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The life expectancy of heavy-duty truck wheels depends primarily on where a truck runs, with regions where roads are subjected to chemicals that are used to reduce ice and snow creating the biggest problems, according to experts.

House Transportation Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) said last week that he would not introduce a transportation reauthorization bill until next year, dashing hopes of proponents to get a bill through to replace the funding that expired in 2009.

WASHINGTON — A federal move to cut truck drivers’ working hours would be very costly and exacerbate a shortage of drivers, while putting more trucks on the road, a panel of industry executives told Congress last week.

American Trucking Associations and its affiliate in Alabama are at odds over the state’s certification requirement for truck drivers who transport metal coil, with the national federation arguing that the regulation should not be enforced and the state association supporting the requirement.

U.S.-based freight railroads and their major customers, including intermodal fleets, raced last week to prepare for what could be the first nationwide rail strike in two decades as soon as Dec. 6.

U.S. retail diesel prices slipped back below $4 a gallon last week, but the 4.6-cent decline in the national average price provided little comfort to truckers who are still paying 80 cents more a gallon than they were at this time last year.

The regulation banning truck drivers from using handheld phones while they drive will take effect Jan. 3, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said Friday.

The unemployment rate dropped in November to 8.6%, the lowest in more than two and a half years, while the economy added 120,000 jobs, including 3,600 trucking jobs, the Labor Department said Friday.