Total transportation construction and related market activity is expected to grow 1.3 percent in 2017, driven largely by increases in highway and bridge work supporting residential and commercial developments. American Road & Transportation Builders Association Chief Economist Dr. Alison Premo Black projects spending to reach $248 billion, up from an estimated $245 billion in 2016.
Read MoreSources: National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association (NSSGA), Alexandria, Va.; CP staff
President-elect Donald Trump will nominate Elaine Chao to be U.S. Secretary of Transportation. A Vulcan Materials Co. director and the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), she was Secretary of Labor from 2001–2009, throughout both terms of President George W. Bush, and has also served as DOT deputy secretary and Federal Maritime Commission chairman.
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Agency, academic and private sector officials assessed long-range infrastructure planning against demographic changes, technology developments and funding mechanisms during a Northwestern University Transportation Center-hosted symposium, staged to release the Association of Equipment Manufacturers-commissioned “Mobility 2050” study.
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Sources: Association of Equipment Manufacturers, Milwaukee; CP staff
Agency, academic and private-sector officials assessed long-range infrastructure planning against demographic changes, technology developments and funding mechanisms during a Northwestern University Transportation Center-hosted symposium, staged to release the Association of Equipment Manufacturers-commissioned “Mobility 2050” study.
Read MorePer National Transportation Safety Board recommendation, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is seeking through June 8 public input on the impacts of screening, evaluating and treating commercial motor vehicle drivers for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). The agency poses 20 questions it deems will provide the necessary information before determining whether or not to pursue a proposed rule.
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A 60 Minutes broadcast segment, “Falling Apart,” explains that “America’s roads, bridges, airports and rail lines are outdated and need to be fixed” due to decades of neglect … nearly 70,000 bridges in America—one out of every nine—is now considered to be structurally deficient.” According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, segment editors noted, “32 percent of the major roads in America are now in poor condition and in need of major repairs.”
Read MoreSources: American Road & Transportation Builders Association, Washington, D.C.; CP staff
An ARTBA analysis of the five-year, $305 billion Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST) that President Obama signed December 4 notes: “While the total core highway investment increase during the [five-year] life of the bill will be just over 15 percent, yearly assessments are a better gauge of market impact.
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Environmental Protection Agency– and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration-proposed performance standards covering 2021–2027 model year heavy- and medium-duty trucks would achieve up to a 24 percent reduction of fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions when measured against a 2018 vehicle. The agencies address concrete mixers and dump trucks within a larger Vocational Vehicles category of heavy- and medium-duty models, representing what officials estimate is about 20 percent of fuel consumption in the transportation universe their proposal covers.
Read MoreSources: Environmental Protection Agency; CP staff
EPA- and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration-proposed performance standards covering 2021–2027 model year heavy- and medium-duty trucks would achieve up to a 24 percent reduction of fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions when measured against a 2018 vehicle. The agencies address concrete mixers and dump trucks within a larger Vocational Vehicles category of heavy- and medium-duty models, representing what officials estimate is about 20 percent of fuel consumption in the transportation universe their proposal covers.
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