WASHINGTON — Years of trucking-industry pressure on Congress to pass legislation dedicating big money for expanding truck parking may finally pay off now that the U.S. Department of Transportation is elevating it for inclusion in the next surface transportation reauthorization bill.
“We want to fund truck parking for our truckers in this country – a critical need for safety in the United States,” said DOT Deputy Secretary Steve Bradbury, speaking at a surface transportation reauthorization kickoff meeting with state transportation officials at DOT headquarters on Thursday.
Truck parking was one of a number of priorities Bradbury outlined at the meeting, along with finalizing a regulatory framework for autonomous vehicles and streamlining infrastructure project permitting.
“We have a president who actually cares about our work,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told meeting attendees. “He wants to see real progress on big, beautiful projects over the next three-and-a-half years. To have that kind of support from the executive branch is a great opportunity.”
The current surface transportation funding law, signed by President Biden in 2021, expires in September 2026. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is aiming to complete a reauthorization package before the end of the year.
George O’Connor, spokesman for the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, anticipates language from the Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act, reintroduced earlier this year, to serve as the baseline for inclusion in next year’s reauthorization. It authorizes $755 million over three years for truck parking expansion.
“The fact there’s so much energy and enthusiasm around it as an issue, it’s come a long way in just a few years,” said O’Connor, who attended the DOT event. “And it’s now being seen not just as a trucker issue, but a highway safety issue, something everyone can relate to and is a priority with the administration.”
In officially kicking off the administration’s effort in the reauthorization process, DOT plans to “function as something of a clearinghouse” for ideas not only from state DOTs but from the general public as well, Bradbury said.
As part of that process, DOT will be issuing a formal Request for Information that will be open to the public for any project ideas for surface transportation funding, Bradbury said. He provided parameters around the administration’s “back to basics” approach to project funding.
“That means we really want to fund those projects that are important for our nation and for our economy that have national importance. We don’t want to see distracting social justice requirements in there, we don’t want to use infrastructure funding and programs to try to force an artificial energy transition that is going to ruin the U.S. economy. And there will be an emphasis on safety, which means driving down highway fatality numbers.
“It’s ultimately up to the President of the United States – President Trump will decide what legislative proposals and what the specifics are, and what the administration wants to put forward to Congress. And of course ultimately it’s going to be Congress that will decide what the funding levels are for these programs.”
Outside DOT headquarters, Duffy held a signing ceremony for a memorandum of understanding between DOT and the Texas Department of Transportation that empowers the state to manage their own projects with limited federal oversight while cutting down on unnecessary delays and costs.
“We want this historic agreement to serve as an example for the rest of our states to move infrastructure projects faster and more cost effectively,” Duffy said.
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