Government

NEW YORK — The wavering economy and mounting political uncertainty are combining to intensify the trucking’s struggle to maintain growth, industry executives and experts said.

U.S. manufacturing activity fell to a three-year low in August, the Institute for Supply Management reported Tuesday.

Construction spending fell in July for the first time in four months, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.

Margo Oge, the high-level official for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency who has spearheaded the agency’s efforts to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the U.S. transportation sector, is retiring from the agency where she worked for more than three decades.

Let me understand you correctly: If a driver runs out of time 30 minutes from the yard and is on an electronic onboard recorder, “He either spends the night 20 miles from home or, more likely, breaks the law and comes to the yard anyway.”

It appears that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is listening to trucking, at least somewhat.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced it is moving ahead with changes to its safety ratings program in December, including stepping up hazardous materials compliance and eliminating a perceived enforcement bias against flatbed carriers.

The U.S. gross domestic product’s annual growth rate was revised up to 1.7% in the second quarter, from an initially reported 1.5%, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.