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There’s a lot riding on the U.S. presidential election this week, and it’s not just the choice between Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton that will make a difference for the freight transportation industry.

After 10 years of deliberation, two agencies of the Department of Transportation have finally published a proposal that would limit the maximum speed of the largest commercial vehicles to a rate yet to be determined.

Updating the adage that the pen is mightier than the sword, we note that a PDF available online will come to shape truck and trailer manufacturing through the late 2020s, namely, the final version of Phase 2 of the federal greenhouse-gas rule.

By the time you read this, a new grand champion will have been crowned at the National Truck Driving Championships in Indianapolis.

We are usually big fans of bipartisan cooperation. Democrats and Republicans should proclaim their ideals and preferences with clarity — especially during election campaigns — but after citizens vote there comes a time to get to work and start solving problems.

Scott Darling is officially the fifth administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to have been confirmed by the Senate, which did so July 14 by unanimous consent (see story, p. 5).

We bring you in this issue, our annual report on the size, shape and nature of trucking: the Transport Topics Top 100 list of for-hire carriers, our habit since 1989.

Within several weeks, we could see the final form of Phase 2 of greenhouse-gas limits for heavy- and medium-duty trucks. That should not be confused with the rollout of the second half of Phase 1 GHG regulations on Jan. 1 — although the timing seems almost guaranteed to generate confusion.

As the pursuit of happiness in freight transportation and other aspects of life propels us toward the Fourth of July, a couple of milestones popped concerning our constant companion — infrastructure.