Editorial

It appears that the opponents of Virginia’s plan to put tolls on Interstate 95 have won the battle, and we’re glad to hear it.

It wasn’t the best of times. It wasn’t the worst of times. This year’s Mid-America Trucking Show was as notable for what didn’t happen as it was for what did occur on the floor of the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville, Ky.

March is almost always an exciting time in the trucking industry, and this year it’s particularly true, with four of the industry’s top trade shows each displaying those tantalizing first glimpses of renewed growth.

The word out of the Truckload Carriers Association annual meeting last week is that freight capacity is already beginning to look pinched, even as the number of people applying for driver jobs is falling sharply.

American Trucking Associations’ request to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration that it delay implementation of its latest iteration of a new hours-of-service rule for a few months — until a federal appeals court has ruled on ATA’s challenge — was very straightforward.

There are certainly times when aspects of our world take on shades of that perennial favorite movie, “Groundhog Day.” All we’re missing is Bill Murray and the icy pothole he steps in every morning.

Well, at least we’re getting lip service related to fixing the nation’s ailing and neglected infrastructure network. Now, if we can just get some concrete action.

Here’s a double-barreled dose of worrisome news: Trucking wasted some $27 billion in fuel and lost productivity during 2011 due to congestion in the nation’s largest urban areas; fuel prices spiked in the most recent survey by the Department of Energy, 9.5 cents a gallon for diesel and 18.1 cents for gasoline.

It’s nice to hear from the new chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee that he recognizes what dire straits the Highway Trust Fund is in and that he’s open to all suggestions as to how to fix it.

The University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute has its tin cup out and is in definite need of a few bucks. And we think it would be in trucking’s interest to make sure UMTRI finds the needed money — and quickly.