News

If the nation’s Highway Trust Fund goes belly up this summer most states and dozens of metropolitan areas will lose the majority of highway dollars needed to maintain and upgrade the transportation network, according to a report recently released by Transportation for America (T4A), a Washington, D.C.-based alliance of elected, business and civic leaders from…

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced the availability of $9 million in grant funding for clean diesel projects to reduce diesel pollution and emissions exposure from the nation’s existing fleet of diesel engines. The funding comes from EPA’s Diesel Emission Reduction Program (DERA) and will target the most cost-effective projects and fleets operating in…

When the California Air Resources Board (CARB) recently decided to give smaller truck fleets more time to comply with its Truck and Bus Rule it received a strong pushback from fleet owners who are in compliance. CARB’s late April decision prompted a number of carriers to argue that fleets not in compliance now have a…

The U.S. Department of Transportation has sent a four-year surface transportation reauthorization bill to Congress that would pump $302 billion into fortifying the country’s transportation infrastructure. The Grow America Act (Generating Renewal, Opportunity and Work with Accelerated Mobility, Efficiency and Rebuilding of Infrastructure and Communities throughout America) includes $199 billion in earmarks for highway system…

The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) recently released the findings of its independent evaluation of FMCSA’s HOS study and the ATRI report is heavily critical of the federal document. ATRI’s Technical Memorandum cites the following issues with FMCSA’s report: The field study report purports to have measured differences between restarts with one and two nighttime…

Facing a May 21 deadline, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) is asking the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) for more time to meet a new medical examiner registration requirement. OOIDA says there is a shortage of medical examiners that have been accepted to the new national registry. “OOIDA is concerned that, as a…

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is calling for safety changes in tractor-trailer design and mandating rear cameras in light vehicles by 2018. The NTSB has recommended changes in design standards to improve truck drivers’ visibility of other vehicles and pedestrians and to improve the side and rear under ride protection systems on both tractors…

Former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, now a senior policy advisor at a law firm, says he doesn’t think Congress will address transportation funding this year because of election year politics. LaHood, now with the firm DLA Piper, says Congress will likely pass short-term continuation funding rather than tackle a long-term solution to transportation…

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Administrator Anne Ferro and four members of her staff attended the recent Mid-America Trucking Show to listen to the trucking industry and share the agency’s position on key issues. FMCSA wanted to hear from truckers about knowledge testing for new transportation companies but also got an earful about FMCSA’s…

Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) Chairman Tom B. Kretsinger told delegates at the organization’s recent annual convention that trucking is not as simple as it used to be. “There was a time when you could get a truck, take a load from A to B and collect your money,” said Kretsinger, who is president and COO…