Government

Oregon has become the fifth state to enact a biodiesel requirement and the first to require strict testing of the fuel.

The Virginia Department of Transportation said Aug. 1 it has updated its 511 road-information system to include improvements suggested by users.

Retail sales gained 0.3% in July, the Commerce Department said Monday.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said it would make more money available to the state’s truck retrofit program, after the Texas Legislature approved $5 million in additional funding for idle-reduction technologies.

New Hampshire officials say the state’s low fines for overweight trucks do little to curtail heavy loads, which cause long-term damage to bridges and highways, the Associated Press reported Monday.

UPS Inc., the nation’s largest single employer of Teamsters, said it is proceeding in talks with a union-related pension plan that could result in the parcel giant’s withdrawing from the multi-employer funds that cover current and retired union members.

Less-than-truckload carriers struggled during the second quarter to strike a balance between soft pricing and declining tonnage, with most large publicly traded carriers reporting lower profits than a year earlier.

The chairman of the House Transportation Committee last week called for a special bridge-repair fund, following the Interstate 35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis, and said a temporary federal fuel tax increase was among the options to pay for it.

The chairman of the House Transportation Committee last week called for a special bridge-repair fund, following the Interstate 35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis, and said a temporary federal fuel tax increase was among the options to pay for it.