Government

Trucking has a seat on a newly-created transition team that is supposed to set the future course of the Illinois Tollway but higher tolls are not in trucking’s future, the industry representative said.

New Jersey plans to close bathrooms at two more highway rest stops due to budget cutbacks this year, a move that has renewed calls to allow states to lease rest areas to private truck stop operators.

Consumer confidence grew this month to its highest level since September 2008, the New York-based Conference Board reported.

CINCINNATI — Concern about driver safety compliance is pushing the purchase of new technology to help fleet managers to see and respond to data on driver performance, manufacturers of the equipment said.

The economic recovery and understanding how of government regulations will affect business will be key themes of the National Tank Truck Carriers’ annual conference, scheduled for May 10-12 in Chicago. 

The good news continued to pour in last week, as a string of trucking-related companies reported improving bottom-line results during the year’s first quarter.

Regarding electronic logs and Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010, if they want to regulate this industry, they should just do it and make sure we get paid — and get us hourly and overtime pay.

CINCINNATI — A strengthening freight market is leading to higher freight rates, and more loads are going unclaimed, attendees at the National Private Truck Council’s annual management conference said. 

The future of the new, publicly owned bridge at Windsor-Detroit rests with the Michigan Legislature. By June 1, we will know whether the Detroit River International Crossing — or the Gordie Howe Bridge as I call it — will be built, or whether it will be shelved and, perhaps never constructed, or at least not in the lifetime of most of us. 

Forward Air Corp. reported a first-quarter profit of $3.4 million, or 12 cents per share, compared with a loss of $3.1 million, or 11 cents, a year ago.