If you’re wondering when Interstate 70 will reopen in western Colorado, the state Department of Transportation is saying it could be “an extended period of time.”

I-70 was shut down in both directions at mile marker 125 in Glenwood Canyon on Sunday night, March 7, after a rockslide heavily damaged the highway. One boulder weighs an estimated 66 tons.

Colorado DOT spokeswoman Mindy Crane told Land Line Now on Tuesday that workmen are using explosives to break up the boulders. At the same time, they’re checking the steep canyon hillside to see whether it’s stable.

Their big concern, she says, is a 20-foot-wide boulder.

“It’s still up on the slope. It’s about 900 feet up, and so we’re actually a little concerned. We want to make sure that’s safe before we even start our repairs and definitely before we reopen any part of I-70 to traffic,” Crane said.

Meanwhile, the recommended detour adds more than 150 miles to the trip and poses special challenges to truckers because of two-lane highways and steep grades.

Legal truck weight limits that were increased during the winter months in Minnesota end this week.

Spring weight restrictions will begin at the same time, the Minnesota Department of Transportation announced.

Spring truck weight restrictions began in the south, southeast and Twin Cities Metro frost zones at 12:01 a.m. Monday. Spring weight restrictions in the central, north-central and north frost zones began at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday.

No overweight truck permits are issued during the spring load restriction period.

Frost zone boundaries are:

South: Iowa border north to Highway 12 and from the Dakota County border east to the Hennepin County line, along the Carver and Scott county lines to Interstate 35, south to the Iowa border. (This zone includes Highway 19 along the Scott County border.)

Southeast: Iowa border north along I-35 (does not include I-35) to the Scott County line, east along the Dakota County line, including Highway 19 to the Wisconsin border.

Twin Cities Metropolitan area: Anoka, Carver, Chisago, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott and Washington counties. (This zone does not include Highway 19 along the southern border of Scott County.)

North-Central: Southern limit of the north zone to a line following U.S. Highway 10 from the North Dakota border east to Motley, Highway 210 east to Brainerd, Highway 18 east to I-35, I-35 south to Highway 48 and then Highway 48 east to the Wisconsin border.

North: South from the Canadian border to a line following Highway 1, Highway 89, Highway 2 and Highway 33 and I-35 at the Carlton-St. Louis county line and then south to the Wisconsin border.

“Truck weight restrictions are used in the spring to help preserve pavements that lose strength due to partial thaw conditions and trapped water,” said Keith Shannon, director of Mn/DOT’s Office of Materials. “The ending dates for spring load restrictions are variable and dependent on weather condition changes.”

For more information about the department’s seasonal load limits, locations of weight-restricted routes and state highways open to maximum 10-ton axle weights go to www.mrr.dot.state.mn.us/

Information is also available toll-free by calling 1-800-723-6543 in the United States and Canada, or 651-366-5400 in the Twin Cities metro area.

For questions about legal weight/size trucking call the Minnesota Department of Public Safety State Patrol, Commercial Vehicle Enforcement, 651-405-6171 (select Option 3, Option 3).

For questions about over legal weight/size “heavy haul” trucking, call the Minnesota Department of Transportation, Freight and Commercial Vehicle Operations, Oversize/Weight Permits, 651-296-6000.

Travelers in Minnesota can get up-to-date information on road conditions, construction and weather reports from MnDOT’s 511 traveler information service. Dial 5-1-1 or go to the Internet at www.511mn.org.

Active OOIDA members can qualify to receive 25, 50 or 100 “Restaurant Bucks” in correlation with the amount of fuel purchased at participating locations during the months of February, March and April, 2010.   “Restaurant Bucks” promotional cards will be issued for fuel purchased during three separate qualifying periods when a mail-in form is sent along with required fuel receipts. 

Purchases of 500 to 999 gallons of fuel can qualify to receive 25 “Restaurant Bucks”; purchases of 1,000 to 1,999 gallons qualify for 50; and for 2,000 plus gallons, qualify for 100 “Restaurant Bucks.  These cards can be used at any participating TA or Petro full-service restaurant.

It's easy, with three easy steps.  Step 1.  Fill up at your convenient TA or Petro fuel islands.  Step 2.  Save your receipts.  Step 3.  When you have enough volume to earn a prize, send in your receipts and completed mail in form and copies of invoices to OMNI, Attention TA/Petro Restaurant Bucks Promotion, 495 Mansfield Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15205.

For more information, please visit http://www.tatravelcenters.com/ooida-restaurant-bucks

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association is the largest national trade association representing the interests of small-business trucking professionals and professional truck drivers. The Association currently has more than 157,000 members nationwide. OOIDA was established in 1973 and is headquartered in the greater Kansas City, Mo., area.

Last month, Opportunity Fund helped truckers beat a February deadline to retrofit their truck engines as new EPA emissions standards in California went into effect. Truckers told Opportunity Fund that without loans to cover the retrofitting costs, they would have had to give up trucking or move their business to another state. We’ve made 30 loans to truckers so far. The price tag to clean up their engines amounts to $12,000 – $19,000, well beyond the capacity many of the truckers have to pay with their $30,000-$40,000 annual incomes. In order to help, Opportunity Fund put $1 million in financing on the table to enable truckers to comply with the new regulations by retrofitting their trucks’ engines.

The EPA’s Air Resources Board approved the new truck-engine emissions regulation in December, 2008. Why? California’s cities have some of the worst air quality in the country, especially around the Oakland and Long Beach ports, where thousands of trucks line up and idle each day as they await their next load. Unfortunately, the cost to move goods by truck throughout the state includes significant harm to the state’s citizens: Trucks and buses account for about 30 percent of statewide nitrogen-oxide (greenhouse gas) emissions and 40% of toxic soot emissions. These emissions cause numerous adverse health effects, including increased rates of asthma and about 4,500 premature deaths per year. Under tighter emissions standards, regulators expect to save 9,500 lives and $50 billion in heath care costs savings.

Unfortunately, a well-intended environmental health regulation aimed at improving the state’s future had dire consequences on the economic well-being of the state’s truckers today. As one self-employed trucker who received a loan from us explained, “Pollution comes from trucks, and I support efforts to clean up the environment. But it is very difficult for truckers to pay on our own.” We’re proud to be able to assist in an effort that gets truckers back on the road and improves the environment for these overly polluted communities.

***

Ed Note: TriplePundit is a Media sponsor for the upcoming Microfinance USA conference on May 20-21 in San Francsico. The event is put on by Opportunity Fund and will feature speakers such as Maria Shriver and Premal Shah. Excellent speakers, tours of microentrepreneur operations, and a Taste of Microentrepreneurship Cocktail Reception are among the highlights to come. Register now, early bird discount ends March 15th.

NEWARK — A former employee of a northern New Jersey trucking firm has admitted his role in a scheme that defrauded the company of more than $900,000.

Herbert Rodriguez, 44, of Woodbridge, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Newark to conspiracy to commit mail fraud.

Rodriguez admitted he conspired with a second worker to submit fake vendor invoices to his employer, Kearny-based J.F. Lomma Inc.

Rodriguez obtained hundreds of checks from the company, which he cashed.

Rodriguez faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine at sentencing on June 7.

Source: New Jersey

OTTAWA -- Near the end of February, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) proposed a fee increase that didn’t sit well with the Canadian Trucking Alliance.

PHMSA, a division of the U.S. Department of Transporation, wanted to increase the registration and fee assessment program for hazmat transporters by as much as $2,000. Carriers, including Canadian companies that haul certain categories and quantities of hazardous materials, could see the annual fee rise to $2,975 (plus a $25 administrative fee) from $975 for registration years beginning in 2010-2011.

The fee increase would go towards funding the national Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness (HMEP) grants program.

In a letter to the U.S. DOT, the Canadian Trucking Alliance urged the PHMSA to review the proposed increase. CTA reiterated the importance of funding safety and environmental initiatives such as the HMEP, but questioned the application and level of need for the proposed increase.

“CTA finds it troubling that in the face of federal budget constraints, U.S. agencies are developing a propensity for significant fee hikes to maintain programs on a status quo basis, rather than taking a hard look at programs and determining where cuts to non-essential components can be made,” said CTA president David Bradley.

CTA has further concerns that the fee assigned to large carriers ($25.5 million in gross revenue) is partially based on revenues that are derived from domestic business in Canada that should be completely beyond the reach of the U.S. government.

“This is patently unfair in CTA’s view, and it is our position that the determination of large carrier status should be based solely on revenue earned in the United States to haul hazardous materials,” explained Bradley.

While the public comment period on the proposed fee hike was closed yesterday, CTA continues to monitor this issue as PHMSA works toward a final decision.

Source: Today's Trucking

PHOENIX — The people of Arizona kept their upper lips stiff when officials mortgaged off the state’s executive office tower and a “Daily Show” crew rolled into town to chronicle the transaction in mocking tones. They remained calm as lawmakers pondered privatizing death row.

But then the state took away their toilets, and residents began to revolt.

“Why don’t they charge a quarter or something?’” said Connie Lucas, who lives in Pine, Ariz., about a two-and-a-half-hour drive from here. “There was one rest stop between here and Phoenix, and we really needed it.”

Arizona has the largest budget gap in the country when measured as a percentage of its overall budget, and the state Department of Transportation was $100 million in the red last fall when it decided to close 13 of the state’s 18 highway rest stops.

But the move has unleashed a torrent of telephone calls and e-mail messages to state lawmakers, newspapers and the Department of Transportation deploring the lost toilets — one of the scores of small indignities among larger hardships that residents of embattled states face as governments scramble to shore up their finances.

“People in this state are mad about this,” said State Representative Daniel Patterson, a Democrat from Tucson who has sponsored a bill that would allow other entities to reopen and maintain the rest stops. “This bill may have the broadest support among members of any bill this year.”>>>>>>>>>.............

Truckers going through Daytona are not happy. It’s Bike Week, and from Feb. 26 to March 7 Love’s Travel Stop No. 316 at I-95/U.S. Highway 1 in Ormond Beach can only allow truckers to fuel and go. No parking.

Bike Week is an event that sees thousands and thousands of bikers converge on the area. And Harley Davidson, which is next door to Love’s, is a major participant in Bike Week.  

The increased traffic volumes for truckers waiting to fuel – combined with the significant influx of cars, trucks and bikes during Bike Week – has in the past caused traffic jams to the point that State Police had to close the exit. Love’s doesn’t want to see that happen again, so “fuel and go” is the strict policy during Bike Week.

Truck drivers who have contacted OOIDA and Land Line have voiced their aggravation. OOIDA Senior Member Lester Hon, Branson, MO, was tired and needed food, a shower and a nap. He couldn’t believe it when he was turned away. Hon says he is done spending money at Love’s in Ormond Beach, although it had been a favorite stop.

Another trucker said he thought it was just not right that even if you are “out of hours,” it won’t secure you a parking spot at Love’s during Bike Week.

That caused one trucker to be even more exasperated. “Well, I hope Love’s makes a lot of money from the motorcycles. Perhaps they could start a chain of bike stops and sell a lot of gas, beer, munchies and stuff.”

The retaliatory tariffs Mexico imposed on U.S. goods following the end of the cross-border trucking pilot program that ended last year drew fire yet again this week.

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk and U.S. Secretary Ray LaHood were delivered a letter signed by 56 lawmakers urging an end to the tariff dispute.

The lawmakers called on the Trade Rep and DOT to go public with their plans to resolve the tariff dispute.

“We are writing to express our concern about the lack of action and transparency … to address tariffs imposed by Mexico on U.S. agricultural and manufacturing products,” the letter states.

“The current situation is unsustainable and untenable. Our constituents need help immediately, and we implore you to work quickly to implement a solution that ensures safety and normalizes trade between the U.S. and Mexico.”

The letter, spearheaded by Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-CA, and Rep. Rick Larsen, D-WA, was delivered to the Trade Rep’s office and DOT on March 1.

The letter marks another notch in the increasing pressure facing the Obama administration to address the tariffs.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration pulled the plug March 11, 2009, on a pilot program that had allowed Mexico-based motor carriers long-haul access to the U.S.

The highly contentious program lost its funding when President Barack Obama signed the 2009 transportation appropriations bill into law on March 10, 2009. The next day, FMCSA started the process of shutting down the program.>>>>>>>>>................

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will hold a fifth listening session on the hours-of-service regulations March 26 at the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, KY.

The agency’s official announcement of the listening session is slated to publish on the Federal Register Tuesday, March 2.

The listening session will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., March 26, at the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center South Wing Room B101.

If you are among the thousands of professional truckers planning to head to Louisville for the Mid-America Trucking Show March 25-27, here are some events worth scribbling down on your calendar.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will hold a fifth listening session on the hours-of-service regulations. The listening session will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., March 26, at the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center South Wing Room B101.

Anyone who hopes to attend the listening session can pre-register for free before March 15 to attend the Mid-America Trucking Show at http://truckingshow.com/attendee/attendee-registration. Registering the day of the listening session as part of MATS will require a $5 registration fee.

FMCSA will also host a pair of seminars on CSA 2010. The first one will be on March 25 from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. The second will be March 26 from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Both session will be held in the South Wing Conference Center Room B-104.

Other MATS happenings to note on your calendar include the Paul K. Young Memorial Truck Beauty Championship where 100 entries will be vying for honors. The event, which has become a star attraction at the Mid-America Trucking Show, celebrates North America’s heavy-duty, working show trucks. Look for the action in Lot J on the west side of the complex.

The National Association of Show Trucks kicks off its 2010 show season at MATS. Check it out at NAST Booth No. 91450.

Each year Arrow Truck Sales gets behind a driver who has been down on his luck or for some reason has been sidelined from the road. The “Back on the Road” program has selected a 2010 winner, but it’s keeping it a secret until MATS. Country music star Aaron Tippin and Sirius XM radio personality Dave Nemo will be making the announcement at the truck show. OOIDA is one of the sponsors of this program. 

The 2009 Goodyear Highway Hero will be announced at the Truck Writers of North America industry banquet on March 25. Click here to see who the finalists are and the story behind each driver’s heroic deed.

On Friday night, Mobil Delvac sponsors a concert in Freedom Hall featuring John Anderson and The Grascals. Complimentary tickets will be distributed, while supplies last, from Mobil Delvac's Booth No. 18160 in the North Wing.

They are not the only entertainers you’ll find in Louisville that week. Joey Holiday reports that the show is part of his big 2010 super tour. Leland Martin does not have MATS on his 2010 show schedule, but Land Line has learned that he will be there. You can meet Leland at OOIDA’s North Lobby booth Saturday 10 to noon. 

Where is OOIDA going to be this year? The Association will have three booths at the 2010 show: Booth 11128 in the North Wing, Booth 65229 is in the West Wing, and there’s another booth in the North Lobby. Runner Jazzy Jordan will be a special guest at the North Lobby booth every day from noon to 3 p.m.

You can also find First Observer at its booth in the West Wing. The Association’s Director of Security Operations, Doug Morris, will be there each day along with other representatives from the First Observer program. If you haven’t signed up for the First Observer program, put this on your to-do list.

OOIDA’s tour truck, the Spirit of the American Trucker, will be parked at Papa John’s, where you can meet OOIDA Director of Regulatory Affairs Joe Rajkovacz and OOIDA Board Member Bill Rode of Eagle, ID. Ron Mermis will be close by in the OOIDA NASCAR simulator.

A number of trucker activities are expected to take place at Papa John’s, including the Trucker’s First Responder classes. OOIDA member and retired paramedic Jon Osburn is presenting a series of classes aimed at teaching truckers how to help at the scene of an accident. The classes will take place March 25-27 near the St. Christopher Fund tent in the Papa John’s parking lot. Classes are free of charge, but donations to the St. Christopher Fund are welcome.   

Those courses are scheduled for Thursday and Friday, March 25-26, 9-11 a.m. near the St. Christopher Fund tent. On Saturday, the course is scheduled for 1-3 p.m. Drinks (coffee, pop, and water) will be furnished by UniGroup Safety Department.

That’s not all that’s happening at Papa John’s. OOIDA Life Member and veteran owner-operator Rusty Wade, wife Mary and many trucking friends are planning a non-fundraiser, non-agenda-driven, three-day party at the stadium parking lot. Drivers and others are invited to enjoy the fellowship, share the fun. Bring your own food and non-alcoholic beverages if you want, but the word is that some well-known asphalt chefs will be grilling night and day.

The HTAA Health Awareness Walk is the first-of-its-kind fitness event to be held in the trucking industry. Drivers who are thinking about getting fit, wanting to stay healthy, or looking for tips to enhance their workouts are invited to join their fellow drivers, along with Bob Perry (“The Trucker Trainer”) and The Trucking Solutions Group Driver Health Council on a 1.5-mile walk on Friday, March 26, 2010 at 8 a.m. There is no cost, but registration is required. Registrants will receive walk packets, while supplies last, with health information and giveaways. For more info, go to driverhealth.org.

If you aren’t able to make the show, members of the Land Line Magazine and Land Line Now staff will bring the feel and flavor of the show via our blog, “Pork Chop Diaries.”

– By Land Line staff

The rock slide that choked off Glenwood Canyon, closing a stretch of Interstate 70, is jacking up costs for truckers, increasing delivery times for merchants, and causing headaches for commuters and employers.

The slide early Monday punched holes in a bridge and scattered boulders, some as large as a semi-tractor, onto the road near the Hanging Lake Tunnel, forcing travelers to detour 200 miles.

Colorado Department of Transportation crews spent Tuesday knocking loose rock from the canyon walls and inspecting a large boulder hanging from its side to assure it is stable, said CDOT spokeswoman Mindy Crane.

Once that work is finished, the agency will have an idea how long it will take to even partly reopen the road.

In the meantime, roads that make up the detour, primarily U.S. 40, Colorado 13 and Colorado 131, are narrow and require drivers to slow down, said Victor Domenico, owner of trucking company

Domenico Transportation in Denver.

With I-70 closed, traffic is heavy, he added. "They are good roads, but it is slow; we don't want to have an accident — it is narrow. And with the increased traffic, you need to keep your speed down. It is adding about six hours a run for our drivers," Domenico said.

Dealing with delays

A typical run from Denver to Glenwood Springs is about three hours, making a round trip six hours, he said. With the interstate closed, it is taking his drivers eight and a half to nine hours for one leg of the journey.

In order to comply with federal regulations that require truckers to drive no more than 11 hours a day, Domenico said, his drivers who deliver groceries in the valley are now forced to spend the night.

"They only have about an hour and a half of drive time to get back, so they have to lay over. You are looking at a 24-hour drive time on a load."

To make up for the delays, Domenico has had to dispatch additional trucks.

The increased cost for gas, additional hours on the clock for drivers, and lodging bills for those who don't have sleepers in their cabs are doubling the cost for each delivery, said Domenico, who employs 60 drivers and has 35 trucks.

Grocery shoppers west of the detour, including Glenwood Springs, may ultimately foot the bill for that extra cost. "We are in negotiations to pass the additional cost" to his grocery-store customers, Domenico said. "It would bankrupt us if we couldn't recover the cost."

The Glenwood Springs Post Independent and Aspen Times have initiated early deadlines in order to get the newspapers to readers on time, said Dale Shrull, Post Independent managing editor.

"The printing press where our daily newspaper is printed is located in Gypsum, CO, which is on the 'wrong' side of the canyon from Aspen and Glenwood, which is our sister paper," he said in an e-mail.

The detour through Steamboat Springs and back to Rifle to I-70, adds four hours to delivery time. In spite of that, he said, there were no delays in deliveries Tuesday.

"A ton more traffic"

For towns along the alternate route, the closing has resulted in an increase in traffic. "There is a ton more traffic going through Steamboat," said Scott Maijala, manager of Bob's Downtown Conoco in Steamboat Springs.

Karolyn Wakefield, assistant manager of Flat Top Fuel on Colorado 13 in Meeker, said she has been selling about 20 percent more fuel than normal since the slide.

Traffic along the road has increased the time it takes her to get from her home onto the highway. "I live on Highway 13, and it probably took me about 15 minutes today to get on the highway. Normally it is a couple of minutes, just the time to shut my gate and get back in my truck."

About 15 employees of Eagle County who live on the opposite side of the canyon from their jobs have been unable to get to work, said Kris Friel, county spokesman. At least half of them are working at home or in a county office in El Jebel, she said.

"We haven't asked them to do a four-and-a-half-hour commute."

Diesel fuel prices are on the rise for the third straight week. The national average price for diesel is up another 4.3 cents per gallon from a week ago to average $2.904 per gallon on Monday, March 8.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s latest report, diesel prices are about 85.9 cents per gallon higher than a year ago when diesel was selling for around $2.045 per gallon.

Eight of the nine regions of the country are reporting increases at the pump this past week. Four regions are reporting fuel prices above the $3 mark compared to a week ago. The New England region is the only one reporting a slight decrease of three-tenths of a cent to average $3.015 per gallon from a week ago.

The California region is reporting the highest diesel prices at $3.057 per gallon, an increase of 3.4 cents per gallon from a week ago, while the Midwest region is reporting the lowest prices for fuel at $2.870 per gallon.

Below are the regional price averages for ULSD reported by the Department of Energy. To see a map of the states in each of the listed regions, click here.

• East Coast: $2.936
• New England: $3.015
• Central Atlantic: $3.037
• Lower Atlantic: $2.882
• Midwest: $2.870
• Gulf Coast: $2.873
• Rocky Mountain: $2.890
• West Coast: $3.003
• California: $3.057

Due to popular demand from fleets, professional drivers, and all of our valued customers, a new group is working to restart IdleAire service.

We hope you will use our proven idle reduction technology to save fuel, reduce emissions and improve your sleep and health.

AKRON, Ohio, March 4 . As finalists for the 27th annual Goodyear North America Highway Hero Award, a Pennsylvania truck driver used his rig as a "roadblock" to stop an out-of-control car; an Arkansas truck driver extinguished a fire and rescued a trapped fellow trucker whose legs were burning after a crash; a Massachusetts truck driver noticed a burning vehicle more than a quarter-mile off the highway on which he was driving, and made an effort to save the unconscious driver; and an Oregon driver who had his own rig struck in a multi-vehicle accident was able to pull one trapped driver from a burning car and contribute to the rescue of two others from another vehicle.

George Lantzy, of Turtle Creek, PA; Jesse Lee Seal, of Alma, AR; Stephen Page, of Gloucester, MA; and Junichi Shimizu, of Gladstone, OR; were named finalists today for trucking's most prestigious award for heroism.

"These four individuals represent the thousands of professional truck drivers who work every day across North America. Each year, this program offers an opportunity for recognition of those who put their lives on the line to help others," said Joseph Copeland, vice president for commercial tire systems for The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (NYSE: GT).

"This year, our honored truck drivers all risked their own safety to rescue strangers who were in peril.  In one case, three people were rescued following a fiery accident, but one of the drivers perished, and our thoughts and prayers go out to this family.  Time after time, truck drivers have emerged as bona fide heroes.  When motorists have needed help, truck drivers have stopped to help, and put themselves in harm's way," Copeland said.

For the 2009 award, the finalists are:>>>>>>>>>>.........................

WASHINGTON – Trade Representative Ron Kirk tried to assure senators Wednesday that trade deals and trade enforcement are central to the Obama administration's goal of doubling exports in five years.

But Kirk did not offer a timetable for when the administration will send Congress trade pacts with South Korea, Panama and Colombia that were negotiated years ago under President George W. Bush.

Kirk, a former Dallas mayor, also said he hoped a longstanding trucking dispute with Mexico could soon be resolved, but he refused to say it would be settled this year.

Kirk has served 11 months as U.S. trade representative, and Wednesday's hearing was his first Senate appearance explaining the administration's trade policies.

For much of the last year, Kirk has traveled across the country arguing the need for more trade and listening to the concerns of skeptics who feel the country has lost millions of jobs in a flood of imports.

Last year, that skepticism led Congress to suspend funding for a truck-inspection experiment along the border aimed at allowing Mexican trucking fleets access to highways across the United States – something U.S. negotiators promised in 1994, as part of the NAFTA trade pact.

After the pilot program was killed, Mexico retaliated with $2.5 billion in tariffs against U.S. goods. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates the tariffs have reduced U.S. exports and cost 25,000 jobs.

Kirk said he is searching for a solution that would "make Congress happy and at the same time get Mexico to a comfort level where they can remove those tariffs."

"I won't say this year. All I can tell you is, we'll be working with [Transportation Secretary] Ray LaHood to see if we can't come up with an acceptable solution."

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, chided the Obama administration for holding up the trade pacts with Korea, Colombia and Panama. Kirk said he has met several times with representatives from those countries to work out concerns – raised most often by organized labor – that the free-trade agreements would cost U.S. jobs.

"Labor has no veto" over the agreements, Kirk said, "but it has a seat at the table."

Kirk argued that his efforts to hear out opponents as well as supporters of the agreements would ultimately pay off in a bipartisan approach to trade policy.

"Trade is always a tough sell until you explain it," he said.

Source: Dallas News

SAN DIEGO — The California Highway Patrol is investigating a fatal crash on northbound state Route 15 at Ocean View Boulevard on Tuesday.

The victim was identified by the Medical Examiner’s Office as David Irving Epstein, 87, who lived in Coronado with his wife.

Epstein was driving a Toyota sedan north on the freeway when, for unknown reasons, he veered across traffic lanes onto the Ocean View off-ramp about 11:40 a.m., authorities said.

The Toyota clipped the back of a disabled big rig that was parked on the shoulder, spun around and crashed. Epstein died at the scene, the medical examiner said.

The big-rig driver, who was standing in front of the disabled truck with the hood open, was struck in the crash and taken to a hospital with serious injuries, the CHP said.

The off-ramp was closed during the investigation.

Source: signon San Diego

A year ago on March 5, 2009, truck driver Jason Rivenburg was fatally shot while parked in his rig for the night at an abandoned gas station near St. Matthews, SC.

As a way to honor her husband’s memory, Hope Rivenburg is urging all truck drivers and their families to help her in her quest for safe parking options on the one-year anniversary of his death.

She, along with the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association and U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko, D-NY, is urging everyone to pick up the phone on Friday and call their lawmakers to support two Jason’s Law bills in the House and Senate.

She told Land Line on Wednesday, March 3, that her goal is to have another 100 lawmakers sign on as co-sponsors to the bills in the next couple of weeks.

“I know that’s a lot to accomplish, and I need every driver’s help to make this happen,” Rivenburg told Land Line. “We’ve gotten this far, but we can’t do the rest without everyone’s support.”

She admits her plate is full. She gave birth to twins, who will soon be a year old, and faced her husband’s killer in court, but she also has been working tirelessly to bring awareness to the need for more safe truck parking.

“I don’t want this to happen to another trucker’s family,” she told Land Line recently.

Because Jason arrived too early for his delivery, he was turned away from the distribution center where he had an appointment the next morning. He was forced to seeking parking in an unlit area where he was killed not long after his arrival.

In December 2009, Hope Rivenburg was in the courtroom when a South Carolina judge sentenced Willie Pelzer, 23, to life in prison without parole for killing her husband for the mere $7 he had on him.>>>>........

Quick! Somebody throw Matty Moroun a life preserver. His plan to twin the Ambassador Bridge appears to have gotten stuck in a current of red tape along the shores of the Detroit River.

The U.S. Coast Guard lowered the boom this week on Moroun’s plans to expand operations at the border bridge that connects Detroit with Windsor, Ontario. The privately owned Ambassador Bridge, with 10,000 commercial trucks crossing each day, is the busiest border point in North America.

Coast Guard officials wrote to inform the billionaire’s Detroit International Bridge Co. that unresolved land issues with the city of Detroit have worn out his welcome.

“The Coast Guard has determined that the (Ambassador Bridge Enhancement Project) permit application remains incomplete, after 3.5 years, and is returning it to DIBC,” Coast Guard Administrator of Bridge Programs Hala Elgaaly wrote in the letter dated Tuesday, March 2.

Courts recently ordered Moroun to tear down a gas station and other structures that he built on property owned by the city of Detroit.

The Coast Guard has a say in building permits that involve navigable waters. Officials said they see no reason to approve Moroun’s application.

“The Coast Guard has received no credible indication that the property rights issue is any closer to being resolved now, than it was over three years ago,” Elgaaly wrote. “Moreover, the results of recent cases in Michigan courts, coupled with Detroit City Council declarations, underscore the Coast Guard’s conclusion that DIBC is not likely to obtain the necessary property rights in the near future.”

According to the law, Moroun is allowed to keep trying and can resubmit his application for a Coast Guard bridge permit at any time.

Meanwhile, government officials in both the U.S. and Canada are in the planning stages to build a new Detroit River bridge about two miles away.

OOIDA Member Mark Miller’s life has been in limbo for two months now, ever since he found out about Tulsa-based Arrow Trucking’s chaotic financial collapse a few days before Christmas.

That’s because his truck is hung up in the company’s ongoing Chapter 7 bankruptcy nightmare, even though he shows he paid his truck off in August 2009.

However, Miller told Land Line on Tuesday, March 2, he is still “hopeful” that everything will be resolved. He said he’s in better spirits after receiving a call earlier from a detective with the Tulsa Police Department and an FBI agent stating that they are still investigating his fraud charges against Arrow Trucking.

“They want me to send them all the proof I have. They want copies of every single piece of paper I’ve got that showed I made the payments,” Miller said. “I’ve got every single pay stub for over four years that shows the amount I’ve paid on the truck.”

For more than four years, Miller had been making payments on his 2006 Kenworth T600 through Arrow Trucking’s lease-purchase program. Sensing something was wrong several months before the company’s collapse, Miller made the decision to pay off his truck and leave Arrow Trucking.

On Aug. 13, 2009, his bank wired the remaining amount of $23,500 he still owed on his truck. At that time he said he received his paperwork, which included a sticky note on the title stating that the lien holder would release it in six to eight weeks. That never happened.

For months and until the company’s abrupt closure, Miller was fighting to receive his clear title. After the company shut down, he decided to call Daimler to inquire where his truck’s title was. That’s when Miller said he received the disturbing news that the finance company wasn’t aware that Arrow Trucking had sold “one of their trucks” to him.

Miller said he is pursuing his case until the very end in an attempt to “right the wrongs” experienced by him and other drivers who had lease-purchase agreements with Arrow Trucking. Several drivers with lease-purchases with the company were forced to return their trucks until they could secure new financing arrangements. Some were close to truck ownership when they received the alarming news that their payments were not being forwarded on by Arrow Trucking to the finance companies. Some drivers said they were forced to walk away from their trucks because they couldn’t get new financing deals.

“Truck drivers are the most regulated and taxed individuals of any profession in this country, and yet we seem to be the most vulnerable to corruption from the companies we work for, service and do business with,” he wrote in an e-mail to Land Line recently.

Miller, who still has possession of his truck, filed a report with the Tulsa Police Department as well as a proof of claim with the bankruptcy court handling Arrow Trucking’s proceedings.

“What I want to explain to everyone is that I am not just an employee who didn’t get paid for a couple of weeks. I have sustained a big loss that has put my finances in jeopardy,” he said.

He estimates that over a four-year period he invested more than $520,000 of his money into that truck, including truck payments, fuel, insurance, taxes and licensing.

Currently, Miller said he’s working on a Web site that he hopes to launch soon to inform visitors of what happened to him and to call for lease-purchase reform in the trucking industry. He has also contacted his U.S. representative, Earl Blumenauer, about his experience with Arrow Trucking.

“I want people to know what happened to me, and I want lawmakers to fight for us in Washington, DC,” he said.

Vancouver ended its time hosting the 2010 Olympic games on a light-hearted note, with a closing ceremony that featured floating moose, dancing Mounties and gigantic cut-out hockey players wearing the gold medals Team Canada had won hours before.

Photos: Closing Ceremony

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Royal Canadian Mounted Police raise the Canadian flag during the closing ceremony.

• Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony Diary: Journal reporters analyze the ceremony

The upbeat ending was in stark contrast to the grim beginning of these games, which were marred by protests, the death of a Georgian luger, and then by unseasonably warm weather that left organizers postponing events and trucking in snow on Cypress Mountain.

``You took on a stubborn mountain with all your might,'' said Vancouver Organizing Committee CEO John Furlong, lauding the games' blue-garbed staff in a speech during the ceremony. ``The final result: Blue Jackets 1; Cypress Mountain weather zero.''

During the closing ceremony, Vancouver passed the baton to Sochi, Russia, which will host the 2014 winter games.

Source: The Wallstreet Journal

A bill in Indiana that is one step away from the governor’s desk is intended to provide an incentive to reduce truck idling.

The Indiana Senate has unanimously approved a bill that calls for increasing the maximum weight limits for large trucks equipped with idle-reduction technology. Trucks equipped with auxiliary power units would be authorized to weigh up to an additional 400 pounds.

Also included in the bill is a provision that addresses federal certification for hauling metal coils that originate or terminate in Indiana. Truck drivers would be prohibited from hauling one or more metal coils individually, or grouped together, weighing at least 5,000 pounds unless the operator is certified in proper load securement.

Sponsored by Rep. Dennis Avery, D-Evansville, the bill – HB1084 – has been sent back to the House for approval of changes before advancing to Gov. Mitch Daniels’ desk.

Supporters say the weight exception removes the disincentive that would keep truckers from using APUs. They say a reduction of 400 pounds in cargo is a major loss in hauling potential and represents an economic disincentive for using these units.

States were granted federal authority in 2005 to allow a 400-pound leeway in order to encourage the use of idling-reduction equipment. Officials with the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association point out it was the intent of Congress that the exemption be signed into law in every state, but it’s been a slow process that’s in its fifth year.

OOIDA has advocated adoption of the 400-pound exemption, even before the federal authority was granted. The Association supports the exemption as reasonable because it’s another inducement to install APUs onto trucks.

Indiana is one of about a dozen states that do not allow 400-pound exceptions for APUs. States to add the provision in the past year include Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Maine and Virginia. Legislation is pending in Alabama, Florida, Massachusetts and West Virginia to adopt the provision to state law.

To view other legislative activities of interest for Indiana in 2010, click here.

Truckers applying for DOT authority, waiting for grants or new-entrant audits are going to have to wait this one out.

Thousands of U.S. Department of Transportation employees will be off the job without pay starting Tuesday, March 2, thanks to the U.S. Senate’s failure to pass a routine funding extension last week. That means furloughs for FMCSA, FHWA, NHTSA and the Federal Transit Authority.

According to the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, the shutdown stands to affect $768 million in infrastructure projects if Congress fails to act by week’s end.

On hold are things like the FMCSA’s Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program grants and new entrant audits, the T&I Committee reported.

Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-NV, adjourned on Friday after a Republican senator from Kentucky, Jim Bunning, blocked a bill that included a $10 billion temporary extension of the Highway Trust Fund. The fund has been surviving on a series of temporary extensions since authority expired in September 2009.

Mike Joyce, director of legislative affairs for the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, said the transportation extension was a casualty in a fight over a larger bill that traces back to the healthcare debate. The bill also included extensions to unemployment benefits and COBRA and Medicare reimbursements to doctors.>>>>>>>>>>........