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This afternoon's headlines: Most new Interstate 70 overpasses in St. Louis will fall below height standards; Meritor establishes Web exchange for truck aftermarket; and Interstate Bakeries drivers strike spreads.

In a move heralded by industry analysts as a possible turning point for the beleaguered truckload segment, six of the nation’s largest truckload carriers last week agreed to combine their logistics operations into a new Internet-based transportation logistics company called Transplace.com.

The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to soon issue new rules that will severely restrict the amount of pollution that will be allowed in the exhaust of diesel engines. And the changes could result in sharp price increases and dramatically diminished supplies of the fuel.

The debate over the proposed integration of the Truckload Carriers Association into American Trucking Associations took a new twist as opponents of the merger called for renegotiating the terms of the groups’ relationship.

The price of diesel fuel climbed to new heights last week, amid a frenzy of protests, threatened protests, proposals, counterproposals, promises and caveats.

A second federal judge has ruled that the Department of Transportation’s Inspector General overstepped its bounds for investigating trucking companies for violations of federal motor carrier safety laws, but denied a request by five carriers for an injunction prohibiting the inquiries.

Meals eaten on the road could be cheaper come January if tax legislation passed by the House is enacted.

Gov. Dirk Kempthorne of Idaho endorsed a $27 million settlement that would provide refunds to interstate carriers that overpaid the state’s weight-distance tax and reform the truck tax system, which was declared unconstitutional by a federal judge.

Fewer than 150 truckers pulled into Washington, D.C., March 16, to protest a number of ills plaguing owner-operators. And when they arrived, they found two groups engaged in a cat fight to represent them.

The latest dot.com entrant in the trucking business isn’t a “virtual” company at all, but rather an amalgamation of six major truckload carriers determined to make the Internet work for them, even as fuel prices and driver-related costs continue to climb.