ARLINGTON, Va. – The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) announced today that is participating in a new trucking industry initiative to help commercial drivers find available truck parking.

Beginning later this summer, truck drivers who need to stop and park his/her rig can use a mobile app called Park My Truck to find available parking spaces. The app is being developed by the Truck Parking Leadership Initiative, of which ATRI is a key member along with the NATSO Foundation, and the American Trucking Associations (ATA).

“ATRI’s latest research has revealed that ‘managing critical truck parking’ ranks as one of the industry’s Top 5 most pressing concerns,” said ATRI vice-president, Dan Murray. “Through this technology, we will dramatically expand the scope of truck parking information available to drivers in an efficient, easily accessible format. It is gratifying to be part of a collaborative team that is generating real-world parking solutions for truck drivers and motor carriers alike.”

“Federal and state governments have spent decades and millions of dollars researching truck parking issues, and testing technology-based approaches to counting available spaces, but not one of these efforts has yielded nationwide data about parking availability,” added Lisa Mullings, the president of NATSO and the NATSO Foundation. “We are still many millions of dollars and years away from implementing an electronic system that can count parking nationwide. The problem is that drivers need information now. We don’t want to allow our pursuit of a perfect solution to prevent us from implementing a good solution today.”

ATRI and NATSO encouraged all parking providers to participate in the initiative by providing information and reporting the number of spaces available in their lots. Truck parking providers can contact the NATSO Foundation at (703) 549-2100 or hello@parkmytruck.com to establish an account to provide truck parking availability.

“Access to safe truck parking is a critical issue for the trucking industry,” said ATA president and CEO Bill Graves. “It is important for America’s professional drivers to have access to safe parking so they can get their required off-duty rest. Efforts like this to inform drivers about the availability of parking spaces can only help drivers as they deliver our nation’s economy and move us forward. We look forward to working with truck parking providers – both public and private – to ensure that all drivers have access to this important information.”