Freight Transportation Services Index rose 0.8 percent in December to 108.4 from the November level of 107.6, following two monthly declines, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported. Still, the annual Freight TSI declined for the second consecutive year.

Federal Railroad Administration is proposing legislation to allow it to regulate railroad worker hours of service for the first time. If adopted by Congress, the proposal would replace railroad hours-of-service rules first enacted in 1907. A copy of the full legislative proposal can be found at this site.

American Trucking Associations named Clayton Boyce vice president for the Office of Public Affairs. Since 2004, Boyce has served in the U.S. Department of Transportation Office of the Inspector General, most recently as public affairs officer. Previously, he was editor-in-chief and publisher of Traffic World magazine after 17 years as a news editor and reporter.

Florida State Sen. Victor Crist introduced legislation (Bill S912) that would prohibit the use of retreaded truck tires on Florida highways. Specifically, the proposal would ban the “use of recapped or retreaded tires on truck tractors, pole trailers or semitrailers operated on public roads, streets or highways of this state.” The Tire Retread Information Bureau is opposing the proposed legislation.

The first National Summit on Agricultural and Food Truck Transport for the Future – set for April 25-26 at the Holiday Inn at Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C. – aims to develop legislative and policy initiatives in agriculture and food trucking for
possible inclusion in the 2007 farm bill and other appropriate federal legislation. For more information, go to this site.

NATSO, which represents truck stops and travel plazas, named Dan Alsaker chairman for 2007. Alsaker is the president of Broadway Truck Stops, a chain of eight truck stops in Iowa, Montana, Nevada and Washington.

Two federal agencies are requesting public comment by March 27 on whether they should mandate speed-limiting devices on certain large trucks and prohibit truck owners and operators from adjusting those devices.