In order to attract more small carriers at a time when freight-hauling capacity is in high demand, truckload carrier Landstar System has launched a new Internet bulletin board to offer its loads to a wider audience of truckers.

The Chicago region needs to spend $4.5 billion over the next 25 years to avoid a gridlock of freight traffic, which is expected to double in the next two decades, said a nonprofit organization comprising transportation and land-use planners, ex-government and corporate officials.