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The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said a new federal rule will expand the enforcement authority of federal regulators to conduct “enhanced inspections” and investigations of packaged hazardous materials.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the Transportation Security Administration have conducted several dozen overlapping fleet inspections, according to a recent Government Accountability Office report about wasteful and duplicative federal programs.

An impending Department of Transportation rule will expand enforcement authority of federal regulators to conduct “enhanced inspections” and investigations of packaged hazardous materials.

The federal standard for underride guards on trucks and trailers is inadequate and should be upgraded to protect the drivers of vehicles that crash into the rear of trucks, an insurance safety advocacy group said last week.

States are equipping roadside inspectors with carrier-specific information that could lead to more targeted inspections under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s new Compli­ance, Safety, Ac­countability program.

The Texas Transportation Commission has voted to lower truck tolls on two Austin-area highways in an attempt to encourage trucks to use them.

No one knows the Canada-U.S. border and the difficulties even the most trusted individuals and companies have had crossing it in the “security trumps trade” post-9/11 world than truckers. It’s not surprising, then, that truckers welcome the announcement from U.S. President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper that the two countries are embarking upon negotiations aimed at improved cooperation and coordination at the border.

WASHINGTON — The first-ever proposed federal commercial truck fuel-efficiency and carbon emissions standard could cause an industry pre-buy before it becomes effective in 2014, or drive motor carriers to delay retirement of their fleets, a transportation consultant said.

In the wake of a federal proposal to replace driver logbooks with electronic onboard recorders at most motor carriers, technology companies said they are preparing for another round of meetings with federal officials to fine-tune the technical requirements for these devices.

Transportation and third-party logistics firm C.H. Robinson Worldwide reported a fourth-quarter profit of $103.2 million, or 62 cents a share, up 17.6% from $87.7 million, or 52 cents, a year earlier.