The objective of this research is to develop a framework to evaluate authorized truck parking areas in the context of critical supply chains, safety, and resilience for decision-makers who develop and manage those truck parking areas. At a minimum, the evaluation framework shall consider: A variety of multimodal critical supply chains and a variety of commodities and flow types Funding mechanisms for constructions, operations, and maintenance Innovations (including emerging technologies and new developments in land use and funding) and opportunities (such as land development) Intrastate and multistate freight corridors in rural, urban, and suburban contexts Prioritization and strategic planning for current and future truck parking demand (including the allocation of resources, access to facilities, and the number of spaces in both existing and new areas) Design of parking area (including circular versus single point of entry and lighting) and security in and near the parking area How to access and assess inventories of truck parking areas (including amenities and capacity), considering how often the data is updated and if the data provides the information needed for decision-making Data availability Truck loads that meet size and weight limits, as well as oversize and overweight truck loads An analysis of barriers and how to overcome them (including federal, state, and local regulatory constraints) Safety (including crashes involving trucks and the personal safety of the truck driver) Resilience, which is the ability to sustain critical supply chains during and after a disruptive event At a minimum, the framework shall include the following criteria to evaluate truck parking areas: Measures of success Environmental aspects Freight system fluidity, which is the performance of the supply chain, including the reliability of travel time and the cost of freight Emerging trends and industry conditions (such as alternative fuels, changes in demand for truck parking and services, changes that affect the supply of trucks and truck services, and contextual changes in technology, public goals, and economic development) Operations and maintenance costs of public facilities Application factors (such as land availability, land ownership, proximity to truck routes, and utilities) Multicriteria prioritization (such as crash data, cost, demand, site size, and configuration) The primary audience for the evaluation framework is decision-makers responsible for truck parking areas both in public agencies (including state DOT leadership) and in private entities. The evaluation framework shall be tested with the primary audience as well as: Other state DOT staff State legislatures Law enforcement, emergency management, and economic development agencies Officials from cities, counties, and metropolitan planning organizations Port, airport, and turnpike authorities Freight community (including truck drivers) State public-private partnership offices and private sector partners (including the technology sector and developers for truck parking areas) Other relevant stakeholders
