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RALEIGH, N.C. — Some truck repair shops are adopting a triage procedure to improve service by avoiding the problem of losing the use of a tractor for days when a simple fix could put the vehicle back on the road.

The Senate approved legislation increasing the funding for the Department of Transportation in 2010, leaving in a provision that would allow Maine to increase the weight limit on Interstate 95 to 100,000 pounds.

Nearly 1,800 special interest groups ranging from road builders trade groups to the AARP spent nearly $45 million and employed 2,100 lobbyists during the first half of 2009, mostly to lobby Congress on a new transportation authorization bill, according to a report of the Washington, D.C., non-profit group Center for Public Integrity.

Faced with an estimated price tag of $4 billion and little financial support from the federal government, local officials are backing away from their initial blueprint for the new Columbia River crossing.

The House Judiciary Committee approved railroad legislation Sept. 16 that is designed to reduce carriers’ pricing power by removing the industry’s anti-trust authority.

The House transportation committee is preparing a short-term extension of the current highway funding law, while continuing work on a long-term replacement for the legislation that expires in less than two weeks.

The Obama administration last week issued its proposed new fuel efficiency and first-ever national greenhouse gases reduction standards for passenger cars and light trucks.

The Obama administration last week issued its proposed new fuel efficiency and first-ever national greenhouse gases reduction standards for passenger cars and light trucks.

A federal district judge in Los Angeles has delayed until Feb. 2 a trial on a lawsuit filed by American Trucking Associations for a permanent injunction to block all of the concessions requirements in the clean air plans of the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, Calif.