Truckers to get safe parking info

Truckers looking for a place to stop for the night sometimes park their rigs on the shoulders of rest area ramps, freeway ramps and adjacent roads.

That can present a safety hazard for other motorists.

Iowa and seven other Midwest states will use a $25 million federal grant to develop a system that will give truckers information on safe parking areas along interstates and key freight routes.

The Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant was awarded to the Mid America Association of State Transportation Officials.

The Federal Highway Administration, which announced the grant Thursday in Wichita, Kan., said there may be adequate and safe parking elsewhere along freight routes, but no real-time information is available to let truckers know where to find it.

The Truck Parking Information and Management System will disseminate parking information through a variety of channels, including electronic message signs, traveler information websites and smartphone apps.

In Iowa, the system will include information about safe parking areas along Interstate 80.

The eight states sharing the grant - Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin - will contribute 10 percent of the system's deployment costs. The Iowa Department of Transportation will contribute approximately $370,000.

'Transportation and the movement of freight does not stop at a state's borders,” IDOT Director Paul Trombino said in a news release. 'This grant will allow our states to work together to develop a tool that is a positive step in creating consistent, reliable expectations for the transportation system as our customers move throughout the Midwest.”

IDOT representatives were not available Thursday to comment on when the truck parking system is projected to be operating.