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WASHINGTON — Proactive planning and effective collaboration with partners are two tips for success for agencies embarking on accelerated bridge construction (ABC) projects, according to two experts from the engineering services firm WSP.

Cathy Gautreaux, deputy administrator for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, will be leaving the agency, an agency spokesman confirmed.

The newly elected governors of Kansas and Ohio have announced their choices to lead their states’ departments of transportation.

The Transportation Security Administration plans to begin closing a handful of security checkpoints at airports around the United States as soon as this weekend in response to staff shortages triggered by a partial federal government shutdown now in its third week.

A key measure of U.S. inflation was little changed in December while falling energy prices dragged down the broader gauge, giving the Federal Reserve little urgency to raise interest rates soon as it signals a more cautious approach in 2019.

Almost a third of the $2 trillion that U.S. states spend each year comes from Washington, so the partial shutdown of the federal government would seem to spell major financial trouble in America’s statehouses.

After a Dec. 31 report by the Iowa Department of Transportation that shows a $317,000 reduction in the Road Use Tax Fund in 2018, state officials have made recommendations to the Iowa Legislature such as increasing fees or charging taxes to electric vehicle owners.

U.S. filings for unemployment benefits fell to a four-week low even amid a partial federal government shutdown, showing healthy demand for workers at the start of the year.

The European Union’s trade chief, Cecilia Malmstrom, will continue talks with her U.S. counterpart Jan. 10, after the two met earlier the week of Jan. 7 in an effort to tamp down escalating commercial tensions, according to the European Commission.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV will pay hundreds of millions of dollars to settle a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Justice Department, which alleged some of its diesel-powered vehicles violated clean-air rules, a person familiar with the matter said.