Earlier this year the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) released its top research priorities for 2023. The final list, compiled by ATRI’s Research Advisory Committee (RAC) was approved by the board of directors, led by ATRI Chairman Derek Leathers of Werner Enterprises, in early May.
The Top 5 priorities were announced during ATRI’s mid-year meeting in June. ATRI describes the list as “a diverse set of research priorities designed to address some of the industry’s most critical issues.”
These priorities include the following.
Expanding truck parking at public rest areas
The lack of available truck parking is perennially ranked by drivers as a top concern, ATRI noted. This research will examine the needs of truck drivers. In addition, the group will develop best practice case studies and use data provided by drivers to identify strategies for expanding truck parking capacity available at public rest areas.
Several states have already made strides in creating truck parking at public rest areas. Earlier this year, The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) permanently closed the southbound Platte County Interstate 29 (Dearborn) and Clinton County Interstate 35 (Lathrop) rest areas as work began to convert the facilities to commercial vehicle parking.
As part of the project, the current rest area buildings will be removed, additional truck parking will be added, and vault toilets will be installed, a MoDOT news release noted. MoDOT has contracted with Emery, Sapp & Sons on the $3.8 million project, which is expected to be completed by the end of October this year.
Identifying barriers to entry for female truck drivers
According to ATRI, women comprise less than 10% of the truck driver workforce, despite research showing that female drivers are generally safer than their male counterparts. This research will identify gender issues and proactive steps the industry can take to make truck driving careers more appealing to women.
Already, organizations such as the Women in Trucking Association (WIT) are working to help address these concerns.
“The Women In Trucking Association is dedicated to encouraging companies to create a safer work environment for women in our industry,” said Ellen Voie, founder of WIT.
In a 2022 white paper titled “Addressing Gender Bias and Harassment in the Trucking Industry,” WIT reported that, while a majority of poll respondents (55%) said that the trucking industry overall is safe for women, many have experienced verbally offensive comments or verbal threats within the last five years.
Complete Streets impact on freight mobility
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Complete Streets program is designed to make transportation accessible for all users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit riders. However, according to ATRI, planning decisions to deploy complete streets often negatively impact freight transportation and those who rely on truck-delivered goods. This study will quantify these impacts and recommend approaches for transportation planners to streamline freight movement.
While U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg hasn’t directly addressed how the Complete Streets program might affect the freight industry, he and the Biden administration have pledged their support to the trucking industry and its many concerns.
“For all of those whose workplace is infrastructure, roads, bridges, highway interchanges, and more that we’re working on right now, we’re working to make that a better workplace with funding levels not seen since the interstate highway system was created in the first place,” Buttigieg said at the American Trucking Associations’ Management Conference & Exhibition last fall. “I want to express my optimism on everything that we can deliver together. My hope is that we will be looking back on the 2020s as a period when trucking modernized its future while staying true to its finest traditions.”
Examining the diesel technician shortage
Industry analysts cite the trucking industry’s challenges in recruiting and retaining technicians as being just as critical as the driver shortage. Researchers will work with government entities and industry members to identify the factors underlying the shortage, including mapping career attributes to workforce needs and assessing high school-level vocational training availability, industry recruitment practices, and competing career opportunities.
“The ongoing shortage of diesel technicians continues, and I believe worsened during COVID, and hasn’t recovered from the loss of technicians during that time,” said Brian Gast, vice president and divisional CFO for JLE Industries.
“We operate in a ‘small pond’ in Dunbar (Pennsylvania) where our shop is located, so we may be more affected than others when looking to expand our team,” he continued. JLE depends on relationships with a network of partner dealerships throughout the Northeastern U.S.
Technology plays a role in solving the issue as well.
“At JLE, we like to think of ourselves as a technology company that operates trucks, so we have spent a good bit of time implementing technology in the maintenance arena that ties into our operating software,” Gast explained.
“Our maintenance and dispatch software talk with each other, so that our dispatch team always knows where their unit stands in the repair process, what repairs are needed, and when they can begin to plan the next load or make the truck available so the driver can plan a load for themselves in order to maximize utilization,” he added.
The cost of driver detention
Truck drivers and motor carriers consistently rank driver detention at customer facilities as a top industry concern. This research, supported by shipper groups, will include quantitative data collection to identify detention impacts, costs, and strategies for minimizing detention.
“The problem in solving the detention time crisis … that’s a great question,” said David Heller, senior vice president of safety and government affairs for the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA). “I don’t necessarily have a firm answer. I can tell you how to fix it, but I can’t tell you why it’s not fixed.”
Communication among carriers, drivers, shippers, and receivers and already available data are two possibilities, he said.
“Plain and simple, what’s wrong with this issue is that drivers are being held up, thus affecting their opportunities to be productive,” Heller noted.
Just look at the math, he said:
“As an industry that averages six-and-a-half hours of drive time per day out of the 11 hours that were federally regulated, that is a problem,” said Heller. “We’re leaving at least four and a half hours of drive time on the table, to say nothing about the fact that drivers — of that six and a half hours of drive time — are looking for parking for between 56 minutes to an hour — not actively moving the freight, but looking for safe, secure truck parking.
“I wish it was as simple as picking two priorities and saying that these priorities will bring the greatest amount of benefit to the industry,” Heller added. “Just like one of our engines, every component performs a critical function. If any component fails, then the entire engine can be compromised.”
Dave Williams, TCA chairman, notes that, while the above list of topics may be a good start, there are many more that need attention.
Williams believes that the trucking industry must “be prepared to make meaningful progress across several fronts.” He doesn’t necessarily agree with ATRI’s prioritization of topics, citing issues such as making truck driving a more appealing career, improving roadway safety for drivers, helping motor carriers improve their ROIs, and more.
This article originally appeared in the July/August 2023 edition of Truckload Authority, the official publication of the Truckload Carriers Association.
Born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and raised in East Texas, John Worthen returned to his home state to attend college in 1998 and decided to make his life in The Natural State. Worthen is a 20-year veteran of the journalism industry and has covered just about every topic there is. He has a passion for writing and telling stories. He has worked as a beat reporter and bureau chief for a statewide newspaper and as managing editor of a regional newspaper in Arkansas. Additionally, Worthen has been a prolific freelance journalist for two decades, and has been published in several travel magazines and on travel websites.
