Union and Loomis open bargaining

Penske specs collision-avoidance and air-discs

Panel of pros to address trucking's image

Meeting scrapes surface on system to clear ice, snow

In Honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Photo: Public Domain

Heavy Duty Trucking is recognizing Martin Luther King Jr. Day by presenting some of the significant content of our editorial staff that has appeared recently in our daily newsletters.

Our editors not only put in hard work to publish our print magazine, but also put out great online content, all of which is written to help improve your fleet business as well as provide various thoughts on every aspect of the industry.

Whether it is our test drives, blogs, or feature articles, all of it is done in the hope that our readers will gain new and useful insights on trucking.

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DOT Report Reveals $926 Billion Infrastructure Need

Photo: Evan Lockridge

The nation's highway and transit systems need to overcome a nearly trillion-dollar investment backlog, according to a new report on the state of America's transportation infrastructure commissioned by the Department of Transportation.

The report, 2015 Status of the Nation's Highways, Bridges and Transit: Conditions and Performance, identified an $836-billion backlog of unmet capital investment needs for highways and bridges.

Conditions and Performance is a biennial report to Congress that provides information on the physical and operating characteristics of the highway, bridge and transit components of the nation's surface transportation system.

“We have an infrastructure system that is fundamental to the nation's economic health, and it needs greater attention and resources,” said Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx. “Improving our nation's roads, bridges, and transit helps create jobs, connects communities and ensures that our nation is equipped for the future.”

Addressing the growing backlog while still meeting other needs over the next two decades will require $142.5 billion in combined transportation spending from state, federal and local governments.

In 2012, the most recent year for which the report's data was available, federal, state and local governments combined spent $105.2 billion on infrastructure– 35.5% less than what was needed to improve highways and bridges.

“The case for more investment in our nation's transportation system is clear,” said Federal Highway Administrator Gregory Nadeau. “A strong transportation system will make businesses more productive and freight shippers safer and more efficient while improving America's quality of life.”

The report also indicates a $26.4-billion need per year to improve the condition of transit rail and bus systems. In 2012, total spending to preserve and expand transit systems was $17 billion. The report indicates that if spending were to remain at the $17-billion level, overall transit system conditions are expected to decline over the next 20 years. This would increase the transit system ...Read the rest of this story

Trucking in the 21st Century

The 21st century has long been seen as a time when technology — flying cars and tricorders, moon colonies and household robots — would change our lives. What is often overlooked is the fact that times of technological innovation also can spark disruption and upheaval in long-established industries and companies. It would seem the trucking industry has reached that point.

In its annual State of Logistics Report released last summer, the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals observed that the transportation and logistics business is entering a new era. “Disruptive” forces such as the Internet of Things, big data, autonomous vehicles and robotics, and 3D printing, along with operational factors such as increasing regulations, driver shortages, increasing customer and shipper demands, and infrastructure constraints, “will evolve at breakneck speed and threaten to fundamentally change the rules of the game.”

Andrew McAfee, an MIT scientist who studies how technological progress changes business, the economy, and society, observes, “Technology is moving faster than just about anything else these days.” He says you can break the changes down into three main areas:

1. Sensors and electronic control units are now on nearly any piece of equipment. “It's getting very cheap to do that.”

2. Once you've equipped something with sensors or an ECU, it has the ability to provide data. “We finally have real artificial intelligence that can take all that data, see patterns in it, make predictions based on it, and provide another source of intelligence in addition to human beings.”

3. “We now have networks that go all around the world and connect human knowledge, artificial intelligence, and all of this smart equipment,” a phenomenon also known as the Internet of Things.

“The very freight trucks move in certain sectors is changing as new logistics models emerge and gain traction,” says Sandeep Kar, global VP of automotive ...Read the rest of this story