Biden Signs Infrastructure Law With Under-21 Apprenticeship Pilot and Truck Safety Mandates

In November 2021, President Joe Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act into law, ending months of negotiations over the bipartisan package. For trucking, the law brought new money for roads and bridges along with several provisions aimed directly at drivers and equipment.

Biden signed H.R. 3684 on November 15, 2021, making it Public Law 117-58. The Senate had passed the bill 69-30 in August, and the House approved it 228-206 on November 5.

The money

As CNBC reported, the law put $550 billion in new funding into transportation, broadband and utilities over five years. That included $110 billion for roads, bridges and other major projects, $66 billion for freight and passenger rail and $39 billion for public transit. Heavy Duty Trucking reported that it also included $7.5 billion for electric vehicle chargers along highway corridors.

Trucking provisions

The law's motor carrier safety title covered a wide range of trucking issues. Highlights included:

• Apprenticeship pilot for younger drivers. The law required a pilot program letting CDL holders under 21 operate in interstate commerce. Apprentices would go through probationary periods with an experienced driver in the passenger seat. Their trucks would need active braking collision mitigation, an automatic or automated manual transmission, a forward-facing video event capture system and a governed speed of 65 mph, according to Heavy Duty Trucking.
• Automatic emergency braking. The Department of Transportation was directed to study, and potentially mandate, automatic emergency braking on new commercial motor vehicles.
• Underride protection. The law called for stronger rear underride guard standards, more research on side underride guards and an Advisory Committee on Underride Protection.
• Workforce and studies. Sections covered promoting women in the trucking workforce, a Truck Leasing Task Force, a study of commercial motor vehicle crash causation and efforts to combat human trafficking.

Heavy Duty Trucking reported that the final bill left out earlier proposals to raise minimum insurance levels. It also contained no language affecting the independent contractor model.

What it means for drivers and fleets

Carriers that had lobbied for years to let younger drivers cross state lines got a pilot program. However, it came with strict equipment and supervision requirements that would determine which fleets could take part.

New safety mandates on braking systems and underride guards pointed to future equipment changes for tractors and trailers. The highway money addressed the roads trucks run on every day, though the money would flow over five years and projects would take time to start.