Project

I-4 West Central Florida Truck Parking Facility

EBP conducted Benefit-Cost Analysis (BCA) to support a winning 2022 Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) large capital grant application for the Florida Depart of Transportation (FDOT), resulting in a $15 million award. 

The project, located in a rural area between Orlando and Tampa, is comprised of major interchange improvements as well as a new truck parking facility with approximately 120 spaces, electric charging stations, and pedestrian infrastructure to access nearby commercial amenities. It features major innovations including electronic linkage to FDOT’s Truck Parking Availability System to assist commercial vehicle operators in identifying available parking locations.  The six electrical hookups will provide stand-by power for refrigerated trucks and auxiliary power for in-cab comforts.  

The project delivers significant benefits across a range of benefit types, including truck congestion reduction and crash reductions at the improved interchange location.  In addition, the project addresses a shortage in parking for commercial vehicles on a corridor between Tampa and Orlando, which carries an average of 18,000 trucks daily and reduces parking in unauthorized areas such as vacant lots or highway shoulders. By providing reliable parking capacity, this reduces time drivers spend searching for commercial vehicle parking, making supply chain movement more efficient. Additionally, the electric hookups and the reduced time searching for parking will decrease commercial vehicle emissions. 

To facilitate the DOT’s review of the BCA and to provide greater information on the benefits of each of the project elements (interchange improvements and truck parking facility) EBP economists prepared a disaggregate BCA in which Benefit Cost ratios and Net Present Value (NPV) were estimated separately for each project element, and a combined BCA was also obtained.