Government

The U.S. trade deficit shrank by 11% in March as imports fell by the most in four years, the Commerce Department said Thursday.

Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin (D) signed a transportation budget bill Monday that will boost the state’s current diesel fuel tax by 2 cents beginning July 1, and the gasoline tax by 5.9 cents a gallon, effective Wednesday.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has awarded a $743 million contract to raise the deck of the Bayonne Bridge by 64 feet to allow larger ships to pass underneath it, an upgrade that port officials said is critical for the port to remain competitive after a widening of the Panama Canal is completed in 2015.

The Montana Department of Transportation increased truck violation detection through the use of in-station cameras to electronically screen trucks, according to technology provider Help Inc.

Why is this so hard? Raising federal fuel taxes is the quickest, easiest and most efficient solution available to the U.S. government to pay for the nation’s critical infrastructure needs.

A federal appeals court has upheld the U.S. government’s cross-border Mexico trucking plan, rejecting challenges brought by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association and the Teamsters union.

WASHINGTON — Top executives with two of the nation’s largest trucking companies urged Congress to raise the federal fuel tax in order to fund infrastructure projects that benefit freight.

The U.S. economy grew at a 2.5% annual rate in the first quarter, the Commerce Department reported Friday.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said Friday it has eliminated what it said is a redundant requirement that truck and bus drivers report out-of-state traffic convictions to the states where they are licensed.