U.S. Department of Transportation

Lawmakers drag Buttigieg into UAW fight

WASHINGTON — Republican lawmakers unloaded their contempt for the Biden administration’s electric vehicle policy on U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg during an oversight hearing on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.

Democrats provided Buttigieg some relief, mostly by praising the administration for the record funding flowing from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law into projects that are helping relieve freight congestion and improving mobility for pedestrians.

But several Republicans used the...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/lawmakers-drag-buttigieg-into-uaw-fight

Crash victims allege DOT violations related to underride guard report

WASHINGTON — Truck safety advocates want the Biden administration to investigate whether regulators violated ethics rules and federal law in conducting cost-benefit assessments of crash protection equipment for truck trailers.

In a letter sent Thursday to U.S. Department of Transportation Inspector General Eric Soskin requesting the investigation, the Truck Safety Coalition, along with a group of truck crash victim advocates and victim family members, alleged potential misconduct by DOT...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/crash-victims-allege-dot-violations-related-to-underride-guard-report

Freight interests frustrated with leadership vacuum at DOT

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WASHINGTON — A group of 16 organizations representing the full scope of the freight supply chain are...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freight-interests-frustrated-with-leadership-vacuum-at-dot

Where is DOT’s Freight Office?

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Transportation has yet to stand up a government office crucial to freight transportation, a worrying sign that new infrastructure projects worth billions in federal dollars may not be receiving the attention and oversight they need.

DOT’s Office of Multimodal Freight Infrastructure and Policy (Freight Office), authorized by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) enacted on Nov. 15, 2021, was given wide-ranging responsibilities related to funding and...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/where-is-dots-freight-office

Truck parking in Texas, Louisiana gets $33.5M boost from DOT

The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded a combined $33.5 million to build new truck parking facilities in Texas and Louisiana as project sponsors find ways around a lack of dedicated funding pools for such projects.

A truck travel plaza in Caldwell County, Texas, was awarded $23 million from DOT’s Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) program, a competitive grant program used to fund freight and passenger transportation projects.

Another truck parking...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truck-parking-in-texas-louisiana-gets-335m-boost-from-dot

DOT issues final rule on oral fluid drug testing

WASHINGTON — A lack of approved testing laboratories has effectively put on hold a new rule making drug testing more convenient for the trucking industry.

The final rule by the U.S. Department of Transportation, scheduled to be published on Tuesday and which also applies to airlines and freight railroads, amends DOT’s industry drug testing program to include oral fluid testing.

“This additional methodology for drug testing will give employers a choice that will help combat employee cheating on...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/dot-issues-final-rule-on-oral-fluid-drug-testing

Will autonomous trucks need ELDs? No — well, maybe

This is part of a FreightWaves series on the electronic logging device mandate. Federal regulators began enforcing the mandate on April 1, 2018. Read more from this series here.

Driverless trucks, which may or may not be the future state of long-haul heavy-duty trucking, likely won’t need electronic logging devices. Nor will hours-of-service regulations won’t apply to them. But the reality is more nuanced.

“Anytime a human is involved, ELDs will matter,” said Wiley Deck, vice president of...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/will-autonomous-trucks-need-elds-no-well-maybe

Buttigieg addresses teen drivers, truck parking at Senate hearing

WASHINGTON — Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told concerned Senate lawmakers on Capitol Hill that his department and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration are making a renewed effort to bolster lackluster participation in the FMCSA’s pilot program for 18-20 year-old drivers.

The three-year program, which got underway last summer, is intended to accommodate up to 1,000 carriers and 3,000 apprentices.

However, Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., told Buttigieg during a Senate...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/buttigieg-addresses-teen-drivers-truck-parking-at-senate-hearing

Biden climate blueprint promotes modal shift away from trucks

A formal strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector prioritizes maritime and rail over trucking to more quickly get to net-zero emissions by 2050.

The U.S. National Blueprint for Transportation Decarbonization, released Tuesday by the Biden administration, is billed as a “first-of-its-kind” plan to cut GHG emissions in both passenger and freight transportation, building off funding incentives included in the 2021 infrastructure package and the 2022 Inflation...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/biden-climate-blueprint-promotes-modal-shift-away-from-trucks

FMCSA denies carriers’ request to report truck driver hair tests

Robin Hutcheson argues that federal statute prevents her from approving a drug-test exemption that some of the nation’s largest trucking companies argue would have kept thousands of drug-abusing drivers off the roads.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration chief stated in a public filing on Thursday that she was therefore obligated to deny an application filed by a group of 11 major truckload operators seeking an exemption from federal regulations to require positive hair tests be...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/fmcsa-denies-carriers-request-to-report-truck-driver-hair-tests

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