Tag Archive for ‘federal’

Increasing Truck Productivity — The Time to Act is Now

The long-awaited federal Highway Reauthorization legislation is set to move forward this fall giving Congress the opportunity to modernize American truck weight limits and facilitate economic growth just when we need it most. Lawmakers are expected to begin drafting the Reauthorization proposal, which will fund our transportation network for the next few years. In this [...]

Train Robbery?

This fall, when President Obama supported the decision by Maine and Vermont to extend higher truck weight allowances on their highways, it was a vote for increasing the productivity of trucking on these states’ highways. Bill Graves, president of ATA, added context to the importance of this decision: “Existing restrictions on truck weight limits constrain [...]

Kraft Foods Shows Congress Truck Weight Reform is a Smart Delivery

New federal legislation presents a unique opportunity to safely improve the efficiency and sustainability of truck shipments. The Safe and Efficient Transportation Act (SETA), now pending in both the House and Senate, would give states the option to set interstate weight limits of up to 97,000 pounds for trucks equipped with a sixth axle. Without [...]

While the Highway Trust Fund Collapses, the Federal Government Spends Billions for “High-Speed” Passenger Rail

If you are looking for news from Washington that will brighten your day, please stop reading now! Since the 1950s when legislation was enacted to build the Interstate Highway System, Congress has passed, and the President has signed into law, a renewal of the federal commitment to surface transportation infrastructure every few years. While initially [...]

The US DOT’s Disappointing Strategic Plan

At a time when it is increasingly acknowledged that the federal government is on an unsustainable fiscal course, you would think the first thing a cabinet agency’s new strategic plan would do is attempt to figure out which of its historical functions are truly federal and should be continued. But that sort of prioritization is [...]

Port Trucking Proposal Threatens Deregulation

A long-running battle over reducing diesel emissions from port drayage trucks has turned into a serious threat to nearly 30 years of trucking deregulation. Several years ago an alliance of union and environmental groups threatened to make it politically impossible for the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to expand unless they cracked down [...]