Well, we have a highway bill proposal. The House of Representative’s Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure is set to mark up a bill, said to be $260 billion over five years, today. But, like anything in Washington, the bill has little chance of passing. And once again, it will be because our lawmakers know not how to get American cruising down the highway, but rather only how to put up roadblocks.

In addition to differences that must be smoothed over with what the Senate will likely put forth, chief among those being that the current Senate proposal would provide $109 billion over two years, the House version will likely include a controversial oil pipeline project – the Canada to Texas Keystone XL oil pipeline - already rejected by President Barack Obama earlier this year. more

The U.S. Tolling Coalition has called on Congress to give states more flexibility to install tolls on Interstate highways as a way to raise revenues for highway improvement projects.

Now it’s not surprising the U.S. Tolling Coalition is in favor of making it easier to install tolls, after all, the organization supports tolling as a way around Washington gridlock.

Along I-95 alone, Virginia has been given approval to place tolls. Rhode Island has asked for permission to toll 95 in that state and each year the idea of tolling 95 in Connecticut gains ground. Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, Alabama, and North Carolina are among the other states that have either started, or are looking to toll their highways. more

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn has signed into law a reporting and education process designed to improve the safety of truck routing within the state.

The bill, House Bill 1377, requires the state as well as municipalities to report truck restrictions, preferred truck routes, and other pertinent information to the Illinois Dept. of Transportation. In turn, that information will be posted on IDOT’s website.

The bill is the result of a special task force that was charged with investigating GPS technology and compliance with the Designated Truck Route System. more

The state of Rhode Island has formally asked the Federal Highway Administration for the right to toll Interstate 95 near the Connecticut border, according to the Providence Journal.

The idea is to use the money to help pay for repairs to I-95 in Providence, as well as expanding a connector road with I-95 and Route 4 that funnels traffic into the Quonset Business Park area in North Kingstown. The state estimates those two projects at $205 million. Additional revenue would be used to pay for general highway repair in the state.

The announcement of the formal application drew harsh criticism from local legislators, including Rep. Brian Patrick Kennedy (D-Hopkinton), who said the Rhode Island Dept. of Transportation (RIDOT) was merely trying to pay for road work in other parts of the state on the backs of residents in his district. more

With the announcement today that cars and light trucks will be expected to achieve an average Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) of 54.5 mpg by 2025, the impact will be felt in many ways.

Yes, it will lessen our dependence on foreign oil. Yes, it will help clean up the environment, especially as more automakers build hybrid and electric vehicles in response. Yes, drivers will ultimately use less fuel, which means fewer dollars spent at the pump for consumers. But that comes at a price - a price that needs to be addressed.

If less fuel is purchased, that means fewer dollars in gas taxes will be collected. The impact, of course, is that with fewer taxes collected, there will be fewer dollars available for infrastructure maintenance and improvements. That is a little publicized problem that needs to be addressed as mpg improves. Currently, CAFE requires all vehicles sold to average 27.3 mpg; that will rise to 34.1 by 2017, and then increase 5% per year through 2025. With all the fuel sold and taxes collected now at the 27.3 standard, we still can’t find a way to adequately fund our infrastructure projects. If we could, we’d already have a multi-year highway reauthorization bill. more

Texas Gov. Rick Perry joined Peterbilt Motors Co. executives at Peterbilt’s Denton, TX, plant for a bill-signing ceremony where Perry put his signature to a bill that will expand the natural gas infrastructure in the state of Texas.

Senate Bill 20 establishes a natural gas transportation corridor in the rapidly expanding Texas Triangle, which encompasses Austin, Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio. The bill will increase the number of natural gas refueling station to support the use of natural gas powered trucks. more

So the U.S. and Mexico have officially signed off on a cross-border trucking deal and the fun begins again. The long-awaited program – promised by the Obama Administration since the cancellation of the previous pilot program in 2009 – is officially a government program. We know this because of the criticism it is receiving, including a court challenge the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Assn. (OOIDA) has filed.

Without getting into too many details (you can read all the coverage at www.fleetowner.com), the one disturbing trend that continues to appear regarding the program is the claim that Mexican trucks are not up to the standards of U.S. vehicles. While that may be true in Mexico, it definitely will not be true here. Yet, opponents of the program continue to pound us over the heads with this. more

UPDATE: Just hours after posting this blog criticizing the state of Connecticut for closing the state’s non-commercial rest areas along Interstates 84, 91, and 95, I received a call from Michael Riley, president of the Motor Transport Association of Connecticut, to say that a deal has just been reached today with the administration of Gov. Dannel Malloy to keep all seven of the rest areas open.

“The administration has made assurances to the transportation committee chairman that they will all remain open,” Riley told me. “The outrage that was expressed by this was phenomenal. People who hadn’t called their legislators in 50 years (were calling).”

So Connecticut has reversed course, despite a Malloy adminstration spokesman telling the Hartford Courant on Monday that the closings would not be reconsidered. The trucking industry has won this battle, but there is a still a war to be fought for safe truck parking in the U.S.

The state of Connecticut, in an effort to close a budget gap, will be closing all seven of its non-commercial rest areas in the state, and with those closures will come a significant decrease in the number of available parking spaces for truckers.

(UPDATE at 1:40 p.m.: A deal has been reached to keep the rest areas open.)

The first two areas, in Willington, CT, along Interstate 84 (the main highway crossing from New York to Massachusetts, will close on July 1. The remaining five – in Danbury and Southington along 84, Middletown and Wallingford along I-91 (which runs from the shoreline to Massachusetts), and North Stonington, on I-95 (the route from New York to Rhode Island toward Boston), will all close within a year, the state said.

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U.S. Reps. Geoff Davis (R-KY) and Mike Thompson (D-CA) along with four co-sponsors have introduced a bill that would provide incentive for commercial fleets to install advanced safety technologies such as stability control systems. The bill, H.R. 1706, has been referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.

(Photo at right: Meritor Wabco SmartTrac stability control system)

“Each year, there are over 384,000 crashes involving trucks, buses, and other heavy vehicles,” Thompson said. “Many of these accidents could have been prevented if advanced safety technologies had been in place. I was proud to work with Congressman Davis to introduce this legislation, which would make safety systems more affordable for the folks who need them.” more