The $28 million program is designed to encourage owners of pre-1994 drayage trucks that regularly serve the port to buy newer vehicles. The program is partly funded by a $7 million EPA grant, with the remainder coming from Port Authority funds. 

The bistate agency also announced a truck phase-out plan in which pre-1994 model trucks would no longer be able to call on Port Authority marine terminals beginning Jan. 1, 2011. Trucks not equipped with engines that meet or exceed 2007 federal emissions standards will no longer be able to call on the terminals beginning on Jan. 1, 2017.

Under the program, trucks drivers will be eligible for the following assistance:
• A 25 percent grant toward the total purchase price of a replacement truck – averaging between $20,000 and $60,000 – which must be model year 2004 to 2008, equipped with an engine model year 2004 to 2007.
• Low-interest financing (5.25 percent over five years) for up to 75 percent of the total purchase price of a replacement truck.

Information and pre-applications for grants and financial assistance to cover the cost of a new truck will be available at the Truck Replacement Center in Elizabeth, N.J., or online at www.replacemytruck.org or in Spanish at www.cambiamicamion.org.

The Truck Replacement Program is part of the clean air strategy developed by the Port Authority in partnership with a broad group of port industry leaders, federal and state regulatory agencies, city officials and environmental groups to develop strategies to reduce emissions from all port related sources and improve air quality in the region.

The program is modeled after the Clean Trucks program under way at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Los Angeles’ program also includes a requirement that drayage truck drivers are employees of concession companies, a provision that is being challenged in court by the American Trucking Associations.

An estimated $1.73 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will supplement the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation’s Idle Smart grant rebates to help pay for clean diesel technology. The Idle Smart grant rebates will cover up to 50 percent of the cost of anti-idling technology, such as APUs.

The state program targets owner-operators and Tennessee trucking companies with 30 or fewer truck tractors registered and operating in the state, with priority given to fleets with five or fewer tractors. Approximately 85 percent of the 16,000 motor carriers in the state have five or fewer tractors.

For more information click here.

On March 2, the state’s Senate voted unanimously in favor of House changes to a bill that would authorize private investors to build and operate the Illiana Expressway for tolls. Gov. Mitch Daniels is expected to sign the bill, SB382, which would not require a privatized toll road. Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn supports considering a public-private partnership for the roadway.

If signed into law, SB382 would pave the way for tolling and privatization. It would authorize a public-private partnership to complete the proposed Illiana Expressway, which would provide a route to bypass the heavily congested Chicago-Gary, Ind. corridor.

A 2009 study estimated the roadway cost at $1 billion through a combination of private and public funds. The study estimated heavy truck tolls could be as much as $16.80 for the expressway’s entire length. 

Indiana law prohibits tolling or privatizing the proposed roadway without approval of the state General Assembly. Planned as a 23-mile state highway meeting interstate standards, the roadway would link I-65 in northwest Indiana with I-57. About 10 miles of the roadway would be built in Indiana. Construction probably wouldn’t begin before 2017.

The bill also contains a provision that would also allow a public-private partnership for Ohio River bridges connecting Indiana and Kentucky.

Preliminary data released a month ago indicated the industry had added 2,500 jobs in January. Instead, the latest figures show that jobs were almost flat from December at a 200-job decline. Payroll employment had dropped by 12,000 jobs in December.

Trucking employment in February was down nearly 81,000, or 6.2 percent, from February 2009. Preliminary data show payroll employment of almost 1.23 million jobs – down 226,400, or 15.6 percent, from the trucking employment peak in January 2007.

The BLS numbers reflect all payroll employment in for-hire trucking, but they don’t include trucking-related jobs in other industries, such as a truck driver for a private fleet.

All regions except New England reported sharply higher prices. The Gulf Coast jumped 5.4 cents to $2.873, while the Midwest, the lowest price region, advanced 4.6 cents to $2.871. California increased 3.4 cents to remain the most expensive area at $3.057 a gallon.

For state-by-state diesel prices, updated daily, click here.

The Crawfords, meanwhile, deserve and have gotten plenty recognition of their own. Their mostly Western Star fleet trucks are not strangers to media treatment. I wrote about the “Crawfordized” trucks in the June 2009 Severe Service supplement to Overdrive (pictured). Note the illuminated C on the grill of tihs workhorse, the standard touch for the trucks of Robin Crawford and Son.

The Pelletiers also have been planning the not-yet-opened Pelletier Logging Family Restaurant Bar & Grill in Millinocket, Maine; adorning its second-floor patio is the shell of the Mack truck Eldon Pelletier’s father, Gerald started his trucking business in the 70s, the Bangor Daily News reported late last week. The Crawfords thought that was a bit much, apparently, and made their feelings known with a friendly joke — someone, sometime in the night of March 3, hung an illuminated C on the Mack’s grill.

“We had to put that on there,” Robin Crawford Jr. told the News, “so that he might know what ‘class’ means, but he still hasn’t figured it out.”

For the rest of the story, including pictures of the Pelletiers’ new restaurant, click here.

Bruce Smith of Kilgore, Texas, hauls frac sand loaded in this Stevens 2008 pneumatic tanker, pulled by this 2009 Peterbilt 389. It is powered by a 600-hp Cummins and an 18-speed Eaton Fuller. Southern Transport owner Thomas Ivy owns the truck.

Osterberg is Schneider’s senior vice president of safety, security, & driver training. He is chairman of the American Trucking Association’s Safety Policy Committee and also chairs the Research Advisory Committee of the American Transportation Research Institute. Osterberg is a member of the Trucking Industry Committee of the Transportation Research Board and serves on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Advisory Committee for Intelligent Transportation. 

Studies show that texting and related behaviors – talking on a cell phone or reaching for an electronic device – increase crash risk at a much higher rate for truckers than for four-wheelers. Presumably trucks’ much greater stopping distance is the reason.

Looking at the broader picture of accidents and fatalities, the biggest group of motorized killers isn’t truckers. Of the 34,017 motor vehicle fatalities in 2008, 4,229 involved large trucks. Most of the truck-related accidents were not the fault of the truck driver.

It’s hard to determine the true number of fatal accidents due to communicating on electronic devices, especially tasks that divert attention from driving. But studies have proven just how dangerous is texting, the most distracting of these practices. Drivers who send and receive text messages take their eyes off the road for an average of 4.6 seconds out of every 6 seconds while texting.

Texting is dangerous enough that President Obama signed an executive order directing federal employees not to engage in text messaging while driving government-owned vehicles.

Furthermore, texting is banned for all drivers in 19 states and the District of Columbia, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. There remain 31 states where four-wheelers can legally drive while staring at a tiny device to poke out messages, one letter at a time.

State legislatures can become quagmires of petty politics. As with members of Congress, state legislators too often are distracted drivers themselves – more concerned with protecting the interests of the most vocal lobby or the most generous donors than with focusing on simple measures that could protect lives. When a growing practice is eroding safety on highways used by the entire electorate, though, it’s time to act.

The federal government continues to tighten safety requirements for commercial drivers, as our stories in this issue about new regulatory initiatives make clear. Yet too many states skate by with lackadaisical attitudes when it comes to cracking down on four-wheeler licensing and enforcement issues that threaten safety. These include not just texting but alcohol violations and the absence of physical screening for elderly drivers.

Indeed, commercial trucks are inherently more dangerous than other vehicles for their massive size. But that factor is more than made up for by the number of other vehicles on the road, too many of which are driven by people whose driving skills on average are inferior to commercial drivers.

No state needs to offer unreasonable freedoms to a certain class of drivers. Safety restrictions that are prudent for professional drivers should also be prudent for amateurs. The innocent highway victim killed by a weapon on four wheels is just as dead as the victim killed by one on 18.

All regions except New England reported sharply higher prices. The Gulf Coast jumped 5.4 cents to $2.873, while the Midwest, the lowest price region, advanced 4.6 cents to $2.871. California increased 3.4 cents to remain the most expensive area at $3.057 a gallon.

For state-by-state diesel prices, updated daily, click here.