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NIC Technologies LLC said Tuesday it has been awarded the contract to oversee the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s pre-employment screening system for truck and bus drivers.

Transportation officials said they are optimistic Congress still will pass a long-term highway bill in coming months, but the exact timetable could depend on how quickly lawmakers wrap up debate on other legislation.

Federal regulators plan to offer a new regulation early next year that will prohibit flammable liquids from being transported in unprotected product piping on existing and newly manufactured cargo tank trucks.

New York Gov. David Paterson (D) is calling for a state law that would require truckers using global positioning system devices to use only ones containing truck route information.

Once the economy recovers and freight traffic begins to grow again, the nation needs to look at broad transportation issues that address everything from funding to livability, newly appointed Federal Highway Administrator Victor Mendez said.

The Department of Transportation said Monday it was handing out $20.9 million to states to help train first responders dealing with hazardous materials incidents.

You can’t watch television these days without hearing some railroad company advertising the “green” benefits of moving freight from the road to rail. The most often heard is the claim by one major railroad that “one ton of freight can be moved 436 miles on one gallon of fuel.”

I applaud Bill Graves, president of American Trucking Associations, for trying to get the Obama administration to make highway infrastructure rebuilding the No. 1 priority.

Towne Air Freight said it has extended into 2012 its agreement with Lufthansa Cargo in which Towne Air Freight will manage all road feeder services for Lufthansa within the United States and Canada.

After 10 years of fighting to get the federal government to change the safety rules on intermodal freight container chassis, freight companies and their industry groups are scrambling to meet the first important compliance deadline.