News

Estimates released by the USDOT’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) show that Americans have returned to pre-Recession habits, logging more than 1.54 trillion miles in the first half of the year, eclipsing a previous high mark of 1.5 trillion in 2007. The new data, published in FHWA’s latest “Traffic Volume Trends” report, a monthly estimate of…

At the end of August, diesel fuel prices dropped for the 14th consecutive week, reaching 2009 levels. The American Trucking Associations (ATA) predicts the lower prices will cut trucking industry fuel costs by $42 billion from 2014 levels. ATA estimates the industry will spend $105 billion for fuel in 2015, compared to $147 billion in…

DHL Global Forwarding, an air and ocean freight specialist, recently announced its Trans Border Connect Less Than Truckload (LTL) service between the U.S. and Mexico. As a part of DHL’s domestic freight services, Trans Border Connect is a bundled solution that offers a single quote for pickup transport, line-haul transport, border crossing, cross-dock, border clearances…

The early August failure of the northbound Wildcat Creek Bridge on Interstate 65 south of Indianapolis is causing truckers and other traffic to make a 60-mile detour. The bridge is not expected to re-open until mid-September, according to Indiana DOT (INDOT) officials. The bridge experienced pier settling and tilting during a widening construction project. Officials…

U.S. DOT’s Driver-Assistive Truck Platooning (DATP) initiative study team has released its Phase One final report. As part of the Federal Highway Administration’s advanced research project on heavy truck cooperative cruise control, the first phase of the study looked at the commercial feasibility of driver assistive truck platooning, or DATP. Funded by DOT’s Exploratory Advanced…

President Barack Obama last week appointed T.F. Scott Darling III as the next administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, (FMCSA) the same day the U.S. Senate confirmed the appointment of acting administrator Greg Nadeau to the top spot at FHWA. The Administration had recently come under fire for leaving top transportation posts vacant….

Caterpillar has announced it will wind down its Mexico truck production facility with Navistar and start producing its own line of dump trucks at a plant in Victoria, Texas. The plant, which opened in 2012, currently produces hydraulic excavators. Caterpillar, the world’s sales leader in off-road construction machinery, has been selling the on-road trucks built…

General Motors has opened a new 52-acre Active Safety Test Area near its Milford Proving Ground near Detroit. The $14 million facility will be used to develop and test safety technologies for GM’s Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac lines. GM currently has 22 different active safety technologies across the 2016 model lineups, ranging from driver…

More than a dozen Georgia-based truckers recently testified before the Georgia Legislature, telling state lawmakers that shipping companies have been incorrectly classifying them as independent contractors rather than employees. In Georgia, 82 percent of truckers hauling freight from ports are misclassified, according to the National Employment Labor Project. Deputy Project Director Rebecca Smith said the…

The California Trucking Association (CTA) has joined forces with Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) to increase awareness of the economic and environmental benefits of natural gas and alternative fuels in the heavy-duty trucking industry. “We recognize the critical importance of the trucking industry to California and value the hard work of truck owner-operators, fleet owner-operators,…