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EPA Rule Change Could Result in Noncompliance, Loss of Federal Funding, Chamber of Commerce Says
WASHINGTON — A small change in the cap for ground-level ozone emissions could lead to wide-scale noncompliance of environmental rules, and a major business group says that could be flipped into the federal government yanking funding commitments for highway and transit projects. At a U.S. Chamber of Commerce event here July 22, representatives of transportation…
Read MoreBTS updates transportation statistics
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) on July 17 updated National Transportation Statistics (NTS) — a web-only reference guide to national-level transportation data. NTS, updated quarterly, includes a wide range of national transportation information. NTS consists of more than 260 tables of national data on the transportation system, safety, the economy…
Read MoreEPA Proposal on Insulation Raises Reefer-Sector Concern
A final U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulation expected this summer has generated significant concerns from suppliers to the refrigerated trucking sector, with the main worry being that a January 2017 rollout date is too soon. The Protection of Stratospheric Ozone rule was proposed last August but generally escaped the attention of trucking. The proposal is…
Read MoreTrucking revenues top $700 billion for the first time, according to report
Last year, the trucking industry generated $700.4 billion in revenue, according to data published in the American Trucking Associations’ (ATA) latest edition of American Trucking Trends. The ATA says this makes 2014 the first year in history the industry topped $700 billion in total revenue. The ATA releases Trends annually. It is a compendium of…
Read MoreApril Truck Orders Drop 10% to Lowest Level in 18 Months
Truck orders slipped 10% last month from the same period a year ago on a preliminary basis to the lowest level in 18 months, as Class 8 buying trends return to typical seasonal patterns. The ACT Research North American total of 22,400 marked the second monthly decline on a year-over-year basis. However, orders now have…
Read MoreFMCSA Rejects Petition to Exempt $75,000 Broker Bond
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has denied a request by the Association of Independent Property Brokers and Agents that all property brokers and freight forwarders be exempted from the agency’s $75,000 bond provision. The increase in the minimum bond requirement from $10,000 was a provision in the 2012 transportation law known as MAP-21. FMCSA…
Read MoreFeds Say Americans Drove More Miles Last Year Than in Previous Seven
Americans drove nearly 3.02 trillion miles last year, the highest number since 2007 and second-highest since data collection began 79 years ago, the Federal Highway Administration announced. The new mileage figures show the need for greater investment in transportation infrastructure and affirm the projections Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx included in his recently released “Beyond Traffic” report,…
Read MoreFor-hire freight dips slightly in January, BTS reports
The Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reports that the Freight Transportation Services Index (TSI) — which is based on the amount of freight carried by the for-hire transportation industry — fell 0.2 percent in January from December. This is second consecutive month of decline. The January 2015 index level (122.9) was 29.9 percent above the…
Read MoreMileage Tax Could Replace Fuel Taxes in Near Future, Lawmakers, Experts Say
WASHINGTON — It’s only a matter of time before fuel taxes will be replaced or supplemented with mileage taxes to pay for the nation’s roads, lawmakers and transportation policy experts said. A switch from fuel to mileage taxes could take place in six years, a pair of U.S. lawmakers said during the annual meeting of…
Read MoreThirteen cities to receive FHWA grants to develop real-time travel information
Grants in the sum of $2.571 million have been made available by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to expand the use of real-time travel information in 13 highly congested urban areas across 10 states. The grants will assist selected cities or regions combine numerous information technologies and real-time travel information — known “Integrated Corridor Management”…
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