Broker oversight, truck speed limiters among 2023 policy action items

The Biden administration began 2022 by rolling out its National Roadway Safety Strategy, a U.S. Department of Transportation-wide initiative aimed at addressing rising injuries and deaths involving cars and trucks.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration — and Congress — is expected to advance regulatory and legislative policy that either directly or indirectly attempts to tackle the problem.

Truck parking

With Republicans taking control of the House, a divided government will make it more...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/action-on-broker-oversight-truck-speed-limiters-expected-in-2023

What happens if Congress blocks the railroad strike?

U.S. Senator Richard Burr

Rail workers could gamble on an illegal walkout if Congress succeeds in blocking a national strike early Friday morning through legislative action, according to rail expert.

In the increasingly unlikely event that either the House or the Senate produces a settlement package that the remaining holdout unions will agree to, a walkout by frustrated rank-and-file workers could still occur.

“If Congress passes legislation it would immediately go to Joe Biden for his signature, and the minute he signs...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/what-happens-if-congress-blocks-the-railroad-strike

FreightWaves Classics/Infrastructure: Montauk Point Lighthouse was first US public works project

The Montauk Point Lighthouse. (Photo: Pamela Bednarik/U.S. Coast Guard)

William Kidd, also known as Captain Kidd, was a Scottish sea captain who was commissioned as a privateer and was also a pirate. Following a trial that heavily involved politics, he was executed in London in 1701 for murder and piracy. Stories swirl that Captain Kidd buried treasure in two ponds that are near the foot of where the Montauk Point Lighthouse now stands. This supposedly took place around 1699, and the two ponds are called “Money Ponds” today.

Captain Kidd in New York Harbor, in a c. 1920 painting by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris. (Image: Wikipedia)Captain Kidd in New York Harbor, in a...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freightwaves-classicsinfrastructure-montauk-point-lighthouse-was-first-us-public-works-project

FreightWaves Classics/Infrastructure: 153rd anniversary of transcontinental railroad is today (Part 1)

The Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads meet on May 10, 1869. (Photo: Andrew J. Russell)

One of the key events in the history of the United States occurred 153 years ago today – the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad (which was also known as “The Pacific Railway” and the “Overland Route”). North of the Great Salt Lake, at Promontory Point, Utah Territory on May 10, 1869, the ceremonial last spikes were driven and the railroad was completed.

The ceremony and its significance

The tracks of the eastbound Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) joined those of the westward Union...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freightwaves-classicsinfrastructure-153rd-anniversary-of-transcontinental-railroad-is-today-part-1

FreightWaves Classics: Construction of the transcontinental railroad was dependent on Chinese labor

Chinese laborers working on the Transcontinental Railroad. (web.stanford.edu)

Tomorrow is the 153rd anniversary of the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in the United States. It is not an overstatement that the transcontinental railroad changed transportation in this nation completely.

The Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) began construction of the transcontinental railroad on January 8, 1863, and built east from California’s capital of Sacramento. Concurrently, the Union Pacific Railroad (UP) began construction westward from Council Bluffs, Iowa (near...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freightwaves-classics-construction-of-the-transcontinental-railroad-depended-on-chinese-immigrants