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Pickup-truck sales surpassed those of passenger cars in April, according to data from Motor Intelligence. Zero-percent-interest loans, offered in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, as well as a drop in passenger car sales, helped push pickups past cars. In the first quarter of 2020, pickups and SUVs were a bright spot for Detroit automakers while much of the rest of their lineups saw sales slumps. Forget saving the manuals, now it may be time to save the cars: Pickup sales surpassed those of passenger cars this past month for the first time ever, according to data from Motor Intelligence....

Leaders within the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation have approved a public-private partnership to reconstruct a portion of Interstate 81. PennDOT’s P3 Board approved the project, which will involve the reconstruction of a 4.5-mile section of the route near Wilkes-Barre, on Dec. 4. Wilkes-Barre, the seat of Luzerne County in northeastern Pennsylvania, is 20 miles southwest of Scranton. The project will involve widening a portion of I-81 to three lanes in both directions, realigning 2.5 miles of southbound interstate and replacing eight bridges. Other safety measures include eliminating a left-hand exit and improving a substandard weave distance between two routes that...

DETROIT – Fiat Chrysler's Ram pickup unseated General Motors' Chevrolet Silverado as the second-best selling vehicle in the U.S. during the first nine months of the year. With a United Auto Workers strike underway that has shut down GM's pickup production, the Ram likely will beat the Silverado for the full year for the first time, according to auto sales experts. At the end of September, the Ram had a lead of nearly 52,000 vehicles, according to company sales figures released Wednesday. So far this year, U.S. buyers snapped up 461,115 Rams, an increase of 23% over the same time...

PHOENIX - Unrest in a country thousands of miles away can cause fuel cost to spike overnight, wreaking havoc on companies trying to get their products to consumers. It's one of the most frustrating and costly aspects of running a business, which gets passed on to the consumer in the price they pay for products. The solution to that problem may be Nikola Motors, which is purportedly the first hydrogen-powered truckmaker in the world. The company recently moved its world headquarters to Arizona. "This machine is one of the largest in the whole world," said Nikola Motors CEO Trevor Milton....

To help reduce its climate impact, Amazon is taking some of its first steps in replacing its delivery trucks with electric alternatives. The tech giant announced Thursday that it is ordering 100,000 electric delivery trucks from Michigan-based Rivian, which will manufacture its vehicles at a factory in downstate Normal. The Amazon order is the largest Rivian has received to date, and the company says it expects to begin deploying its trucks to Amazon in 2021. Amazon said the commitment is part of the company’s goal to use fully renewable energy by 2030 and become carbon neutral by 2040. Amazon’s “Climate...

Starsky Robotics is now testing autonomous trucks that have no driver inside, the San Francisco Bay Area startup announced on Wednesday. As of June 16, Starsky began operating truly driverless semi-trucks on the Florida turnpike. It's a first in the industry. To be sure, there are plenty of autonomous trucks on the road. TuSimple has a fleet of more than 50 trucks making three to five revenue-generating routes per day in Arizona. Waymo resumed testing its self-driving trucks in Phoenix, after ending the tests two years ago. Embark's trucks drove more than 124,000 automated miles last year. And Tesla has...

Maryland is again seeking federal funds for the second phase of widening Interstate 81 in Washington County. Gov. Larry Hogan’s administration announced Monday that it submitted two Infrastructure for Rebuilding America, or INFRA, grant applications. One project would widen part of I-81. The other would renovate the Howard Street Tunnel in Baltimore, so it could carry double-stacked rail traffic. The application is accompanied a 50-page attachment of letters of support from state officials, as well as business, civic and political leaders in the Tri-State region. A letter signed by Hogan says the grant funding “will position the I-81 Corridor as...

The European Union agreed on Tuesday to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) from new trucks and buses by 30 percent by a 2030 deadline as part of its commitment to cut its output of greenhouse gases. […] The EU currently has no limits on emissions from heavy-duty vehicles, unlike the United States, China, Japan and Canada. Trucks account for almost one quarter of the bloc’s transport-related emissions. […] Curbs on the transport sector, the only one in which emissions are still rising, aim to help the bloc meet its overall goal of reducing greenhouse gases by at least 40...

The Detroit 3 are in a heated battle to take the lead in a highly-profitable segment: heavy-duty pickups. The days of striving to take the lead in selling the market’s most fuel-efficient pickup truck, along with high-mileage cars and electrified vehicles, has been set aside by General Motors, Ford, and Fiat Chrysler. Today the race is on for selling heavy-duty pickups capable of serving construction companies, agri-business, and commercial fleets.

INDIANAPOLIS — Gov. Eric Holcomb will not take action to toll Indiana's interstate highways during his tenure in office, a decision that a key Region lawmaker believes betrays the goals of the state road funding plan Holcomb enacted last spring. The Republican chief executive on Thursday transmitted to the State Budget Committee an interstate tolling plan crafted by the Indiana Department of Transportation, as required by House Enrolled Act 1002 sponsored by state Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso. The plan details how the state could collect approximately $15 billion for road improvements between 2024 and 2045 by imposing tolls of up...

More than 60 years ago, the interstate highway system was envisioned to connect the country from coast to coast. Initially, a modest 3-cents-per-gallon tax on gasoline and diesel fuel was established and wholly dedicated to the construction and maintenance of roads and bridges. The vision became reality and exceeded expectations, connecting communities, making travel easier, and improving the flow of commerce. A short time later, the gasoline and diesel tax was increased to 4 cents per gallon—where it stayed until 1983, when it was doubled. Unfortunately, this also marked the point in which highway taxes began to be diverted to...

Connecticut could stand to gain $1 billion annually with electronic tolling, the state Department of Transportation said in a new report. The report, released last week, said Connecticut could achieve $1 billion annually even with per-mile rates lower than many other states. The 81-page report is based on a study by CDM Smith, an engineering and construction firm. The company looked at electronic tolling on interstates 84, 91, 95, and 691, and routes 2, 8, 9, and 15, with up to 82 toll gantries possibly being installed. The authors of the report urged the state to continue with a proposed...

As the Trump administration considers alleviating a shortage of truck drivers by lowering the age requirement to 18 from 21, a truck industry leader said that would do little to solve the actual problem – retention. “We’ve been hearing about a truck driver shortage for about 30 years now,” Todd Spencer, the owner-operate of the Independent Driver’s Association said during an interview with FOX Business’ Charles Payne. “What they’re really talking about is they have retention issues.” According to the American Trucking Association, the industry was short more than 36,000 drivers in 2016, and estimated that number could surpass 63,000...

ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, Va. (WHSV) — Lawmakers are searching for a solution to traffic and accidents on Interstate 81. One bill introduced by Senator Mark Obenshain proposes conducting a study of the effects of adding tolls for long haul trucks. The money from the tolls would go toward improving the interstate through Virginia. Senate Bill 971 passed the Virginia Senate unanimously, passed the House on a 95-3 vote with an amendment by Del. Tony Wilt, and then was agreed upon by both chambers. On April 4, Governor Ralph Northam signed the bill into law. The Virginia Department of Transportation has reported...

Ford's new CEO, Jim Hackett, just announced a bold strategic move for America's most enduring automaker: abandoning the car business. Hackett completely reversed former CEO Alan Mulally's full-line strategy to focus on trucks and SUVs. A 3 percent jump in Ford's stock price validated Hackett's decision, but that adrenaline shot could be short-lived. Jettisoning automobiles may prove fatal for Ford, leaving the market to GM and foreign producers. Bowing to short-term shareholder pressures that felled predecessor Mark Fields, Hackett is undoing 115 years of Ford's automobile legacy. Unlike General Motors CEO Mary Barra, labelled a "car gal" for her 38...

Atlanta's traffic is legendary and the Georgia DOT says the increase in truck traffic needs to be addressed. Because the Port of Savannah and the Panama Canal have been deepened, more freight is coming in which translates to more semi-trucks traveling in and out of the Atlanta hub. GDOT estimates trucks carry 75 percent of the freight in Georgia and expects truck traffic to double by 2040.GDOT is in the early stages of planning the I-75 Commercial Vehicle Lanes project. The interstate will stretch from metro Atlanta 40 miles south to Macon. GDOT Operations Director John Hibbard says it would...

HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) -- A group of 16 Virginia lawmakers has penned a letter to Virginia's Congressional Delegation (comprised of Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner and Representatives Bob Goodlatte, Barbara Comstock, and Morgan Griffith) asking for federal assistance to improve Interstate 81. The interstate has long been a source of frustration for people in the Shenandoah Valley, with the Virginia Department of Transportation reporting at least a 12-percent increase in traffic in just the past five years and a 55-percent increase of delays from crashes, construction, or bad weather. In 2014, Delegate Steve Landes introduced a state budget item...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Construction has begun on Rhode Island's new tractor trailer tolling system.The Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) crews began installing the first two of 14 planned gantry locations by Exits 2 and 5 on Interstate 95.Lane closures are in effect through next week, then the contractor will test the new system for about a month. These gantries are expected to begin charging trucks by mid-March, once everything is working properly.The ongoing construction is not halting the plans of the Rhode Island Trucking Association (RITA) to sue the state. "It's discriminatory," said RITA President Chris Maxwell. You can't...

RIO GRANDE CITY, Tex. — Caught quite literally in the middle of the international debate over the way the United States trades with its southern neighbor are two Texans named Sam. Sam Vale and Sam Sparks Jr. own two bridges that stretch across the Rio Grande, connecting farmers on either side with markets on the other, and linking communities in South Texas and northern Mexico that sometimes meet in the middle. Major retailers and manufacturers are mobilizing to keep the deal alive and to protest rules that could make it more expensive to bring parts and products in from Mexico....

Stanford University researcher used a computer algorithm to determined whether a neighborhood leaned to the left or right by looking at vehicles in 50 millions of images from Google Street View in 200 American cities. When sedans outnumbered pickup trucks, there was an 88 percent chance the city would vote Democratic. In areas with more pickup trucks, the odds switched to 82 percent in favor of Republicans, the researchers concluded.