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The Environmental Protection Agency last week approved California’s request for a federal waiver, allowing the state to immediately implement restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions from new cars and light trucks and reversing a Bush administration decision.

In the four months since President Obama signed a more than $770 billion stimulus package, House transportation leaders said states have approved projects that would distribute more than half of the money available for road and bridge projects.

With the White House standing in his path and a pair of well-placed senators lining up with the administration, the guessing game in Washington is how long House Transportation Committee Chairman James Oberstar can keep his six-year highway reauthorization bill alive in Congress.

The U.S. heavy-duty fleet truck fleet is aging as carrier executives scrimp to cut costs wherever they can amid the continuing national freight drought.

A 3.2% rise in American Trucking Associations’ truck tonnage index during May from weak results in April may indicate that the worst of the recession could be over, even though the index was 11% below year-ago levels, industry experts said.

Finding quality financing for trucks and trailers recently has become more difficult for many trucking companies. The market has changed. Since last autumn, several transportation lenders have exited the business either permanently or temporarily, in large part because of losses and a lack

of liquidity.

U.S. retail diesel prices slipped 0.8 cent last week, providing a breather for the trucking industry after seven consecutive weeks of increases that had pushed the average cost to a seven-month high.

Transportation and logistics firm Amerijet International said it will acquire a majority interest in Nations Express.

U.S. factory orders rose in May for the third time in four months, the Commerce Department said Thursday.