Safety

The first wave of long-range commercial drones should be allowed to operate in a narrow, low-altitude band and must agree to be tracked, according to Amazon.com Inc.’s vision of the future.

The Senate late on July 27 agreed to limit debate on a six-year highway bill, paving the way for final passage within days.

WASHINGTON — A small change in the limit for ground-level ozone emissions could lead to wide-scale noncompliance of environmental rules and could lead to the federal government’s yanking funding commitments for infrastructure projects, business groups said.

Shipper groups last week urged the Surface Transportation Board to create new rules that could foster lower rail prices through competitive switching or rate caps, now that carriers have become profitable enough to absorb a slight revenue decline.

In 1975, President Gerald Ford signed into law a bill allowing states to permit higher truck weights on interstate highways, and it’s worth remembering the reason for the measure – a national speed limit of 55 miles-per-hour had crimped productivity for the nation’s truck drivers.

After years of accounting for just a single-digit share of the heavy-truck brake market, air disc brakes are enjoying double-digit growth, and suppliers are optimistically predicting the systems will capture a quarter of the foundations brake market within a few years.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has issued a final rule designed to reassure motor carriers that their confidential business information voluntarily given to the government for use in the federal rulemaking process will be protected from public disclosure.