced a $25 million program to help truck drivers find available parking spots.
The $25,000,000 grant, called “The Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant” (TIGER), will be divided among 8 states in the Midwest.
The funding will be used to construct digital road signs that display the amount of available parking in nearby truck stops. Parking information will also be available on the web and smart phone apps.
State transportation agencies will install internet-connected camera systems at participating truck stops in order to transmit parking availability electronically.
In addition to making life more convenient for commercial drivers, the new system will also help alleviate certain highway safety issues.
Officials from the Kansas Department of Transportation discussed the project. “Safety issues arise when trucks parked along key freight corridors overflow onto the shoulders of rest area ramps, freeway ramps and adjacent roads,” they said. “Often there may be adequate parking elsewhere along the route, but no real-time information is available to let truckers know where that might be,”
The states included in the program are: Kansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin.
While many drivers are glad to see the federal government focus on truck parking, others say the money would be better spent by actually building more parking locations, instead of just monitoring and reporting on existing ones.
