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State officials closed a bridge over the Mississippi River northwest of the Twin Cities area in Minnesota because of problems found in the same kind of steel plates that may have played a key role in last summer’s bridge collapse in Minneapolis, the Associated Press reported Friday.

American Trucking Associations asked President Bush in a letter this week to help “burst the bubble in the crude oil market” by releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

Michelin & Cie., the world’s second-biggest tire maker, said it will link the prices of car tires to the cost of oil, Bloomberg reported Friday.

Retail diesel and gasoline prices again set U.S. records last week as the diesel average flirted with $4 a gallon, according to the Department of Energy.

An effort by rail carriers to reduce the amount of toxic chemicals they haul is creating new business for some trucking companies.

Port of Los Angeles officials last week approved the final piece of the port’s sweeping plan to dramatically reduce diesel emissions by replacing and retrofitting dirty trucks through a controversial employee-only business model that will phase out independent drayage operators.

The heavy-duty truck sales drought continued into February, with year-over-year results declining for the 14th consecutive month, and some analysts are now predicting that any recovery won’t occur until late in the year.

An index of leading economic indicators fell 0.3% in February, the New York-based Conference Board said Thursday.

YRC Worldwide Chief Executive Officer Bill Zollars said the company’s first-quarter earnings will likely be lower than expected, the Associated Press reported.