A&M study aims to find out just how bad Texas truck parking really is and how to create a system for it

A study conducted by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute is looking to nail down just how tight truck parking in Texas really is and how the school might be able to help fix it. 

The study focuses on Interstate 45, just five miles north of Huntsville, Texas, where Dan Middleton with the Texas A&M Transportation Institute has placed sensors at the entrance and exit of a truck parking lot in order to determine exactly how many truckers are using this parking lot. 

With the information collected, Middleton and his team hope to create and eventually implement a system that would alert truckers to full parking lots and notify them of available truck parking spaces. 

“How do we disseminate that information and so that truck drivers know before they get to the site, is it full or are there spaces available?” Middleton said to Click to Houston News.

In theory, the hightech system created by Middleton’s research could be integrated with TXDOT’s Lonestar system, or even with ELDs, helping drivers  in Texas and across the country determine when, where, and how they can find open truck parking. 

“Texas, always tight, always tight, if you don’t have a place to park by 2 in the afternoon, good luck,” added trucker John Barringar.

Middleton’s work could be a step in the development of a high-tech information system that notifies truckers about space availability. This could perhaps be done through TXDOT’s Lonestar system or even through the truck’s onboard electronic logging device system. Helping drivers find where to safely and efficiently park, this study should be done by mid-2022.

The Texas A&M study is expected to be completed by mid-2022.