A mechanical failure in the tower on the New Hampshire side of the Sarah Long Bridge that connects Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Kittery, Maine, has caused the 76-year-old structure to be closed permanently.

In an era of a persistent driver shortage, Transport Topics has decided to take a look at a small slice of the segment of men and women who will be driving America’s trucks in the years to come by following a driver training school class.

Truck drivers in Canada will likely soon be required to be outfitted with electronic logging devices, with full implementation of a rule expected before the end of the decade, according to a Transport Canada official.

The Federal Highway Administration will make $2 million in emergency funds immediately available to help Louisiana fix transportation infrastructure damaged in floods this month.

With New Jersey’s road construction shutdown having hit the 40-day mark on Aug. 17 and no end to the budget impasse between Republican Gov. Chris Christie and the Democratic-dominated Legislature, Christie issued an executive order that commanded the state treasurer to free funds to cover “essential” road and rail work and those which require a state match of federal dollars.

Massachusetts won’t be joining Oregon and California in implementing a vehicle miles traveled pilot program anytime soon. Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, vetoed a bill on Aug. 10 that the Democratic-controlled Massachusetts Legislature had passed 10 days earlier to permit the state’s Department of Transportation to start a VMT pilot.

With parts of Louisiana getting between two and three feet of rain over the last three days, more than 280 flooded state roads were closed to traffic on Aug. 15, affecting freight movement.

Come next July 1, all residents of Ontario, Canada’s most populated province, who want to take a Class A road test to become commercial truck drivers must successfully complete an entry-level training course through an approved training provider.