The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced more than $8 million in federal grants to improve commercial truck and bus safety across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.


FMCSA awarded $7.9 million to the Pennsylvania State Police, Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to strengthen enforcement oversight at high-crash corridors throughout the state, conduct safety audits of new truck and bus companies and upgrade the commercial driver's license knowledge test from paper to electronic form at testing facilities across the state.

FMCSA also awarded $174,370 to the City of Philadelphia Police Department to support its full-time commercial motor vehicle inspection unit and to increase safety inspection strike forces and other traffic enforcement activities at popular destinations. The Pittsburgh Police Department gets $239,991 to bolster commercial truck and bus inspections at tunnel entrances and to train its CMV enforcement unit.

As FMCSA announced its grant award at a motorcoach passenger drop-off and inspection point near Philadelphia's National Constitution Center Hall, Philadelphia police officers were conducting full bus driver and vehicle safety inspections. The Philadelphia inspection sweep is part of Pennsylvania's Statewide Motorcoach Inspection Strikeforce, which runs from Aug. 21-27.