ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø

WASHINGTON — The new head of the Federal Highway Administration said he was open to considering changes to truck size-and-weight limits and other truck productivity issues as part of the Transportation Department’s proposals for the 2009 reauthorization of federal transportation legislation.

Existing homes sales rose for the first time in seven months in February, the National Association of Realtors said Monday.

The government of Ontario has resurrected a plan to make speed limiters mandating maximum mandatory truck speeds at about 65 miles per hour in the province, according to the Ontario trucking Association, which backs the plan.

The trucking industry is part of a grand environmental experiment being conducted in British Columbia — the first North American jurisdiction to introduce a carbon tax on all fossil fuels, including diesel, at the retail level.

American Trucking Associations and the Partnership for Uniform Marketing Practices recently requested that California prohibit the use of automatic temperature compensation equipment in retail fuel sales.

The heavy-duty truck sales drought continued into February, with year-over-year results declining for the 14th consecutive month, and some analysts are now predicting that any recovery won’t occur until late in the year.

Port of Los Angeles officials last week approved the final piece of the port’s sweeping plan to dramatically reduce diesel emissions by replacing and retrofitting dirty trucks through a controversial employee-only business model that will phase out independent drayage operators.

An effort by rail carriers to reduce the amount of toxic chemicals they haul is creating new business for some trucking companies.

Retail diesel and gasoline prices again set U.S. records last week as the diesel average flirted with $4 a gallon, according to the Department of Energy.