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The U.S. Chamber of Commerce will call for increasing the federal gas tax by 25 cents a gallon over the next five years to help pay for rebuilding U.S. roads and bridges as part of its push for a federal infrastructure initiative this year.

In an 87-page report released on Jan. 1, the 21st Century Missouri Transportation Task Force, a 23-member group of lawmakers and industry experts, made a number of recommendations for improving the state’s nearly 34,000-mile highway system and more than 10,000 bridges, including an increase in the state’s gas tax.

WASHINGTON — With President Donald Trump declaring infrastructure funding a legislative priority for 2018, the White House and congressional leaders are focused on a long-term fix for the Highway Trust Fund, a White House official said Jan. 8.

The U.S. average retail price for diesel jumped 2.3 cents to $2.996 cents a gallon, the U.S. Department of Energy reported, while crude hovered near $62 a barrel amid political tensions in Iran and a decline in active U.S. oil wells.

The Trump administration is proposing to open almost all U.S. coastal waters to oil drilling, including those off California and Florida where activists have fought for decades to spare delicate ecosystems from oil spills.

California would ban the sale of new cars and trucks powered by fossil fuels in 2040 under legislation introduced Jan. 3 in the state legislature.

WASHINGTON — To the Environmental Protection Agency, the trucking industry and clean air advocates, semi-trucks outfitted with glider kits represent a new front in the debate over government regulation. And this week happens to be a key week for deciding how and whether trucks like these can continue to be made and sold.

A panel set up by Missouri lawmakers wants Missouri voters to raise the state’s gasoline tax by a dime per gallon to help maintain one of the nation’s most extensive highway networks.

Trucking firms are revved up for 2018, with predictions of tight capacity and strong demand for freight hauling setting the stage for an anticipated big year ahead for the industry, and indicators pointing to a potentially sustained period of business expansion in the United States and around the globe.