There’s a dramatic shortage of truck parking in New Jersey that’s likely to get worse as truck volumes are projected to grow in the coming years.
Janice Marino-Doyle, Program Specialist for the New Jersey Department of Transportation’s
Office of Freight Planning, detailed a two-phase study of truck parking along with consultants from WSP during the April 21 meeting of the
Freight Initiatives Committee (FIC).
The study found that insufficient capacity results in unauthorized or unsafe parking and inefficient locations result in additional miles of travel or lost productivity, Marino-Doyle said. The study area included 55 analysis segments along New Jersey’s roadway network, ranging from about 5 to 20 miles and covering major freight corridors and corridors with truck parking capacity, according to Shashank Pulikanti, Lead Consultant, Advisory Services, for
WSP. Ultimately, the segments will be compared and ranked to determine where the need is greatest.
The study identified 76 truck parking facilities with 2,886 striped spaces. “The question is: Are the number of spaces sufficient for current and future demand,” Pulikanti said.
Two separate industry-focused surveys that received more than 500 responses were geared toward long-haul drivers – those who need overnight parking – and short-haul drivers – those who are regionally focused and need daytime or short-break parking.
Among long-haul drivers:
- 74 percent said they spend more than 30 minutes parking
- 62 percent frequently or always find no designated parking available
- 75 percent routinely detour more than 5 miles
Based on truck GPS data and needs scores, sections of I-95, I-78, I-80, and I-295 all rank in the top 10 of the segments analyzed. Crowded segments have a daily shortfall of 20 to 35 spaces with some growing to more than 100 spaces by 2050, Pulikanti said.
Some of the highest needs scores in the state are found around the Joyce Kilmer area of I-95 in Central Jersey, western New Jersey segments of I-78 near Pennsylvania and I-80 to the West, where needs are very high, driven both by low availability of parking and high instances of undesignated parking.
By 2050, most segments, especially critical freight corridors like I-78, I-80, and I-95, are going to be undersupplied by more than 20 spaces every night, with many closer to 80 to 100 spaces short.
In 2024, about 35% of facilities were over capacity with a shortfall of about 207 spaces at these facilities. However, a facility need not be at 100 percent utilization for it to be overcapacity, according to Pulikanti. “As a specific facility reaches even 90 to 95 percent capacity, it’s just annoying enough for drivers to get into the facility and find that one open space that they decide it’s not worth the effort to find that last space and park on a ramp outside the facility, which is undesignated parking,” he said.
Assuming a facility is at capacity at 95 percent utilization puts the shortfall at 272 spaces and 43 percent of facilities over capacity.
By 2050, because of expected truck volume growth of 74 percent on all roads in New Jersey, more than 85 percent of those facilities will be overcapacity, with the shortfall growing to 1,700 to 1,800 spaces.
Cost of Undesignated Parking, Truck Parking Crashes
Generally, wherever undesignated parking arises, so does truck parking crashes. About 177 crashes annually are associated with parked trucks on New Jersey highways, which is responsible for an estimated $61 million each year.
“This is a problem that has significant impacts,” Pulikanti said. Overall, looking at detours and costs of crashes, insufficient truck parking costs almost $93 million annually in New Jersey.
The panel presented potential policies and strategies to address truck parking, such as public capacity expansion and coordinating review and approval of proposed public-private partnerships. Expansion could include rest areas of identified locations and expanding the number of parking spaces at public rest areas through improved design of a facility.
Another opportunity is to modify local parking ordinances to include short-term truck parking staging requirements when industrial facilities are built that could accommodate sufficient parking on site, according to Bridget Wieghart, Senior Vice President, Advisory Services, at WSP.
A video
recording of the FIC meeting is available here.