WASHINGTON — Elaine Chao, chosen by President-elect Donald Trump to lead the U.S. Department of Transportation, pledged to collaborate with Congress on boosting funding for highway projects and modernizing the country’s freight networks during a friendly confirmation hearing in the Senate on Jan. 11.

Americans for Modern Transportation, a new coalition of shippers and retailers led by FedEx Corp. and Amazon.com intends to press congressional lawmakers this year to approve nationwide access of twin 33-foot trailers.

Norman Mineta, the country’s secretary of transportation during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and a former chairman of the transportation committee in the U.S. House of Representatives, received the lifetime achievement award at the Transportation Research Board’s annual meeting in Washington.

WASHINGTON — Elaine Chao pledged to collaborate with federal lawmakers on efforts to boost funding for highway projects and modernize the country’s infrastructure network in the coming years during a Senate hearing Jan. 11 examining her qualifications to lead the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Transportation officials from Rhode Island, Maryland and Idaho were among the applicants seeking federal grants to help pay for improvements to critical freight corridors in their states.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s agenda for the new year will be unveiled on the third day of the Transportation Research Board’s annual conference in Washington this month.

If federal lawmakers need a reminder of an infrastructure mission statement for the 115th Congress, they should visit the House Transportation and Infrastructure hearing room at Rayburn. Here's the week ahead for trucking on Capitol Hill. 

A push to reform corporate tax laws by the Republican leadership of the House and Senate could help carve a path for the Trump administration to advance an infrastructure funding proposal in the coming months, Rep. Kevin Brady, the top tax writer in the House, told reporters before the start of the new Congress.

The effective enforcement of safety, repairing critical infrastructure and expediting the permitting process are priorities at the U.S. Department of Transportation that Elaine Chao said she will address if confirmed as transportation secretary in the Trump administration. 

The group representing truck stop operators nationwide will engage with industry partners in a series of working groups to determine how to enhance parking availability for truckers, the group’s spokeswoman indicated this week.