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CINCINNATI — As the amount of diesel exhaust fluid poured into U.S. and Canadian trucks continues to grow, laboratory chemists are working on how to test the liquid for purity, and vehicle operators are installing underground storage tanks for the added volume.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has identified more than $50 million in savings through its Next Generation initiative to modernize operations, Gov. Tom Corbett (R) said in a statement.

The Department of Energy has requested an exemption from the new hours-of-service rule requiring truck drivers, including those hauling security-sensitive radioactive material, to take a mandatory 30-minute off-duty rest break in the first eight hours of driving.

Transport Topics will be closed Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday. Please check back on Tuesday, Jan. 22, for the latest trucking and freight transportation news.

WASHINGTON — With the nation’s Highway Trust Fund on the brink of insolvency and states searching for ways to pay for transportation, a flurry of innovative funding proposals surfaced last week.

WASHINGTON — Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration officials said they are planning to release at least five new proposed or final rules in 2013, including a supplemental proposed electronic logging device rule and a proposed drug and alcohol clearinghouse rule by the end of March.

WASHINGTON — Less than three months since Superstorm Sandy devastated the East Coast, transportation and federal relief officials still involved in the recovery effort said the lessons learned will save lives and limit the economic damage of future disasters.

WASHINGTON — Don Osterberg, senior vice president of safety at truckload carrier Schneider National Inc., said transportation research needs to include components to help businesses and regulators make better use of the research.

U.S. diesel prices continued to drift downward last week, declining 1.7 cents to $3.894, the first time since early August it has been below $3.90, the Department of Energy reported.