This week’s biggest news out of the Department of Transportation is Secretary Sean P. Duffy’s sweeping announcement slashing more than 50 federal regulations across key DOT agencies, including the Federal Highway Administration, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Described as a common-sense deregulatory shakeup, Secretary Duffy stated, “Big government has been a big failure. Under President Trump’s leadership, my department is slashing duplicative and outdated regulations that are unnecessarily burdensome, waste taxpayer dollars, and fail to ensure safety.” These changes, which delete over 73,000 words from the Federal Register, target rules that Duffy says have “no real-life application,” such as outdated paperwork requirements for truckers, and duplicative driver license criteria for military service members.
But that’s not all: the DOT also unveiled a historic streamlining of the National Environmental Policy Act guidelines for approving infrastructure projects. These updates, which Transportation Secretary Duffy calls “landmark reforms,” are intended to cut environmental review red tape in half, fast-tracking new roads, bridges, and transit construction. According to Duffy, “For too long, unelected Washington bureaucrats have weaponized environmental reviews to create endless delays and block projects. No more. These changes will help usher in a golden age of transportation for the American people.”
On the regulatory front, the FMCSA is set to stop accepting paper payments for agency transactions—so if you’re in the trucking business, get ready for an all-electronic payment era starting this fall. And in a major compliance move, DOT has threatened to withhold federal safety funding from states like California, Washington, and New Mexico unless they enforce English language requirements for commercial drivers within 30 days.
For American citizens, these policies promise reduced wait times and, according to the DOT, quicker delivery of critical infrastructure. Businesses—especially in trucking and construction—should see lower administrative costs and more flexible rules. But the shakeup isn’t without controversy. Environmental advocates worry about weakened project oversight, while state and local governments now face tighter federal strings around compliance.
On the budget side, DOT’s spending is shifting toward expedited project delivery and compliance enforcement. There are also significant leadership directives, such as rescinding the prior administration’s climate measurement rule, reflecting a focus on economic growth over environmental metrics.
The department is actively seeking public comment on the next surface transportation legislation, especially as the current Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act nears expiration in 2026. This is a rare opportunity for citizens, local governments, businesses, and advocacy groups to directly shape the future of funding and priorities by submitting comments before the August 20 deadline.
Key dates to mark: All paper fee payments to FMCSA stop September 30; comment period for the next surface transportation bill ends August 20; and states at risk of funding loss must comply with driver English requirements within the next month.
For more details, visit transportation.gov or your state’s DOT site, and don’t miss your chance to have your say on the future of American transportation. Thanks for tuning in—please remember to subscribe. This has been a Quiet Please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
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