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U.S. retail fuel price averages continued their slow downward drifts last week, the Department of Energy said, as diesel dipped for the third consecutive time.

Imports at U.S. major retail container ports are expected to decline by more than 17% in 2009 from a year earlier, but a new report by the National Retail Federation and IHS Global Insight predicts the end of the recession is near.

The Senate has approved legislation that would increase the funding for the Department of Transportation in fiscal 2010 and would allow Maine to raise the truck weight on Interstate 95 as part of a pilot program.

BALTIMORE — The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has sent its final electronic onboard recorders rule to the U.S. Department of Transportation for review, acting agency Administrator Rose McMurray told Transport Topics last week.

After coming to a consensus that a new Interstate 5 bridge across the Columbia River between Washington and Oregon should have 12 traffic lanes, local officials now have said the plan is too expensive and must be scaled back.

If manufacturers’ claims about the latest developments in cargo refrigeration units are correct, motor carriers now can haul fresh, frozen or deep-frozen loads for any distance with reefer-fuel savings of as much as 80%, compared with past costs — and with little or no reefer maintenance.

The House of Representatives last week approved a three-month extension of the current highway funding law, over the objections of many House Republicans who said the bill was a step toward raising fuel taxes.

WASHINGTON — Anne Ferro, President Obama’s choice to head the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, had her day before the Senate Commerce Committee last week as its members weighed her confirmation.

DHL Express and FedEx Express each said this week they have taken delivery of new, larger freight aircraft.