Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has put off for 30 days until July 17 its requirement for certification of personnel involved in conducting safety audits, compliance reviews and roadside inspections. The agency said it needed more time to conduct further analysis in response to comments, including those related to potential environmental impacts of the action.
Hazardous materials carriers may renew their registration online at http://hazmat.dot.gov/register.htm. Registration fees, which are unchanged for the 2002-2003 year that began July 1, fund the Department of Transportation’s Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness grants program, which supports training and planning activities by state and local governments.
National Private Truck Council board endorsed the trucking industry’s Anti-Terrorism Action Plan despite lingering concerns over the Highway Watch program and about a proposed criminal background information system. “NPTC recognizes the critical need for trucking industry unity on the subject of anti-terrorism,” President Gary Petty said in a letter to the American Trucking Associations.
Twenty-eight percent of major, heavily traveled bridges in the United States are structurally or functionally deficient, and in need of repair or replacement, according to The Road Information Program, a nonprofit group funded by highway contractors and equipment manufacturers and distributors.
