Arkansas Trucking Association

The Last Word

What if You're the Answer to the Driver Shortage

By Rebecca M. Brewster Guest Writer

Last December, ATRI issued a report that documented what many of you already suspected was occurring in the trucking industry—our workforce is aging, and we’re not bringing in young people to replace those who have spent a lifetime delivering the nation’s freight.

The ATRI analysis, which utilized data from the U.S. Census Bureau, highlights a challenging future for the trucking industry based on demographic data and a dramatic upward shift in the average age of the industry’s driver workforce.

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Up Front- Captain Obvious

 Shannon Newton
 President, ATA

The fact that America’s infrastructure is crumbling is not in dispute. The hard part? Finding the will to pay more for it.

It’s no surprise. There are few things more contentious in politics and in our national discourse than taxes. States all across the country, and elected representatives in Washington DC are grappling with how to generate enough revenue to support not only current spending but the higher levels needed to make improvements to the system.

Our nation’s roads and bridges are funded by fuel tax—a fuel tax that hasn’t been adjusted to keep pace with inflation in decades.   As receipts dwindle due to increased fuel efficiency, there is palpable pressure to find new, viable road funding mechanisms.

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The Last Word

Catching the Spirit

By Butch Rice Guest Writer

When I woke up Saturday morning, June 13 in Rogers, Ark., I didn’t know what to expect. For the first time, I was at the John Q. Hammons Center for the Arkansas Truck Driving Championship. Some six hundred in attendance, including drivers, volunteers and supporters from all over the state showed up for an exciting weekend of competition.

As I walked around that morning, I felt like I was at a Razorback football game. Decorated tents lined the perimeter of the course where fans from each company’s driving team had set up banners, signs, pom-poms and all the evidence of team spirit. The drivers were dressed in their company colors, while anticipation ran through them as they walked the course for the first and last time before they competed.

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Up Front- Bridge to Broke

 Shannon Newton
 President, ATA

If you are one of the Northern Virginia to Washington D.C. commuters (members of Congress excepted) affected by the recent and widely publicized Memorial Bridge lane closures, know that I feel your pain.

It is fitting that the most recent example of failed transportation funding efforts is a highly-travelled bridge in our nation’s capital’s backyard. The emergency repairs for the Memorial Bridge serve as a symbolic and timely rallying cry for Congressional action.

With the bridge as their backdrop, Virginia Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, along with D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton and Virginia Rep. Don Beyer, called for long-term congressional investment in transportation infrastructure. "There is nothing more emblematic of Congress’ failure to invest in our nation’s infrastructure than the bridge that brings people into our nation’s capital, a national memorial, falling apart,” Beyer stated.

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