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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Larger, heavier trucks would not be just an economic boost, but also a means of cutting annual petroleum usage by billions of gallons and sharply reducing greenhouse gases, a university researcher told a gathering of shippers here.

A new legislative proposal would provide $20 million in each of the next six years for a pilot program designed to generate more truck parking spaces across the country.

Chrysler’s filing for Chapter 11 protection is spilling over into the trucking industry as suppliers adjust to a bankruptcy process that has shut down the company’s auto production for at least 30 days.

Federal legislation to permit so-called card check union registration is running into trouble in the Senate, one of the bill’s co-sponsors said last week.

Lofty goals for the widespread use of clean alternative fuels at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, Calif., are running into market realities as drayage operators ignore liquefied natural gas engines and instead buy less-expensive diesel trucks.

The Obama administration last week issued a renewable fuel standard proposal aimed at growing the supply of biofuels and for the first time requiring them to meet emission-reduction targets.

Freight railroads are facing their stiffest legislative challenge in three decades, as a bill that would make the first changes to the industry’s competitive environment since 1980 is slated for a Senate vote in a matter of weeks.

Prices of most key commodities used in making heavy trucks have dropped 50% or more since last year, but price reductions for tires, components and trucks have been difficult to find.

Twenty-seven years ago at a bankruptcy sale, New England Motor Freight bought 22 acres at the Port of New York & New Jersey for just over $1 million.