Oct. 6 – The Federal Highway Administration is streamlining its field organization, replacing its nine regional offices with four “virtual” resource centers.
The centers are: Eastern, located in Baltimore; Southern, located in Atlanta; Midwestern, located in Olympia Fields, IL; and Western, located in San Francisco. It will take two years to relocate the personnel and close the five other facilities.
The American Trucking Assns. has expressed concern that the restructuring would decrease the effectiveness of the Office of Motor Carriers. Congress created OMC in 1984 in response to ATA push for a separate DOT agency devoted to trucking. However, Janet Kumer, a public affairs officer for FHWA, told ATA’s publication Transport Topics that the OMC’s stature is actually enhanced, and that the restructuring should be transparent to the industry and have no effect on truck safety oversight.