Construction on an unfinished portion of U.S. 35 in Putnam County, WV, has created a dangerous intersection that truckers in the area say is causing a nightmare for big rigs trying to negotiate the highway. On May 10, officials had to close the Buffalo Bridge, officially known as W.Va. 869, and a four-mile section of U.S. 35 after a tractor-trailer overturned at the intersection. Within the space of a quarter-mile, drivers come off a hill into a sharp turn at the bridge and just after the span must negotiate an intersection with W.Va. 817....More

Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood recently congratulated two elementary school students – a second grader from Maryland and a third grader from Missouri – as this year’s winners of the “Be Ready. Be Buckled.” Safety Belt Student Art Contest sponsored by the Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Belt Partnership. ...More

State transportation departments will join with the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) for 72 hours of stepped-up roadside truck inspections June 4 to 6. Last year the annual Roadcheck program, which also extends into Canada and Mexico, conducted 74,072 truck and driver inspections, placing 20.9% of the vehicles out of service for mechanical problems and 4.6% of the drivers for various safety regulation infractions. This year’s program will place special emphasis on motor coach inspections and overall traffic enforcement, according to CVSA....More

The Trucking Industry Mobility & Technology Coalition (TIMTC) and the Dept. of Transportation will hold a free webinar this Thursday afternoon during which industry experts will discuss the benefits and consequences of truck drivers’ use of navigation systems. The webinar, “Assessing the Use of Navigation Systems for Large Trucks,” will be held Thursday, May 16 from 2 to 3:30 p.m. EDT. Participants will need access to the internet and a telephone....More

U.S. Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) re-introduced legislation designed to keep bigger, heavier trucks off the road. The bill would apply existing federal truck size and weight limits to the entire National Highway System (NHS) and will also ban the use of triple trailer rigs on the entire NHS.  ...More