The American Transportation Research Institute has set new research priorities for 2023.
The ATRI board of directors approved the slate at its mid-year meeting May 5 in Florida. The topics came from the ATRI's Research Advisory Committee (RAC). They are:
Expanding truck parking at public rest areas, a topic perennially ranked by drivers as a top concern. ATRI will identify and map truck driver needs to rest stop attributes, develop best practice case studies and utilize truck driver data to identify strategies for expanding truck parking capacity available at public rest areas.
Identifying barriers to entry for female truck drivers. Female truck drivers represent less than 10% of the truck driver workforce and ATRI research documents that female drivers are safer than their male counterparts. This research will identify gender issues and proactive steps that the industry can take to make truck driving careers more appealing to women.
Complete Streets' impact on freight mobility. Complete Streets is a U.S. DOT program designed to make transportation accessible for all users, including pedestrians, bicyclists and transit riders. ATRI says that Complete Streets planning and deployment often negatively impacts freight transportation and those who rely on truck-delivered goods. This study will quantify impacts and recommend approaches for transportation planners to better facilitate freight movement.
Examine the diesel technician shortage and work with government and industry to identify factors underlying the shortage, including mapping career attributes to workforce needs and assessing high school-level vocational training availability, industry recruitment practices and competing career opportunities.
The cost of driver detention at customer facilities. This research, supported by shipper groups, will include quantitative data collection to identify detention impacts, costs and strategies for minimizing detention.
