CITY TRAFFIC WORSENING:

The news from the annual Urban Mobility Report is no surprise to truckers: Urban congestion is getting worse.

APL Logistics conducted an informal survey of its contracted truckload and LTL carriers and found that fleets are far more worried about the new hazmat regulations than they are about the new hours-of-service (HOS) rules.

President Bush's proposal to commercialize rest areas, part of the administration's six-year transportation reauthorization bill, could force thousands of interstate truck stops, gas stations, and restaurants to close, according to a University of Maryland study.

Federal officials say we can expect to see new hours-of-service regulations soon, but that inspectors will not be able to write up violations under the new rules until early 2004. The government says it needs plenty of time to retrain roadside inspectors and retool software programs before the rules can take effect.