While highway construction and safety programs have not been affected by the shutdown of the federal government, investigations of the National Transportation Safety Board and economic indicators released by the government have been hampered.

Senate Democrats, contractors and other transportation advocates ramped up their rhetoric and the pressure last week in a last-ditch attempt to get a long-term highway bill passed before a temporary transportation funding extension expires.

A new law signed by Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley in May took effect immediately to protect truckers from having to choose between accepting loads and signing contracts that indemnify them.

A major coalition of freight stakeholders and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) have urged Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to create a high-level intermodal freight office with a director who reports directly to him.

The 47-member House and Senate conference committee set up to produce a compromise transportation bill has scheduled its first meeting for May 8, but contentious issues have surfaced already that could delay or sink the effort.

The U.S. Department of Transportation said it soon will award grants to state agencies to study the safety of trucks running heavier than allowed by current federal law.

The House of Representatives last week abandoned its efforts to pass a long-term transportation reauthorization bill of its own and voted to go to conference on the $109 billion, two-year bill already approved by the Senate.

Standard & Poor’s is warning that Congress’ failure to pass a long-term transportation funding bill could provoke a credit-rating crisis similar to the one last summer when Congress balked at raising the nation’s debt ceiling.