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WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Transportation will hasten national rebuilding through regulatory reform, revamped grant programs and more private investment in infrastructure, the head of the agency told state and other transportation officials meeting here.

WASHINGTON — Speaking at a gathering of state transportation officials here on March 1, newly-confirmed Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao declared that the nation “is at a tipping point. Business as usual is no longer an option. … The time has come for a new program of national rebuilding.”

NASHVILLE — It was a gorgeous day in Tennessee’s capital on Feb. 24, but it wasn’t the weather that put the big smile on the face of Steve Bryan, the CEO of Vigillo, based in often-damp Portland, Oregon.

A carrier that doesn’t do well on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s tests of Compliance, Safety and Accountability is almost sure also to have high rates of driver attrition, according to Vigillo’s data analysis of its 2,000 customers.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The son of a Texaco truck driver from Bridgeport, Connecticut, actor John Ratzenberger has always had a strong affinity for the industry. So after he became famous as voluble mailman Cliff Clavin in the 1980s sitcom “Cheers” and voicing Hamm the Piggy Bank in the animated “Toy Story” movies, it was natural for Ratzenberger to lend his vocal talents to a truck in “Cars,” another Pixar film.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — After the trucking industry endured what he termed “a freight recession” last year, American Trucking Associations' chief economist, Bob Costello, predicts a rosier 2017.

Frustrated over growing transportation needs that aren’t being filled with state dollars, legislators in Arizona and New Mexico are sponsoring bills that would allow cities and counties to vote to tax themselves to pay for infrastructure improvements.

Times are grim in West Virginia. So grim that new Gov. Jim Justice, who pledged not to raise taxes as a candidate last year, called in his Feb. 8 State of the State address for new taxes worth about $450 million.

Jamie Fox, who had been charged with conspiracy to commit bribery while New Jersey’s transportation commissioner in 2014, died Feb. 20, local media outlets reported.