State probes 16 county sites for freight truck parking lots

A freight truck parking shortage in Miami-Dade County continues to be an issue, but plans are rolling as the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) District 6 runs a truck parking site feasibility study.

“This [truck parking site feasibility] study is a study that we’re performing to actually have a truck parking site,” said Daniel Lameck, District 6 freight and federal grants coordinator. “District 6, we don’t have an FDOT-owned truck parking site. It’s the freight unit and it’s the department’s goal to implement one to help with the truck parking shortage, not just … here in our district, but the truck parking shortage that is happening nationwide.

We’re trying to do our part and put a truck parking site here in the county that can serve Miami-Dade, and also possibly get a truck parking site in Monroe County as well that can serve that area.”

A study that should finish in 2024 will analyze 16 sites that could potentially be an FDOT-owned truck parking site. The exact site to be used isn’t decided. The National Highway Freight program is also taken into account.

“That’s a grant program that’s administrated through the federal government, but the state government, we do apply for that funding and we do get awarded National Highway Freight program funding at times for our projects,” said Mr. Lameck. “My plan and my goal and the department’s goal is to do as much studies as we can so we can get projects implemented into our work program, and then get them funded through this National Highway Freight program funding if we don’t have enough funding to implement the projects from a state level.”

“We have a funding mechanism to help with truck parking and freight mobility as a whole,” he said. “We’re hoping that with this funding mechanism and with the studies that we complete, we can really help the freight mobility movement and the truck parking shortage that’s here in the district.

“The truck parking site feasibility study comes after the “supply and demand truck parking study that was completed last year here at District 6. That study … looked at the demand of truck parking that we’re going to need here in Miami-Dade County, and then the shortfall,” said Mr. Lameck. “We wanted to know just how off we are as a county when it comes to truck parking.”

The results showed an estimated daily truck parking demand for 12,190 truck parking spaces in Miami-Dade and a shortfall of up to 3,400 spaces, said Mr. Lameck. “That study greatly helped us in knowing exactly what we need to do in terms of mitigating for that shortfall. “Now we are conducting a truck parking site feasibility study currently.”

In June 2020, Miami Today reported a 17-acre parcel near the Golden Glades Interchange for a “Truck Travel Center” was being focused on by Miami-Dade County and state transportation officials. In August 2021, Miami Today reported the project would add 135 to 140 parking spaces and construction was expected to begin in fiscal 2023. However, this project has been put on hold.

“That project [the Truck Travel Center] has been put on hold due to the Golden Glades Interchange project,” said Mr. Lameck. “There is another project that’s happening in the Golden Glades Interchange and construction of that project is going to be going up until, I believe, 2031 or 2032 … we wouldn’t be able to implement that [Truck Travel Center] until the Golden Glades Interchange project is complete with construction … [and] that’s going to be something that we look at once more once the Golden Glades Interchange is complete.”

Land values in the county have also been taken into account as they continue to fluctuate. This is another challenge that will continue to be monitored as truck parking sites are analyzed.

“Land values are changing very frequently, and when looking at doing a truck parking site and acquiring land, that’s where … there becomes a challenge on our end because we need to make sure that we know exactly how much it’s going to cost to acquire that land and then how much it will cost to also build on that land,” said Mr. Lameck. “When we get these changes in land values, that’s something that we’re going to have to keep looking at and updating our information. But as a department, we’re aware of that.”

“Down the line, there might need to be an updated information or we might have to regroup and look at that information again, just to make sure that whatever land values that we put in our studies remain consistent,” he said, “but through the funding mechanism … the National Highway program funding that we use, if we do, for example, need … extra money when it comes to acquiring land and building a truck parking site, we’re hoping that federal funds can help us mitigate … the difference in cost that we might have…. We look to use grant funding to help us fund acquiring a truck parking site if the cost does go up.”