Georgia Statewide Truck Parking Assessment

Purpose of Project

To better understand the issues, conditions, and needs for truck parking throughout the state, Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) conducted a statewide truck parking assessment. The freight movement and logistics component of transportation has continued to expand in the state of Georgia with its strategic location adjacent to Florida, the confluence of major interstates/freight corridors in Atlanta, and the continued expansion of the Georgia Ports Authority facilities. All of these elements are combined with the continuing growth in online shopping/deliveries/shipments and addressing freight mobility and logistics is on the critical path. One of the major issues facing both public and private entities is accommodation for truck parking, and the issues have been exacerbated with the requirement for electronic logging by drivers.

​

Our Role on the Project

As part of a team, Modern Mobility Partners (MMP) worked on the following tasks:

• Coordination

• Best practices literature review

• Existing truck parking inventory

• Analysis of unauthorized truck parking locations

• Data analysis

• Identified and evaluated potential solutions

• Documentation
   

In this freight planning related project, the MMP team reviewed the truck parking studies conducted by other state DOTs and public agencies and potential technology solutions (above figure) as part of the literature review process. The team also developed the statewide truck parking inventory in a GIS database with data from different sources, including 2015 Jason’s Law Truck Parking Survey, national truck parking directory websites, etc. (below figure) To identify the unauthorized truck parking locations in the state, the team utilized data from different sources (crash data, highway characteristics shapefile, and National Performance Management Research Data Set [NPMRDS] speed data) and developed the methodology to conduct the analysis (further details are discussed in the next section). As part of the evaluation of potential solutions to statewide truck parking needs, the team developed an evaluation framework with performance measures for potential location-specific projects. A project-level benefit-cost analysis was also conducted to evaluate the economic impacts to the state.

​

Problem Solvers

Unique challenges of this plan included not having readily available data that identified unauthorized truck parking locations.  As a result, we developed and applied a methodology to combine a variety of free data sources to triangulate unauthorized truck parking locations. The methodology included a combination of citations issued by the state highway safety patrol, crash data from both GDOT and the Motor Carrier Safety Administration, National Performance Measure Research Data Set (NPMRDS) speed data, roadway characteristic data such as shoulder width and materials (concrete v. asphalt), and Google Streets imaging.  Not only did this analysis allow us to determine where truckers are likely to be parking on the shoulders of interstate ramps and roadways, but the methodology is now being presented by GDOT across the nation as a best practice.