Government

A new transportation plan by Virginia state Republicans would raise fees on drivers and boost costs to truckers, the Washington Post reported Thursday.

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire (D) Thursday unveiled a new “container ports initiative,” a plan to improve the movement of products to markets and workers to jobs.

Contractors will close a stretch of Interstate 215 in California starting Friday night through 4 a.m. Monday, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.

As the federal government moved last week to help states promote private transportation investment, several states in the Northeast took initial steps toward adding toll roads or privatizing existing highways.

TTNews.com will be closed Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday. Please check back on Tuesday, Jan. 22, for the latest trucking and freight transportation news.

Crude oil prices plunged to below $50 a barrel Thursday following a Department of Energy report that showed stronger inventories of crude oil, gasoline and distillates, which include diesel.

Manufacturing levels in the Philadelphia area improved this month as orders and sales improved, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said Thursday.

U.S. consumer prices rose 0.5% in December, the most since April, following no change in November, the Labor Department said Thursday.

U.S. new housing starts jumped 4.5% in December as builders took advantage of warmer weather, the Commerce Department said Thursday.

The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that its 12 district banks reported a moderate pace of growth and inflation late last year as labor markets tightened, and several regional banks reported softer trucking demand.