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tween Macon and McDonough, part of a heavily
traveled freight corridor between Savannah, one
of the nation’s major shipping ports, and Atlanta,
where shipping giant UPS Inc. is headquartered.
The nontolled lanes are slated for the use
of commercial trucks only, with passenger and
general-use vehicles prohibited — a first for the
U.S.
Other prongs of MMIP include revamping
interchanges at I-16 and I-95, I-285 and I-20
West, and I-285 and I-20 East; adding express
lanes at three points along I-285 and along SR
400; widening parts of I-85 and I-16; and completing
advanced-improvement projects in a variety
of areas.
According to GDOT’s website, “The
I-75 Commercial Vehicle Lanes Project will
improve mobility and safety for freight operators
and vehicles. … The project will benefit all
motorists by reducing congestion and improving
safety while offering direct economic benefits to
travelers in Georgia as well as freight and logistic
carriers in the Southeast.”
In the Winter 2020 issue of Milepost,
GDOT’s quarterly publication, Tim Matthews,
MMIP program manager, described the I-75
commercial-vehicle lanes project as a “big win”
for GDOT.
“The acceleration of this project supports
freight mobility and travel-time reliability for
all along this important corridor,” Matthews
wrote. “Through these major projects, Georgia
DOT will deliver some of the nation’s most
innovative transport solutions and the newest
engineering and technical advances by addressing
congestion, adding capacity and supporting
transit.”
An article published in March 2018, Roads
& Bridges, a trade publication aimed at the roadand
bridge-construction industry, quoted the estimated
cost of the project at $1.8 billion, adding
that GDOT estimates a 40% reduction in traffic
delays along the route.
According to a timeline posted at
majormobilityga.com, a website that offers updates
on the program, construction on the commercial-vehicles-only
lanes is slated to begin
in 2024, and GDOT hopes to have the stretch
open to traffic by 2028.
FMCSA sends proposed HOS
rule to White House; last step
before being made final
The long-awaited, hoped-for revision to
the Hours of Service rule took a giant step
toward reality when acting FMCSA administrator
Jim Mullen announced March 2 the
rule had been sent to the White House for
approval.
“After carefully reviewing these comments,
I am pleased to say that the Federal
Motor Carrier Safety Administration is
moving forward with a final rule on Hours
of Service and that the agency has sent a final
rule to the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) for review,” Mullen said at
the 82nd Annual Truckload Carriers Association
Convention in Kissimmee, Florida.
“While I can’t go into the specifics of this
final rule, please know that the goal of this
process from the beginning has been to improve
safety for all motorists and to increase
flexibility for commercial drivers.”
The OMB is part of the executive branch
of the federal government and has the option
of approving the rule or sending it back
to FMCSA for changes.
There is no set time frame for the OMB
to complete its work on the rule and return
it to the FMCSA approved as final.
The comments to which Mullen referred
were submitted by trucking-industry stakeholders
after the agency issued an advanced
notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) for
HOS in 2018, followed by a notice of proposed
rulemaking (NPRM) in August 2019.
The ANPRM asked for comments on four
areas of possible changes and the NPRM
outlined five proposed changes based on the
comments to the ANPRM.
The agency’s decision to explore changes
in HOS began in 2018 in response to pleas
from drivers and motor-carrier executives
to allow more flexibility in the rule, specifically
in two areas — extending the 14-hour
clock in certain circumstances and doing
away with the requirement implemented in
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