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The House of Representatives Thursday passed a six-year, $284 billion highway bill. The measure, approved by a 417-9 vote, would fund safety, transit and other transportation projects.

The Association of American Railroads reported that rail intermodal volume grew 7.6% for the week ended March 5 over the same week last year.

American Trucking Associations said in a filing with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration that current driver hours-of-service regulations “should remain essentially intact.”

A day after falling more than a dollar a barrel, crude oil prices rose 89 cents Friday to close at $54.43 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Bloomberg reported.

Crude oil prices fell Thursday a day after an intraday high price missed a record by two cents, Bloomberg reported.

Oshkosh Truck Corp. said Thursday it had acquired London Machinery Inc., a maker of concrete mixers based in London, Ontario.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. said it reduced its 2004 profit statement by 19% because it had set aside funds for possible settlement of a tax dispute.

U.S. wholesale inventories rose 1.1% in January to $331.9 billion, the Commerce Department said Thursday.

The Bush administration has recently identified transportation as one of 12 high-growth industry sectors and the focus of the Department of Labor’s High Growth Job Training Initiative.

The number of Americans filing initial applications for unemployment insurance rose by 17,000 to 327,000 for the week ended March 5, the Labor Department reported Thursday.