The Iowa Department of Transportation is investigating the implementation of a new system that would help commercial truck drivers find a place to park. Truck drivers across the nation spend approximately 15 minutes searching for a space each time they wish to park. In Iowa, that search doubles to almost 30 minutes. Phil Mesher, a transportation planner with the Iowa DOT, says, “We know here in Iowa our rest areas are overfilled most nights and trucks end up parked on the ramp shoulder. It’s unfortunate and dangerous, but truck drivers have limited information to find available parking.” To combat these issues, the Iowa DOT and seven other Midwestern states have applied for a federal grant to install equipment like cameras, sensors and radar to monitor the availability of truck parking. These monitors will then upload the data from public and private lots to a Truck Parking Information and Management System (TPIMS) which can be accessed later through in-cab systems. It is estimated to cost the U.S. economy $4.4 billion per year while drivers search for a place to stop. Iowa’s portion of the project will focus initially along Interstate 80 from border to border. A vendor has already been selected and a testing phase is anticipated to be up and running by fall 2018. The whole project is scheduled for completion in January, 2019 and will operate for three additional years.
