“Thanks to President Trump, we’re getting Washington out of your trucks and your business,” Duffy said. (Rod Lamkey Jr./Associated Press)
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Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on June 27 announced a $275 million grant program to expand truck parking and prune regulations, billing the moves as the first wave of President Donald Trump’s trucking-reform order.
“Truckers keep America running,” Duffy said at the Department of Transportation. “While the country sleeps, truckers grind through the night to help keep shelves stocked, families fed and businesses humming. It’s a job that requires grit and dedication. But for too long, Washington, D.C., has made work harder for truckers. That ends today. Thanks to President Trump, we’re getting Washington out of your trucks and your business.”
Industry leaders quickly endorsed the plan.
“We thank the Trump administration and Secretary Duffy for their continued focus on the issues impacting America’s trucking industry,” American Trucking Associations President Chris Spear said. “A safe and strong trucking industry is critical to America’s economic growth and security, and data-driven measures like these that reduce regulatory burdens are important steps toward that end.”
The initiative answers Trump’s “Executive Order on Enforcing Commonsense Rules of the Road for America’s Truck Drivers,” which directs federal agencies to shed what the White House calls “one-size-fits-all” mandates and fix a parking shortage long blamed for lost time and safety risks.
Of the total funding, $180 million is earmarked for Florida to build 917 spaces along Interstate 4 in Volusia, Seminole and Osceola counties. The remaining $95 million will be available nationwide through discretionary grant rounds opening later this year. Florida Transportation Secretary Jared Perdue said the money would “help deliver nearly 1,000 additional truck parking spaces to serve Central Florida communities.”
(Transport Topics via YouTube)
DOT figures show 40% of drivers spend at least an hour a day hunting legal parking, time the agency says costs the national economy billions of dollars and forces truckers onto highway shoulders or retail lots. Trucking employs about 8.5 million Americans and moves almost three-quarters of the nation’s freight by weight, according to ATA.
Alongside the grants, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration withdrew a proposed mandate for speed-limiting devices on heavy trucks, arguing that a national cap could create dangerous speed differentials when rigs must travel well below surrounding traffic. FMCSA also proposed deleting about 1,800 words from its regulations — largely duplicate definitions and record-keeping rules — and renewed its focus on unlawful double brokering, a practice that can siphon revenue from small carriers.
The agency plans to modernize several online tools, including its consumer-complaint portal and the DataQ system drivers use to dispute inspection reports, promising single sign-on access and near-real-time case tracking.
The parking grants and regulatory rollbacks follow Duffy’s May directive ordering stricter enforcement of federal English-proficiency requirements for commercial drivers.
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