With the mobile service truck and service truck technician segments already stymied by a lack of growth, the truck driver industry is also looking for ways to increase participation.
How do you resolve a driver shortage? Well…
On June 6, 2024, US Representative Zach Nunn (Iowa-03) visited the Des Moines Area Community College's (DMACC) Ankeny Campus to announce that he had secured a $1 million investment for new infrastructure at the school’s Transportation Institute Education Center.
The money will be used to complete construction of the 8,600-square-foot Transportation Institute Education Center and a 12-acre concrete driving course to train future truck drivers, which Nunn said will help fill a hole within the country’s supply chain.
“Iowa businesses are facing supply chain issues, and one of the main contributors is a lack of employees who hold a commercial driver's license," said Rep. Nunn. “Programs, like what will be offered at the DMACC Transportation Institute Education Center, open doors for Iowans to good-paying jobs. This is a key investment to boost the workforce in Iowa and support our economy."
The funding comes via the Community Project Funding Process—it allows members to designate funding for critical issues and is part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2024, signed into law on March 6, 2024.
While DMACC’s Transportation Institute Education Center is currently under construction, the school expects the added truck course will help it double the program’s size.
The truck driving program is a mere three weeks long, and with the proposed driving course addition, students will be able to quickly move into a quality, well-paying job.
Not just an academic, DMACC President Rob Denson is a licensed truck driver with a Commercial Driver's License (CDL) and drove a semi as part of a summer job for Kent Nutrition Group feed mill in Homestead, Iowa, to help pay his way through college. And… no lip service was provided.