The American Trucking Associations is chalking up a victory in its effort to get more roadside truck parking.

In July, ATA Interim President William Canary wrote to Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta, asking for clarification on whether states could add truck parking to commuter parking areas and weigh stations using Surface Transportation Program funds or Highway Safety Programs funds. Mineta's reply in late September offered guidelines for using those funds for truck parking - guidelines that will be distributed to state officials.
ATA spokesman Mike Russell said this "is going to go a long way toward solving a common-sense safety issue in a common-sense way."
Surface Transportation Program funds, according to law, can be used for "fringe and corridor parking facilities and programs." The ATA interpreted this to include modifications to existing commuter parking facilities and weigh stations to accommodate truck parking.
Mineta confirmed that state transportation departments may use Surface Transportation Program funds for this purpose. To do so, he said, state transportation officials must conclude that such projects constitute "safety infrastructure improvements and programs" or "hazard eliminations."
Highway Safety Programs funds are commonly referred to as "Section 402" funds. Canary pointed out in his letter to Mineta that many states' Section 402 funds are brimming with money. That's because the majority of states are not in compliance with certain open container and driving while intoxicated requirements set forth by the federal government. When a state is not in compliance, the Federal Highway Administration withholds 1.5 percent of the state's highway construction funds - which is automatically transferred into the Section 402 safety fund. And in fiscal year 2003, the amount withheld with double to 3 percent. There is an extremely limited range of activities eligible for use with these funds, and Canary asked if increased truck parking would qualify. The law says the purpose of the Section 402 program is to "reduce traffic accidents and deaths, injuries, and property damaging resulting therefrom."
Mineta said that the penalty funds resulting from a state's failure to comply with the open container or drunk driver repeat offender requirements may be used only for measures to reduce alcohol-impaired driving. However, the transferred penalty funds could be used under the Hazard Elimination Program. To do this, the state would have to conduct a survey that documents a safety problem related to the lack of parking spaces for truckers. Each state has an established process for selection of projects under the Hazard Elimination Program.
Mineta notes in his letter that he "shares the growing concern about this issue, which will be the subject of a U.S. Department of Transportation report to Congress this year on the adequacy of parking facilities for commercial trucking."