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A federal pilot project taking heavy trucks off Maine’s local routes is drawing cheers from residents along the roads the trucks used to travel.

Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood announced Tuesday the creation of FocusDriven, an organization dedicated to fighting distracted driving.

Gasoline’s national average price jumped 14 cents in the past three weeks to $2.74 a gallon, according to the latest Lundberg Survey of fuel prices released Sunday.

Automated vehicle tracking is now accessible to more fleets than ever before, as providers pack the technology into small — but powerful — hardware. However, economic and regulatory concerns are keeping older systems firmly entrenched in the trucking industry.

A class-action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of the 1,400 former employees of Arrow Trucking, the Tulsa, Okla., flatbed carrier that shut down abruptly last month.

Wholesale inventories rose 1.5% in November, the biggest gain in five years, the Commerce Department said Friday.

The biodiesel industry was at a virtual standstill last week, despite an assurance by two Senate leaders they will introduce legislation “as soon as possible” to reinstate the tax credit that expired on Dec. 31.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced it would host a series of public “listening sessions” over its intentions to modify again its often-challenged hours-of-service rule for commercial drivers.

The average price of U.S. retail diesel rose 6.5 cents a gallon last week to $2.797, the Department of Energy reported, and additional increases may be on the way as crude oil remained above $80 a barrel.

Cummins Inc. said Friday it has received U.S. Environmental Protection Agency certification for its heavy-duty and midrange 2010 engines — the heavy-duty big-bore ISX15 and midrange ISB6.7, ISC8.3 and ISL9 units.