Polar Vortex to trigger the coldest Arctic blast in the last 20 years this week in parts of the Midwest. The coldest temperatures will be from 1/30/19 to 2/01/19. Windchill Temps are expected dip to minus 40 degrees. At that level frostbite can occur in less than 10 minutes….BE SAFE!!
The Weather Channel
Nevada has raised the speed limit in certain areas of the state to 80 MPH.
They have joined South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and Utah in
allowing people to drive 80…mostly in rural areas.
The highest speed limit in the U. S. is 85 mph on a Texas toll road from Austin to San Antonio.
source:transport topics/associated press
Increased health care costs as well as other expenses are being blamed for first quarter losses in the LTL world. ArcBest and YRC Worldwide posted combined losses of $33 million. Of that total $25 million was YRC’s. In both cases revenue increased but expenses rose at a higher rate. Along with health care premiums increasing, pension settlements costs also contributed to the numbers.
source:Transport Topics
The bridge that collapsed on a section of Interstate 85 near Atlanta has an estimated price tag of $16.5 million to rebuild. The Georgia Department of Transportation has set a June 15 deadline for its completion. The federal government is expected to pay for 90% of the costs. The bridge was set afire March 30 by a homeless man. The blaze was so intense that it melted steel and concrete.
source: Associated Press/ Transport Topics
Construction spending in February rose .8%. The increase reflected the highest level of spending in nearly 11 years. Developers ramped up projects that included new highways, homes and schools. State and local governments spent .9% more on construction of roads, schools, and recreational buildings. The Federal Government cut spending in February by 9%, but President Trump has pledged to reverse that trend by boosting infrastructure spending by $1 trillion over the next decade.
Source:Transport Topics
SOURCE: TRANSPORT TOPICS
The United States Postal Service paid FedEx Corporation $1.7 billion in 2016 for services rendered. The majority of the moneys billed was for air shipping of packages and letters. The amount represents an increase of over $300 million from 2015. In total, USPS spent more than $14 billion on outside services. Transportation and trucking companies received about half of that amount.
The American Road and Transportation Builders Association has published a report after reviewing the U.S. DOT 2016 National Bridge Inventory data. About 56,000 bridges nationwide, or 9% were classified as structurally deficient last year. Nearly 1900 of these bridges are along the nations interstate system. The major factor with these structures is that 28% of all the bridges are more than 50 years old.
The trucking industry, which leads in freight movement, has long sounded the alarm about the nation’s infrastructure. Something has to be done. The states with the highest number of bad bridges are Iowa(4968), Pennsylvania(4506), Oklahoma(3460), Missouri(3195), and Nebraska(2361).
The Trump administration has made this problem a priority. Hopefully, Congress will approve the budget to fix these bridges. Not only will it make our country safer, it will employ thousands of workers.
Source:www.transportationtopics.com :USA Today
Los Angeles Named Most Congested City In The United States
Los Angeles passed Moscow as the most congested city in 2016, where drivers spend an average of 104 hours in congested traffic. Those hours cost the drivers in L. A. an average of $2400.00 in direct and indirect cost.
Other cities in America in the top ten are New York City (third with 89 hours),San Francisco (fourth with 82 hours), and Atlanta (ninth with 71 hours).
Congestion takes its toll on commercial vehicles, costing company drivers directly in the value of fuel and lost productivity.
Source:www.latimes.com
New Truck Orders In January Highest In Over a Year
January 2017 was a banner month for new heavy and medium- duty truck orders. The 45,300 units were a 27% increase from the sales in January 2016. Experts believe that this spike in orders indicate that trucking companies are more confident in market conditions than they were last year.To put that number into context, it was the best month since 2008.
AccuWeather