While the federal government holds U.S. engine manufacturers to an Oct. 1 deadline for cleaner engines, five trucking companies and engine-maker Caterpillar Inc. have filed a wave of appeals seeking deadline extension because of concerns over escalating cost estimates and growing doubts about engine reliability.

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration, apparently giving in to congressional and state pressure, agreed last week to put money back into the 2003 budget for highways, but Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta would not publicly commit to a specific amount.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration may ultimately issue new regulations to ensure the safe shipment of hazardous materials by truck, the agency said in a report to Congress March 4.

No new truck safety regulations have been issued by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration since October when the chairman of a key Senate subcommittee urged the head of the FMCSA to take aggressive action to eliminate the backlog of more than a dozen overdue rules.

WASHINGTON — Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrator Joseph M. Clapp announced during remarks to transportation journalists and lobbyists the names of five people who lost their lives in truck-related crashes.

WASHINGTON — Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrator Joseph M. Clapp told a House appropriations panel that an overdue report on the agency's "security sensitivity" visits to hazardous materials handlers is tied up in review by other Department of Transportation agencies.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are scrambling to jack up highway spending for fiscal 2003, despite the Bush administration’s reluctance to increase deficit spending during an economic downturn.

The USA Patriot Act requires the Department of Transportation to certify that drivers of hazardous cargo are not potential terrorists. Specific rules for screening these drivers likely will be issued in February and take effect in April.

The Bush administration proposed a record $371 million for motor carrier safety in fiscal 2003 on Monday, even as grant funding for state safety programs fell by $16 million.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has concluded that it is “not economically feasible” for small and medium-size carriers to install electronic hours-of-service recorders on trucks.