The Nation

MILWAUKEE  — Unrelenting winter weather again made travel difficult in the Upper Midwest Tuesday, causing highway spinouts, hundreds of school closings and some grounded flights. At least two deaths were linked to the frigid, snowy weather. One semi driver slid and spilled his load of cattle and another had to be towed from a snow-covered ditch. The latest winter storm was stressing already weary plow drivers who worked to keep up with the accumulating snow. Up to a foot of new snow was expected in Wisconsin, where a winter storm warning was posted for most of the state. Schools across the state canceled classes, including the districts of Milwaukee, La Crosse, Wausau, Madison and Waukesha. For some districts, it was the fifth day in two weeks that classes were canceled because of the snow or dangerously cold temperatures. The snow grounded at least 10 flights Tuesday morning at Dane County Regional Airport. In Sioux Falls, South Dakotas, a man found dead under a downtown bridge may have died from the frigid weather, police said. The man was discovered just before 7 a.m. Tuesday, police spokesman Officer Sam Clemens said. The National Weather Service says the temperature in Sioux Falls was 12 degrees (minus 11 Celsius) around the time the man was found. In Milwaukee, the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office said a 62-year-old man collapsed and died while shoveling snow Tuesday. The National Weather Service says wind gusts of up to 30 mph reduced visibility and created dangerous travel conditions for motorist who decided to venture out. In North Dakota, 16 head of cattle were killed when a semi driver hauling the livestock was blinded by blowing snow from a passing truck, hit an embankment and rolled over Monday afternoon. The Highway Patrol says the driver suffered minor injuries. About five dozen head of cattle survived the crash. The Minnesota State Patrol was dealing with numerous crashes and spinouts around the state. Patrol Sgt. Jesse Grabow three children were in a minivan that rollover on Interstate 94 near Rothsay Tuesday. Grabow says the children were properly restrained and were not hurt. A winter storm warning was also posted for southeastern Minnesota until midnight. Rochester schools were among districts that canceled classes Tuesday. St. Paul public schools canceled most after-school activities. Both Minneapolis and St. Paul declared snow emergencies beginning at 9 p.m., triggering parking restrictions.  

ARLINGTON, Va. — Saying that the nation is on the cusp of a transformation in the movement of freight, American Trucking Associations President and CEO Chris Spear Wednesday told a hearing of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation that there is an urgent need to address the nation’s failing infrastructure, pressing the committee to put forward a real solution that includes new revenues, including a fee at the terminal fuel rack. The title of the hearing was “America’s Infrastructure Needs: Keeping Pace with a Growing Economy.” Spear said radical technological change will, in the near future, allow trucks to move more safely and efficiently, and with less impact on the environment than the country ever dared to imagine. “Yet we are facing headwinds, due almost entirely to government action or, in some cases inaction that will slow or cancel out entirely the benefits of innovation,” Spear said. “Failure to maintain and improve the highway system that your predecessors helped to create will destroy the efficiencies that have enabled U.S. manufacturers and farmers to continue to compete with countries that enjoy far lower labor and regulatory costs.” Spear noted that just during the first full week of February, chunks of falling concrete struck cars traveling under bridges in California and Massachusetts. “We are no longer facing a future highway maintenance crisis – we’re living it – and every day we fail to invest, we’re putting more lives at risk,” he said. The nation’s crumbling and failing infrastructure is taking a tremendous toll on Americans’ time and their pocketbooks, and has impacted the trucking industry in a significant way, Spear said. “Trucking now loses $74.5 billion sitting in gridlock. That equates to 1.2 billion lost hours or 425,000 truck drivers sitting idle for an entire year,” he said. “These are the regressive costs of doing nothing. And they are reflected in the prices we all pay. These costs to consumers and economy are measurable… and they can and should serve as offsets for new spending on our nation’s infrastructure. The road system is rapidly deteriorating and costs the average motorist nearly $1,600 a year in higher maintenance and congestion expenses.” While the cost and scale of addressing highway improvement needs is daunting, it is important to note that much of the congestion is focused at a relatively small number of locations, Speaker told the committee. “Just 17 percent of National Highway System miles represents 87 percent of total truck congestion costs nationwide,” Spear said. “Many of these locations are at highway bottlenecks that are identified annually by the American Transportation Research Institute. ATRI just released its latest freight bottlenecks report, which identifies the top 100 truck bottlenecks around the country.  The worst bottleneck was Interstate 95 at State Route 4 in Fort Lee, New Jersey. More than half of the bottlenecks are in states represented by members of this committee, including 13 in Texas, six in Connecticut, and five in Washington State. To address the nation’s need to re-invest in its roads and bridges, Spear again pushed forward the Build America Fund – a 20-cent per gallon fee at the terminal fuel rack phased in over four years that would generate billions in new revenues for investment. Trucking pays for nearly half the Highway Trust Fund, and we’re willing to pay more,” he said. “The Build America Fund would increase the price of fuel 20 cents per gallon at the fuel rack – just a nickel a year over four years – generating $340 billion over 10 years. This new revenue is real, not fake funding like P3’s and asset recycling. “The Build America Fund is the most conservative proposal… costing less than .01 cent on the dollar to administer, versus up to .35 cents a dollar for tolling schemes,” Spear said. “We are at a critical point in our country’s history, and the decisions made by this committee over the next few months will impact the safety and efficiency of freight transportation for generations,” Spear said. “ATA looks forward to working with you to develop and implement sound policy that benefits the millions of Americans and U.S. businesses that rely on a safe and efficient supply chain.”  

By MERYL KORNFIELD Fresh Take Florida News Service TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Tired of the typical Florida orange stamped on the back of your car? The Legislature is considering five new specialty license plate options for motorists, including ones promoting honeybees and the gopher tortoise. Another would pay for mental health counseling for shooting survivors of the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016 in Orlando, which killed 49 people. Orlando is still recovering emotionally from the devastating shootings, said Sen. Linda Stewart, D-Orlando, who proposed the new “Orlando United” plate. At the time, it was the deadliest mass shooting by a single person in U.S. history. “It doesn’t go away overnight,” Stewart said. “It will take more than two, more than three, probably more than five years of counseling for those who need it.” With approval from lawmakers, organizations that expect to receive funding from sales of the plates must receive approval from the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles and pre-sell at least 1,000 of them. Then they become available to drivers on Florida’s highways. Drivers would pay $25 each year for the specialty tags. It costs the state about $10,000 to set up printing for each new design. The proposed “Save the Bees” plate could save bees buzzing on farms. It would provide funding to the Florida State Beekeepers Association for honeybee research and education. The group would spend the research money at the University of Florida’s Honey Bee Lab and Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, said Jennifer Holmes, the association’s president. She said the nonprofit will ask members to propose plate designs. One of the sponsors of the bill for the bees plate is newly elected Rep. Melony Bell, R-Fort Meade, whose husband is a commercial beekeeper. A House transportation subcommittee has already approved the bill, sending it to other committees for further consideration. “If our bee population goes away, our food supply goes away,” Bell said. “We are losing bees each day.” The Orlando plate would raise money for Mental Health Association of Central Florida Inc. and Two Spirit Health Services Inc. to offer free counseling to anyone affected by the nightclub shooting. Money would also build and maintain a memorial to victims. Other new plates would recognize the gopher tortoise, which can be found in every Florida county, and the Highwaymen, a group of 26 African-American artists from Fort Pierce who used vivid colors to paint Florida landscapes from the 1950s to 1980s. The Highwaymen plate would pay to build and operate the Highwaymen Museum and African-American Cultural Center and provide art education in St. Lucie County public schools. The “Protect the Gopher Tortoise” plate would provide money the Tampa nonprofit Wildlands Conservation Inc. It said it would use the funds to offer grants for research and acquiring and managing land that gopher tortoises inhabit. The nonprofit has already drafted designs, and one of a gopher tortoise emerging from its burrow is a favorite, said David Sumpter, the organization’s executive director. “Their burrows provide refuge for other species, making them a keystone in Florida,” Sumpter said. Stewart, the lawmaker, also sponsored the bill for the tortoise plate. She said environmentally focused friends told her the species was in danger due to construction. “When development happens, they get bulldozed over and killed,” she said. A fifth, proposed new plate would recognize ethical tourism in Florida. Money from the plate’s sales would be split between the Florida Society for Ethical Ecotourism in Fort Myers and Paddle Florida Inc. in Gainesville. This story was produced by Fresh Take Florida, a news service of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications.  

Oregon truck driver Denis Palamarchuk, 36, of Portland, Oregon, has found himself in the middle of a state/federal fight over whether the “industrial hemp” he was hauling from Oregon through Idaho and on to Colorado was illegal. The Idaho Press reports that Palamarchuk was arrested January 24 at the East Boise, Idaho Point-of-Entry with the hemp load and had a legal bill of lading for it. Hemp and marijuana are different parts of the same plant, and the recently passed federal Farm Bill forbids states from preventing the transportation of hemp, which is used in cosmetics, dietary supplements and other products. Meanwhile, the Colorado company the hemp belongs to wants its seized shipment back from Idaho and is citing the Farm Bill in a court filing against the state. Idaho State Police seized 6,701 pounds of the hemp, which tested positive for THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. One news account said drug dogs alerted to the hemp. The trouble stems from the fact that in Idaho, any amount of THC, the part of pot that makes you high, is illegal. Consequently, the Ada County prosecuting attorney’s office insists that hauling hemp through Idaho is illegal and that the seizure was lawful. Hemp, while not a scheduled substance, contains trace amounts of THC but not enough to produce a high. Under federal regulations, hemp must contain 0.3 percent or less of THC. Idaho State Police said the seized hemp is being tested at a lab independent of their office but did not specify which lab is conducting the tests. If the substance does contain greater than 0.3 percent THC, it would not meet the federal definition of hemp. Big Sky Scientific, the Colorado company that was the intended recipient of the hemp, has filed a lawsuit against Idaho State Police, and in court documents, documented that the shipment is industrial hemp that contains less than 0.3 percent THC. “Big Sky has a legally protectable interest in the present controversy because it has rightful title to the property and said property is federally-protected pursuant to the 2018 Farm Bill,” the complaint stated. The Farm Bill, which was updated in December, says, “No State or Indian Tribe shall prohibit the transportation or shipment of hemp or hemp products produced in accordance with subtitle G of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (as added by section 10113) through the State or the territory of the Indian Tribe, as applicable,” in section 10114, item B. Elijah Watkins, an attorney representing Big Sky, told the Idaho Press that Idaho has no right to stop a business in one state from obtaining a legal good from another. “I think regardless of the Farm Bill, it’s still of a lawful good,” he said. But under Idaho law, all species of cannabis regardless of genus, including low-THC hemp plants, are illegal. Ada County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Scott Bandy said hemp haulers aren’t free from prosecution, because of the Idaho law making hemp illegal. Bandy would not comment further, since the state police office is facing litigation, the Press reported. Meanwhile, VIP Transportation, the Portland-based trucking company that was hauling the substance in question, is defending the legality of the shipment. “We are 1,000 percent sure that this will get resolved because we didn’t break any law,” Ivan Pavliy, owner of VIP Transportation, previously told the newspaper. Pavliy said it was the company’s third load of hemp when Palamarchuk was arrested. It is unclear if the company had previously hauled hemp through Idaho, as it services 48 states. “If proper climate and airflow are not maintained, the product will mold,” according to the court document. “If that happens, the product will be worthless and Big Sky will have lost not only the estimated $1.3 million value of its industrial hemp shipment’s isolates, but also the opportunity of being among the first entrants into the new congressionally-created industrial hemp market.” According to the document, the hemp was being transported from Boones Ferry Berry Farm, which is a licensed industrial hemp grower in the state of Oregon. Additionally, the hemp grown at the farm was tested by two different state-certified laboratories to certify its THC content met federal standards, according to an enclosed memorandum. Ada County Prosecutor Jan Bennetts responded to Big Sky in a document filed with the court, stating that regardless of whether the product meets the federal standards of hemp, it is still illegal in the state of Idaho, making the seizure lawful. Citing Idaho law, Bennetts refused to comply with the emergency motion for injunctive relief. While production and possession of hemp and marijuana are still illegal in Idaho, the state’s Legislature may change the state’s position on hemp. State Rep. Caroline Nilsson Troy, R-Genesee, plans to introduce a bill soon that would legalize hemp in Idaho, which she said will give Idaho farmers an option to grow a versatile and potentially lucrative crop. Meanwhile, according to trucking attorney Brad Klepper, driver Palamarchuk faces marijuana trafficking charges. Klepper said if found guilty, Palamarchuk could face up to five years in prison and a fine of $15,000. In April 2018, the Idaho State Police arrested Andrew D’Addario, 27, of Colorado, and Erich Eisenhart, 25, of Oregon, for hauling hemp plants through Idaho.  

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio’s road maintenance and infrastructure are facing an “impending crisis” unless more funding is provided for those types of projects, according to the state’s Department of Transportation director. ODOT Director Jack Marchbanks issued his warning recently before an advisory panel that will make funding recommendations to Republican Gov. Mike DeWine. Marchbanks said contracts for road maintenance that totaled $2.4 billion in 2014 may drop to $1.5 billion in 2020, and a $1 billion gap remains in the department budget. He said there will be no new roads or other projects in the foreseeable future, and 90 percent of the department’s money must go toward road maintenance. “It is a grim financial situation,” Marchbanks said. “It is also a dangerous one.” The director said without more funding to fix the state’s roads, more crashes will happen. Col. Paul Pride, superintendent of the State Highway Patrol, has said road conditions — including maintenance issues and inclement weather — contribute to about a third of highway fatalities. Years of flat revenue from the gas tax, debt payments and increased highway construction costs have all contributed to the financial situation, Marchbanks said. Former Republican Gov. John Kasich and lawmakers approved $1.5 billion in short-term transportation funding in 2013. However, that money was either spent or committed. “There is a level of borrowing that’s responsible, and we’re not saying ODOT won’t borrow funds in the future,” Marchbanks said. “But we’ve loaded on too much debt.” He said ODOT already is spending $390 million each year to pay for prior borrowing against future gas-tax revenue. Jim Aslanides, a member of the advisory panel, described that debt number as “very startling.” Aslanides, president of the Ohio Oil & Gas Association, said the “public, for the most part, needs to be educated about this.” The governor and lawmakers are considering an increase in the gas tax. The state’s 28-cent-per-gallon gas tax has not been increased since 2005, and it is lower than all neighboring states except for Kentucky. Marchbanks said he will not make any recommendations, but the department estimates that increasing fees on electric and hybrid vehicles would raise about $2.5 million each year. Increasing the gas tax by 1 cent would bring in about $67 million per year, Marchbanks said. DeWine is expected to present his two-year transportation budget proposal to the state General Assembly this month.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The American Transportation Research Institute Tuesday released its annual list highlighting the most congested bottlenecks for trucks in America and for the first time since 2014, the intersection of Interstate 95 and SR 4 in Fort Lee, New Jersey, is back on top as the No. 1 freight bottleneck in the country. The 2019 Top Truck Bottleneck List assesses the level of truck-oriented congestion at 300 locations on the national highway system. The analysis, based on truck GPS data from nearly 1 million heavy duty trucks uses several customized software applications and analysis methods, along with terabytes of data from trucking operations to produce a congestion impact ranking for each location. ATRI’s truck GPS data is used to support the USDOT’s freight mobility initiatives. The locations detailed in this latest ATRI list represent the top 100 congested locations. “Congestion is a persistent issue for our industry and our company specifically,” said Rich McArdle, president of UPS Freight. “For UPS, if all of our vehicles are delayed just five minutes a day, every day, it costs our company $114 million a year. In order to combat congestion, many companies must plan operational redundancies to meet their customer needs. Using data like ATRI’s bottleneck report can help both companies and elected officials to make more informed decisions.” The rest of the Top 10 includes: Atlanta: I-285 at I-85 (North) Atlanta: I-75 at I-285 (North) Los Angeles: SR 60 at SR 57 Houston: I-45 at I-69/US 59 Cincinnati: I-71 at I-75 Chicago: I-290 at I-90/I-94 Nashville: I-24/I-40 at I-440 (East) Atlanta: I-20 at I-285 (West) Los Angeles: I-710 at I-105 ATRI’s analysis found that year-over-year truck speeds across the top 10 locations dropped by an average of nearly 9 percent as congestion worsened along the nation’s busiest freight roadways. “ATRI’s research shows us where the worst pain points are – but they are far from the only ones. This report should be a wakeup call for elected leaders at all levels of government that we must act quickly to address our increasingly congested highway system,” ATA President and CEO Chris Spear said. “Without meaningful investment in our nation’s infrastructure, carriers will continue to endure billions of dollars in congestion-related costs – which results in a self-inflicted drag on our economy.” For access to the full report, including detailed information on each of the 100 top congested locations, please visit ATRI’s website at www.TruckingResearch.org.    

MONTPELIER, Vt.  — Vermont lawmakers have introduced a bill that would increase fines for texting while driving and other distracted driving offenses. The Times Argus reports the bill would raise the penalty for first offenders from the current maximum of $200 to $500, and it would add five points to the offender’s driving record. Juvenile offenders would not be fined, but would receive five points on his or her record. The bill says minors will lose their learner’s permit for 30 days for getting three points and 90 days for getting six points. Republican Rep. Butch Shaw, co-sponsor of the bill, says he supports it because it would create “serious penalties” for people using hand-held devices while driving. The bill is currently under review by the House Committee on Transportation. A bill introduced Tuesday in the Vermont House of Representatives would increase the penalties for texting while driving and other forms of distracted driving, and leave violators on the hook for $500 for a first offense. Rep. Butch Shaw, R-Pittsford, co-sponsored the bill. “I continue to see people in the street driving while using their cellphones, or actually texting, so my purpose is to keep the conversation open on this problem, which doesn’t appear to be going away by legislation. We need to figure this out, because we continue to hear from the folks at the Department of Public Safety about car crashes being caused by inattentive driving,” he said. If the bill becomes law as written, the civil penalty for using a portable electronic device while driving would increase to $500 and five points on the offender’s driving record. Currently, the penalty for a first violation is a minimum of $100 and a maximum of $200, while the penalties for subsequent violations is a minimum of $250 and a maximum of $500. Points against an offender’s license is not part of the current law unless under specific circumstances. For instance, an offender would be assigned four points for a first violation and five points for second or greater convictions if the offender is using the handheld device in a marked work zone or school zone. The bill proposes to add an additional three points under those circumstances, in addition to the standard five-point penalty. The proposed changes would also have an impact on those who are issued junior driver’s license. Someone younger than 18 who is texting or using a handheld device while driving would not be fined but would receive five points on his or her record. “A learner’s permit or junior operator’s license shall contain an admonition that it is recallable and that the later procurement of an operator’s license is conditional on the establishment of a record which is satisfactory to the commissioner and showing compliance with the motor-vehicle laws of this and other states,” the bill said. The bill proposes a minor would lose his or her learner’s permit for 30 days for getting three points and 90 days for getting six points. Texting while driving has been illegal in Vermont since 2010, after then-Gov. James Douglas signed a bill at Montpelier High School. During the signing event, students were asked to drive a golf cart through a course lined with traffic cones. The students went through the course once and then drove the course again while texting. One legislator was asked to try the same exercise because of his background. Then-Sen. Phil Scott, a Washington County Republican, was asked to participate because of his experience as a professional race car driver. Scott, now Vermont’s governor, said he did awful while driving the course. “I don’t see this measure as punitive as much as educational. I believe that once people are aware of how much of a problem this is, they stop,” Scott said in 2010.

Covering the trucking industry is like doing the color commentary on an endless, slow-motion game of Whac-A-Mole. There’s a set of issues, and they take turns popping up and vying for attention. One small difference is, this game is usually manipulated by outside forces. Such was the case in the latter months of 2018, when elections in Canada and in Michigan legalized recreational marijuana use in those places. This mellow, glassy-eyed mole pops up every time recreational cannabis use gets the green light somewhere, which is now 10 states plus all of Canada, re-raising the question whether professional truck drivers should be allowed to partake in cannabis when they are in one of those places and are off-duty. This issue may not exactly be up there with, say, reworking the Hours of Service regulations or addressing the parking shortage, but it does briefly fire up passions from time to time. As a journalist, it is my job to observe and report as a neutral third party. But that doesn’t mean I don’t privately form opinions about the issues and of the arguments being made for or against a given issue. With almost every issue, both sides tend to go overboard. Those in the anti-marijuana camp (i.e., the entire trucking establishment) are quick to jump on any reasoning they can they can find to stem the spread of cannabis with a zealotry that’s only about a step shy of “Reefer Madness.” “Just say no” rhetoric aside, when I put myself in a carrier’s shoes, I think they have legitimate reasons for being against cannabis, it’s just that some of those reasons would come off as a bit self-serving. From a practical business standpoint, I can’t see how marijuana legalization has an upside for the industry. Currently, marijuana cannot be transported over state lines, even where both states allow its use. The way the marijuana industry is shaping up, the product is grown, processed and distributed in short proximity. But even if (and presumably when) interstate shipping is ever legal, I can’t see how cannabis will ever be a big-ticket item for trucking. On a retail basis, marijuana is sold in tiny quantities, fractions of an ounce at a time. America would collectively pass out on the sofa before it could create enough of a market that we would ever see rigs filled to the brim with cannabis products, even in short-haul. That’s in contrast to all those big, heavy, easy-to-stack cases of booze and beer that are run all over the country. And there is the longstanding fear that legalized weed could cut into the alcohol market. There hasn’t been a ton of research or even anecdotal evidence to support this fear, but why court trouble? What’s undeniable is it’s hard enough getting qualified truck drivers, and substance abuse is one of the leading disqualifiers among blue-collar employers, even with most of the drugs in question being used in an illegal manner. Before working at The Trucker, between journalism gigs, I worked for a few months at a major home improvement chain. One of the managers there told me it took them 32 applications for every employee they hire who actually shows up for more than a shift or two. The biggest disqualifier, he said, was the drug screen. Those who favor allowing drivers to partake (mostly drivers who wish to partake) suggest it’s a matter of personal liberty, that being denied the right to smoke dope is an assault on their dignity and their civil rights. Somehow, I don’t foresee throngs singing “We Shall Overcome” in front of the Lincoln Memorial over it. Some may say it isn’t fair to place a restriction like that on people in a given profession. I have two words for your consideration – Ricky Williams. Remember him? He was one of the top running backs in the National Football League in the early 2000s, but he was also a world-class pot smoker. At the height of his career, facing a third drug suspension, he walked away from the league. If you read up on him, you’ll see there was more to the story than that, but that’s the popular short version – he chose weed over NFL stardom. He returned to the NFL a couple years later, but by his own estimation, his self-banishment cost him about $10 million. Now, that’s a man who likes his ganja. Since then, the NFL has eased up a bit on its stance on marijuana, but a positive test is still a punishable offense. With the Super Bowl in recent memory, it may be hard to believe, but there are few professions of less real value to society than being a pro football player, and certainly they don’t hold the safety of thousands in their hands every time they do their job, like truck drivers do. Safety is one of the strongest arguments the carriers make, although they often screw it up by overplaying their hand. Meanwhile, those who argue for pot smokers’ rights fail to acknowledge one thing they have in common with drinkers. For a certain percentage, that off-duty vice slowly creeps closer and closer to their on-duty hours, because they don’t or won’t recognize when they’re mildly under the influence. I don’t want to share the road with someone who is even a little bit buzzed and operating an 18-wheeler, I don’t care what it’s on. You want a closer comparison? How about pilots? Professional pilots can be drug-tested at any time, and if they test positive for marijuana, they are grounded and could even lose their license. Being a truck driver may not have the glamour or the paycheck of being a star athlete or even a commercial pilot, but the job bears a tremendous amount of responsibility, and it is perfectly reasonable that the rules of the job are stricter than in other professions. There are other jobs where they might not be so particular about your lifestyle habits – well, not professional pilot or hardware store clerk, we know that. It’s really a question of what you value most. Heck, Ricky Williams walked away from millions to toke in peace. Of course, before anyone decides to follow in his footsteps, remember he already had millions, and he wound up making millions more. There is that to consider.

TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas has trouble keeping road equipment operators from leaving for other, better-paying jobs — so much so that supervisors worry about being able to cobble together crews to clear snow after blizzards and to fill potholes quickly. For Department of Transportation leaders, the 100 percent annual turnover rate among entry-level equipment operators signals a problem that requires an immediate solution. For new Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, the staffing woes are a prime example of the worse-than-expected problems she says she found as she was preparing to take office last month. Like many funding questions, it’s a Rorschach test, viewed as more or less important based on an official’s overall philosophy of government. Kelly says it’s part of an overarching message that state government might take years to recover from damage caused by past Republican tax-cutting policies. But some Republican legislators are skeptical that KDOT faces a crisis and think Kelly is overstating problems to push the GOP-controlled Legislature into higher spending. “We probably have a lot of work to do, but is it in as bad a shape as she’s alleging? No,” Sen. Richard Hilderbrand, a conservative Galena Republican. The conflicting agendas leave KDOT workers and supervisors with the daily chore of filling out crews to fix potholes, repair or replace signs, pick up trash and clear highways. KDOT says it needs almost 1,200 operators to drive trucks; 640 of the jobs are filled. In Topeka, supervisor Mike Daniel is supposed to have 12 workers and has seven, with three still training to operate equipment. “It’s just a constant trying to catch up,” said Daniel, who has worked for KDOT for 36 years. “It has gotten progressively worse, probably, in the past five to eight years.” Kansas has had a national reputation for good highways because of its commitment to big, multi-year transportation programs since the late 1980s. The libertarian Reason Foundation has consistently rated the Kansas system as one of the nation’s best — ranking it 2nd in 2018. Republicans have cited its reports to counter criticism that GOP officials have allowed the state’s roads fall into disrepair. Other ratings are not as generous. The American Society of Civil Engineers said in a report last year that Kansas had consistently kept 80 percent of its roads in good condition for two decades but still gave its highway system a C-minus grade, partly over funding concerns. There’s bipartisan agreement that funding for highway programs has been shorted too much over the past decade. The state started a 10-year transportation program in 2010 meant to tackle safety issues and modernize bottlenecked stretches. But the program became “the Bank of KDOT,” with nearly $2.5 billion diverted to other parts of state government to close budget shortfalls, almost two-thirds of the amount in the last four years. Legislators of all political philosophies have decried the continued diversion of transportation funds, and Kelly said while running for governor last year that the state had to stop the practice. But to reach her top goals of boosting spending on public schools and expanding state Medicaid health coverage for the needy, she’s not proposing to end the siphoning off of highway funds immediately. Her proposed spending blueprint for the next fiscal year still diverts $369 million, and her stated goal is end the practice by 2023. Kelly raised KDOT’s staffing as an issue even before taking office. Pay is a big issue. Other parts of state government have similar concerns: Prisons have trouble keeping uniformed officers even after special efforts to boost salaries, and wages are a long-standing sore point in the court system. KDOT promises untrained equipment operators that they’ll get commercial driver’s licenses within two months, but it starts them in metro areas at $13.33 an hour. After three years, a senior equipment operator would earn a little more than $14 an hour. The city of Topeka just bumped its starting pay for street maintenance workers by nearly $2 an hour, to $15. Daniel said area contractors will pay laborers — who don’t need a commercial driver’s license — from $15 to $18 an hour. “I’m really worried about churning people like we’re churning them,” said interim Transportation Secretary Julie Lorenz. “We currently have stuff cobbled together, and that’s not where we want to be.” Rep. J.R. Claeys, a conservative Salina Republican who was chairman of a House budget committee on transportation funding for four years, questioned whether the department needs as many equipment operators as it says. “I drive Kansas interstates frequently, and I know that they are doing an excellent job, (a) keeping the ditches mowed and (b) keeping our roads clear and safe,” said Claeys. Story by John Hanna, Associated Press Political Writer  

DES MOINES, Iowa — A bill to ban the use of cellphones while driving has advanced out of an Iowa Senate subcommittee. The bill would prohibit drivers from using cellphones or similar electronic devices unless they are in hands-free mode. It expands current Iowa law that bans texting while driving. Public safety and health care professionals on the job are exempted. If approved, drivers could be fined $100. Those using a device who cause serious crashes would face much higher potential fines and driver’s license suspensions. House Speaker Linda Upmeyer says she wants more information before committing to supporting a bill but acknowledged lawmakers have heard from a lot of people frustrated by distracted driving. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says 17 states have approved hands-free only laws for all drivers.  

WASHINGTON — Acknowledging that before President Donald Trump and Congress can work together to develop an infrastructure plan, the Highway Trust Fund shortfall must be addressed, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Ranking Member Sam Graves said Thursday the only viable solution to the program is to initiate a Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) program. “We’ve kicked this can down the road so many times already, pretty soon we’re going to kick it completely off the map,” Graves said during his opening remarks at a committee hearing on “The Cost of Doing Nothing: Why Investing in Our Nation’s Infrastructure Cannot Wait.” Congress is going to consider a number of options to address this problem, but Graves said he believes the only viable future lies in a transition to a VMT program. “I see this as the best way to ensure that everyone contributes to the Highway Trust Fund and helps maintain and improve our surface transportation system,” he said. “VMT is already being applied at the state level, and it’s time to pursue this solution nationally.” Graves said in proposing a VMT, he was not suggesting that “big brother” would be tracking motorists’ every move. “Protecting Americans’ privacy is critical, and we can absolutely do a VMT program without intruding upon people’s privacy,” he said. Graves pointed to time and technology as being key to implementing an infrastructure plan. “Time is money, so any delay in the project delivery process consumes valuable and limited resources that could be used for other potential improvements,” he said. “Streamlining project delivery – while continuing to protect the environment – is a priority for the Administration, and it will continue to be a priority for me.” The Missouri Republican said America will never have the infrastructure system it needs and deserves if it doesn’t do a better job of incorporating technology. “Compared to other countries, our infrastructure is falling behind, and in some cases falling apart,” he said. “Technology is rapidly developing, but our infrastructure doesn’t always reflect those advancements.  That needs to change.”

SAN FRANCISCO — Autonomous trucking startup Ike said Tuesday it had completed a series A round of $52 million, led by Bain Capital Ventures. Redpoint Ventures, Fontinalis Partners, Basis Set Ventures, and Neo also invested in the round. Ike was founded by veterans of Apple, Google and Uber Advanced Technologies Group’s self-driving truck program. Bain’s website says the company partners with B2B founders to accelerate the bringing of the founders’ ideas to market. Its investments range from $1 million of seed capital through $100 million of growth equity. An Ike spokesperson said the company is building “cutting edge” automation technology for the trucking industry.” “And despite their importance, truck drivers are often overlooked, overworked, and put in harm’s way. Ike believes self-driving technology for long-haul trucking can be part of the solution,” the spokesperson said. Ike said its funding round will help the company expand beyond its 30-person team as it drives forward with its mission to build a commercial product at scale. “Trucks are the secret backbone of our economy. They are a part of all of our lives  —  delivering groceries to the local market, transporting lumber and steel to build our homes, bringing us supplies in a disaster,” said a blog signed by Nancy Sun, Jur van den Berg, Alden Woodrow, and the entire Ike team. “Yet trucks are hidden in plain sight, often around back at the loading dock or out on rural highways moving through the night.” The Ike team said trucking had never been at a more critical moment. “A shortage of drivers, new regulations, growing accident rates, the rise of ecommerce  —  these issues are rapidly changing an industry at the core of American society,” the blog said. “We think self-driving trucks can help solve these issues. We’ve spent our careers building new technologies, from electric motorcycles to wind turbines to self-driving cars. We came together over a passion for trucking, and created Ike with a mission to make trucks safer, truckers more valuable, and trucking more efficient.” Ike is named after President Dwight D. Eisenhower and the U.S. interstate system he helped create when he signed the Federal Aid Highway Act June 29, 1956. The Ike spokesperson said the prototype would be produced within the next few months. “However, it’s important to keep in mind that Ike is making progress without needing to have trucks on the road and will be going through a very rigorous testing process including private track operation before they put an activated vehicle on the road,” the spokesperson said.          

WASHINGTON — President Donald J. Trump only mentioned the nation’s infrastructure and its proposed new Canada-Mexico trade agreement in his State of the Union address to Congress Tuesday night, but what he said brought immediate support from the American Trucking Associations, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and the ranking member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. “Many of us campaigned on the same core promises:  to defend American jobs and demand fair trade for American workers; to rebuild and revitalize our Nation’s infrastructure; to reduce the price of healthcare and prescription drugs; to create an immigration system that is safe, lawful, modern and secure; and to pursue a foreign policy that puts America’s interests first,” Trump said about halfway through his speech. “Both parties should be able to unite for a great rebuilding of America’s crumbling infrastructure,” he said moments later. “I know that the Congress is eager to pass an infrastructure bill — and I am eager to work with you on legislation to deliver new and important infrastructure investment, including investments in the cutting edge industries of the future.  This is not an option.  This is a necessity.” “Tonight, President Trump called for a national, bipartisan effort to restore our country’s declining infrastructure — and America’s truckers are answering that call,” said American Trucking Associations President and CEO Chris Spear. “A win on this issue will require real investment, not budgetary gimmicks as tried in years past. That is why America’s truckers, along with a broad coalition of the business community, have pledged our financial commitment to making this national priority a reality. “Decades of failed leadership in Washington have led us to this point, which is why we commend the president for seizing this opportunity to bring all sides together to forge a common path forward. Restoring our national infrastructure to greatness will further ignite our economy, make us more competitive abroad, and give Americans more time to spend with family and less time stuck in traffic.” Jim Tymon, AASHTO executive director, said Trump’s address was once again making transportation infrastructure investment a top national priority. “Transportation has long been a bipartisan concern and this year, with the administration’s support a transportation bill can be that rare opportunity to bring members of Congress together from both sides of the aisle,” Tymon said. “AASHTO and its member state departments of transportation stand ready to work with the Administration and Congress on a national plan to shore up the Highway Trust Fund and make the investments needed to modernize our aging transportation infrastructure.” House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Ranking Member Sam Graves, R-Mo., said Trump was crystal clear to the American people that he wants to cut the congestion we all face in our daily lives, fix our roads and bridges, and modernize our waterways, ports, railways, and airports. “With the President’s leadership on infrastructure, and the widespread agreement on the need to act, we have a prime opportunity to achieve something that matters to people across the country and to our economy,” Graves said. “It’s up to Congress to work together and with the administration to find common ground on issues that pose real threats to the future of our infrastructure network.  We need infrastructure solutions that address our long-term funding issues, cut the time and costs involved in the project delivery process, and recognize that a modern economy demands the safe and timely integration of 21st century technology.” Turning to cross-border trade, Trump said he had met the men and women of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, New Hampshire, and many other States whose dreams were shattered by NAFTA. “For years, politicians promised them they would negotiate for a better deal.  But no one ever tried — until now,” he said. “Our new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement — or USMCA — will replace NAFTA and deliver for American workers:  bringing back our manufacturing jobs, expanding American agriculture, protecting intellectual property, and ensuring that more cars are proudly stamped with four beautiful words:  made in the USA. Tonight, I am also asking you to pass the United States Reciprocal Trade Act, so that if another country places an unfair tariff on an American product, we can charge them the exact same tariff on the same product that they sell to us.” Spear continued to urge Congress to move quickly on the new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. “Trucking and trade are synonymous. Trucks move $720 billion worth of goods annually across our borders with Canada and Mexico, and cross-border trucking activity supports more than 47,000 jobs in the United States,” he said. “Any significant disruption to those trading relationships would have serious consequences for trucking and the economy, so we join President Trump in his call for Congress to quickly ratify the USMCA trade agreement.”                              

LANSING, Mich. — New Michigan House Speaker Lee Chatfield said Michigan will always struggle to fund roadwork until it solves the root problem — drivers pay some of the country’s highest taxes at the pump, but not all of the revenue goes to the transportation budget. That factor, more than any other, is hampering Michigan’s ability to adequately upgrade roads, he said. Chatfield is leading majority House Republicans who will be critical to Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s pending push to inject more spending into roads and bridges. “The fact is, we’ve done bonding in the past and we’re still paying for it. We’ve raised taxes in the past, and our roads are still crumbling,” he told the Associated Press in a recent interview. “We have got to change how we pay for the roads at the pump, and we need to ensure that every single penny paid at the pump is a penny that goes to the roads.” Chatfield’s focus on taxes assessed at the pump is not new. A 2015 ballot initiative proposed by lawmakers — and soundly rejected by voters — would have doubled per-gallon fuel taxes but eliminated the sales tax on gasoline and diesel to ensure that all taxes at the pump went to transportation. It was a complicated, multi-faceted proposal that also would have increased the sales tax while boosting spending on education and local governments. GOP legislators and former Gov. Rick Snyder later raised fuel taxes and vehicle registration fees to increase road funding, but the plan has been faulted as inadequate. Chatfield wants to revisit taxes at the pump. Michigan is among a small number of states to apply the sales tax to motor fuel — a factor in why its gas taxes were sixth-highest in the U.S. as of July, according to the Tax Foundation. The sales tax revenue mostly goes to schools and local governments under the state constitution. Asked about the potential impact on schools, Chatfield said boosting roads should not come at their expense. “Let me be very clear: We will not turn back the clock on education funding in this state,” he said. Removing the sales tax on fuel would require a statewide vote. Another option could be to keep it intact and shift an equivalent from elsewhere in the budget to roads — an approach that already is squeezing the general fund under 2015 road-funding laws. Chatfield said fixing the roads is a priority not just for Whitmer, who campaigned on it, but also lawmakers and residents. “They made that clear in November,” he said. Chatfield, 30, is believed to be the youngest House speaker in more than a century, though having speakers who are in their 30s is commonplace in the term limits era. He graduated from Northland International University, a Baptist college in Wisconsin, and obtained a master’s degree from Liberty University in Virginia. Before winning election to the House in 2014, he was a teacher, coach and athletic director at a Christian school in northern Michigan that was run by his minister father. Factors in the conservative Chatfield’s victory were his criticism of his Republican primary opponent for introducing a bill to expand the state’s civil rights law to prohibit discrimination against LGBT people and helping to expand Medicaid. “It was my obligation to either get involved or stop complaining,” said Chatfield, of Levering, which is about 10 miles south of the Mackinac Bridge. “I think the American spirit is one which encourages involvement, and then having children really impressed upon me the responsibility I had to fight for the values I believed in.” Last year, Chatfield was the lead sponsor of a law that wiped clear outstanding state driver “responsibility” fees for hundreds of thousands of motorists. He unsuccessfully pushed for a state income tax cut in 2017. He will lead the chamber the next two years before reaching his maximum time in the House. He has emphasized bipartisan cooperation with Democrats while quickly putting his stamp on how legislative business is to be conducted. Many bills will now go before two House committees instead of one before moving to the floor. “Unfortunately, in the era of term limits we don’t have the opportunity to serve 10 to 20 years and become experts in different fields,” Chatfield said. “I believe that more collaboration and more debate will be healthy for this chamber.” Top goals, he said, include reducing the high cost of car insurance and changing the criminal justice system to help inmates succeed upon their release and to prevent overcriminalization. He also wants to expand government transparency by opening the Legislature and governor’s office to public-records requests. “Though we’ll have disagreements, what will define us is our ability to come together and provide solutions,” he said.    

PIERRE, S.D. — A House panel on Tuesday endorsed a bill that would expand South Dakota’s texting while driving ban to mostly prohibit mobile device use by people behind the wheel. The House Transportation Committee voted 12-1 to advance the prohibition to the chamber’s floor. Republican Rep. Doug Barthel, the sponsor, told committee members that distracted driving is not safe. “We can all agree that distracted driving is not a good thing. It’s just a question of whether or not we make it enforceable and against the law,” Barthel, a former Sioux Falls police chief, said after the meeting. “I think it’s something that is long overdue.” Right now, drivers can’t text or email when operating a vehicle, but they must be pulled over for a different violation for it to be enforced. The new bill would increase the penalty for device use while driving and make it a primary offense, which means motorists buried in their phones could be stopped for it. Texting, browsing Facebook and sending an email while on the road would be a misdemeanor. But using a navigation app, making a telephone call or operating in hands-free mode and using a device during an emergency would still be allowed. There was no opposition testimony during the committee hearing. Jacob Wilts, a South Dakota State University student who does track and cross country, asked members to support the bill, saying that a former high school teammate got killed by a distracted driver while out for a run. “As somebody who runs around the streets and the sidewalks a lot, I’ll tell you that distracted driving is very scary,” Wilts said.  

WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board revealed its 2019-2020 Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements Monday. First issued in 1990, the NTSB Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements serves as the agency’s primary advocacy tool to help save lives, prevent injuries, and reduce property damage resulting from transportation accidents. The 10 items on the list include: Eliminate distractions End alcohol and other drug impairment Ensure the safe shipment of hazardous materials Fully implement positive train control Implement a comprehensive strategy to reduce speeding-related crashes Improve the safety of Part 135 aircraft flight operations Increase implementation of collision avoidance systems in all new highway vehicles Reduce fatigue-related accidents Require medical fitness – screen for and treat obstructive sleep apnea Strengthen Occupant Protection “The 2019-2020 Most Wanted List advocates for 46 specific safety recommendations that can and should be implemented during these next two years,” said NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt. “It also features broad, longstanding safety issues that still threaten the traveling public. Sumwalt issued a call to action when the list was released. We at the NTSB can speak on these issues,” he said. “We board members can testify by invitation to legislatures and to Congress, but we have no power of our own to act. We are counting on industry, advocates, and government to act on our recommendations.  We are counting on the help of the broader safety community to implement these recommendations.” There are 267 open NTSB safety recommendations associated with the 10 Most Wanted List items and the NTSB is focused on seeing 46 of those implemented within the next two years. The majority of these recommendations, roughly two-thirds of the 267, seek critical safety improvements by means other than regulation. Of the 46 safety recommendations the NTSB wants implemented in the next two years, 20 seek regulatory action to improve transportation safety. At any given time, the NTSB is managing around 1,200 open safety recommendations and while all have the potential to save lives and reduce injuries by preventing accidents, the NTSB cannot effectively communicate about each of them. The NTSB’s Most Wanted List provides the NTSB’s advocacy team and other agency communicators a roadmap to focus on a select number of recommendations. In 2017 the NTSB went from an annual list to a biennial process, to give our advocacy team, their partners, and our safety recommendation recipients more time to move toward implementation of the recommendations associated with the list.