Nearly nine out of 10 Northwest Indiana truck drivers said they had used an undesignated parking location within the last five days.
That’s according to a Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission study on the availability of truck parking due out in June.
Data analyst Scott Weber briefed the NIRPC Transportation Committee Tuesday on the study results so far.
“We’re still trying to get more responses to the survey,” Weber said, even as the deadline for the final report looms.
Federal attention to the issue is driving the look at truck parking conditions here.
The U.S. Department of Transportation appropriations bill signed in February 2025 set aside $200 million for truck projects nationwide. That was followed by an April 2025 executive order that, among other things, is intended to increase the number of parking spaces for big rigs.
“Clearly, there is a need for a study of truck parking,” Weber said.
NIRPC has examined data from 2015 and 2019 studies, plus crowdsourced and app data, as well as Google Earth and other sources, to come up with the number of parking spaces in Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties.
There are about 4,700 spaces, 87% of them privately owned, Weber said.
Signs indicating the number of available spaces are useful, with federal regulations limiting the number of hours a driver can be on the road.
There are other considerations for where to stop – restroom availability is hardly a surprise – including convenient access.
The study ranked factors truckers consider in order of importance, including ability to find available parking spaces, convenience to the route, ease of getting in and out, safety and security, amenities offered and, in last place, whether the parking area is publicly or privately owned.
Some businesses don’t allow truck parking during the day but moonlight as a parking area after hours to make money off the truckers, 78% of whom aren’t reimbursed for their parking costs.
A NIRPC steering committee for the study has asked stakeholders to look at local regulations for obstacles to providing adequate truck parking. One consideration is the “contagion effect.” If one property allows truck parking, others nearby often do so as well.
“Parking security was the lowest satisfaction” in truckers’ evaluation of parking areas. Weber said.
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For restroom access to be a high priority shouldn’t be a surprise. Drive Clean Indiana Executive Director Carl Lisek said the average age of a truck driver is 61.
Access to fuel and the quality of the pavement are also top considerations in deciding where to park, Weber said.
In other business, the Transportation Committee heard that construction of the Willowcreek Road extension’s first phase, south from County Road 700N to Ind. 130, has been delayed another two years, to fiscal year 2029, which begins in July 2028.
This time of year, “I’m going through the couch cushions and trying to find the change,” Transportation Planning Manager Charles Bradsky said, to use up extra grant funds NIRPC might have before it’s lost.
He’s proposing an emergency amendment to the transportation improvement plan that includes cost increases of less than 2% for a roundabout at U.S. 231 and 113th Street/South Street in Crown Point, a roundabout at Broad Street and Avenue H in Griffith, and a Veterans Memorial Trail bridge in Lake County.
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.