Government

Donald Trump’s election as U.S. president sparked warnings of damaging trade wars and an end to globalization as we know it. So far, those predictions haven’t played out.

A decision by federal trucking regulators to adopt sweeping recommendations of an elite academic panel’s study assessing the way truckers are safety-rated has been mostly well received by the industry; yet some truckers admit they are a bit baffled by the complex “item response theory,” or IRT, approach to revamp the federal Compliance, Safety, Accountability program.

As they approach the legislative calendar’s halfway point, Republicans have been unable to carve a path forward for President Donald Trump’s multiyear infrastructure funding plan, despite their control of the U.S. House and Senate.

The deadline to submit applications for new federal infrastructure grants is Nov. 2, the U.S. Department of Transportation has announced.

The joints had been fixed and fresh asphalt laid over 40-year-old concrete on Interstate 94 between downtown Minneapolis and Brooklyn Center. But before traffic even started to roll over the new multimillion-dollar freeway, the pavement buckled in five places from the 90-degree June heat, leading to higher costs and more delays.

Years of pleas from parents whose son was killed by a speeding tractor-trailer, buy-in from some truckers and the promise of fewer highway deaths convinced U.S. officials in September to propose requiring speed-limiting devices on all large rigs.

TT Managing Editor Lorrie Grant chats with government reporters Eugene Mulero and Eric Miller to recap the year so far in congressional and regulatory news that impact trucking, and looks ahead at the final six months. (Joseph Terry/Transport Topics)

During a rare weekend meeting, Oregon state lawmakers on July 1 voted to send a slimmed-down, $5.3 billion proposal to raise taxes and fees to pay for transportation projects to the House floor for a full vote.

Identifying the most viable source of long-term funding for infrastructure projects nationwide is an elusive task, the country’s top transportation officer explained last week.

State transportation authorities that sought funding for freight infrastructure grants will need to reapply for the federal funding availability, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced June 29.