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A 2013 bridge collapse in Washington State has prompted the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to urge state transportation agencies to review their permitting processes for oversized truck shipments, the Seattle Times reported last week. The National Transportation Safety Board in part blamed the collapse of an Interstate 5 span over the Skagit River in…

Pilot Flying J owners Jimmy and Bill Haslam have agreed to pay $92M in fines for cheating customers out of promised rebates and discounts, according to an Associated Press report. The high-profile brothers, one the owner of the Cleveland Browns and the other the governor of Tennessee, have accepted responsibility for the actions of 10…

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is seeking input on the proposed mandatory use of Electronic Logging Devices (ELD) and the agency has been getting an earful. By the end of June, FMCSA had received more than 1,700 comments on the proposed implementation with a mix of support and opposition. The American Trucking Associations…

As Congress steers toward another transportation funding crisis, some in Washington think the long-term solution to transportation funding would be to eliminate the middleman and let states manage transportation dollars. The issue is a massive one. The Highway Trust Fund is staring at a $15 billion shortfall in 2015. The ongoing crisis in transportation funding…

When Congress left Washington for the Fourth of July recess they did so with major transportation legislation yet to be enacted. As a result, the pending fiscal cliff for the Highway Trust Fund draws perilously closer. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) tried to push through a six-month funding extension before the recess but got no traction…

Bob Costello, chief economist for the American Trucking Associations (ATA), sees the rest of 2014 as mix of good and bad. Costello says he believes the U.S. economy will accelerate during the rest of the year after a tough first quarter but operating costs will continue to limit profits for U.S. trucking fleets. Costello said…

A New Jersey highway crash that injured comedian Tracy Morgan and killed another comedian has shined a spotlight on the issue of fatigued truckers behind the wheel on American highways. Wal-Mart truck driver Kevin Roper had had no sleep for more than 24 hours before he plowed into the back of Morgan’s limo bus about…

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) successfully pushed through an amendment in the Senate Appropriations Committee last week that would delay for one year the restart provisions of the hours-of-service restart rules regulating American truckers. The amendment was championed by the American Trucking Associations (ATA), which has lobbied to get the rules changed. “Since these rules were…

Missouri transportation officials have shelved a project using “sound cannons” to warn distracted drivers to slow down in work zones but remain interested in how the devices could enhance traffic safety. Missouri DOT tested the long-range acoustic devices or LRADs last fall on MDOT vehicles traveling Interstate 435 in Kansas City and Interstate 70 near…

Lower costs for natural gas-powered highway tractors compared to diesel could make it more profitable for trucking companies to look at longer hauls for intermodal shipments, according to an analyst with transportation/railroad consultant Oliver Wyman. Jason Kuehn, a 20-year veteran of transportation/railroad industry, recently participated in a conference call sponsored by Wall Street investment firm…