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The number of heavy-duty trucks in use in the United States increased 5.2% to 3.51 million Class 8 commercial vehicles last year, as fleet owners stocked up on new trucks and kept more old vehicles in service, market research firm R.L. Polk & Co. said.

Truck drivers need greater flexibility within federal driver work and rest rules to allow them to select sleep times and duration based on individual need, according to a study released jointly by American Trucking Associations and a sleep research firm.

Transportation Secretary Mary Peters told a congressional panel Thursday that DOT expects the pilot program involving allowing trucks from Mexico to U.S. roads will involve fewer than 1,000 trucks.

The Department of Transportation’s move to conduct a broad test of opening the U.S.-Mexican border to truck traffic is a prudent step toward honoring mutual commitments made by both nations when the North American Free Trade Agreement was ratified.

In a 5-4 opinion, the Washington State Supreme Court has interpreted a state overtime provision to apply to interstate truck drivers who work in excess of 40 hours in a week, regardless of whether a portion of those working hours take place outside of the state.

OTAY MESA, Calif. — U.S. Department of Transportation officials said they would be interested in a potential study of larger or heavier trucks, suggested recently by the chairman of the House transportation committee.

EL PASO, Texas — The Transportation Department’s pilot project allowing a limited number of Mexican carriers to access U.S. highways would not diminish security at the border, Michael Jackson, deputy secretary of °®¶¹´«Ã½land Security, said at a Feb. 23 press conference.

WASHINGTON — Advocacy groups and congressional leaders, citing safety concerns, questioned the Department of Transportation’s decision to allow Mexican trucks into the United States, and a key senator said she would hold a hearing on the issue.

Surface trade among the United States, Canada and Mexico dipped 0.1% in December from the same month a year earlier, though both truck and rail numbers rose, the Department of Transportation said.

The new chairman of the pivotal House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Rep. James Oberstar, said he would support a pilot program to test the effects that raising truck size and weight limits would have on the nation’s highways.