The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) will remove certain motor carrier routing regulations because the agency deemed that they are “unlawful and obsolete.”
In a Final Rule to be published in the Federal Register on May 30, 2025, officials announced the repeal of for-hire motor carrier routing regulations concerning servicing municipalities and unincorporated communities.
The FMCSA pointed to an Executive Order (EO) issued by the Trump Administration in January 2025 as a reason for the repeal of the motor carrier routing regulations. The EO calls for agencies to identify 10 regulations to be repealed for every new regulation that is enacted.
The agency will repeal 49 CFR part 356, dealing with the authority of a motor carrier or freight forwarder to serve within a municipality’s commercial zone or in an unincorporated community.
“These regulations are unlawful because they exceed FMCSA’s statutory authority following the transfer of
rules from the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) in 1995, which were carried over to FMCSA in 2000,” the FMCSA said.
Previously, the Motor Carrier Act of 1935 authorized the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to regulate motor carriers and to establish reasonable requirements with respect to adequate and continuous service, including establishing routes. The ICC prescribed the routing regulations currently contained in part 356. The Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act (ICCTA) of 1995 repealed the Motor Carrier Act, including most provisions authorizing the government to impose limitations on the routes where a motor carrier has authority to operate. The authorities of the ICC were transferred to the Secretary of Transportation, and from there were dispensed to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and eventually to FMCSA.
“The result is that the regulations contained in 49 CFR part 356 no longer accurately reflect the Agency’s current statutory authority for granting operating authority,” the FMCSA said. “FMCSA is not authorized to include routing limitations when granting operating authority to U.S. domiciled motor carriers; therefore, the regulations in part 356 are unlawful and obsolete.”
The FMCSA is not accepting public comment on the rulemaking.
“The amendment made in this final rule removes an unenforceable part within the FMCSRs, as it is no longer authorized by statute. Public comment cannot grant FMCSA authority which Congress has removed. Retaining regulations that are unlawful is plainly contrary to the public interest. As the President has observed, “[r]etaining and enforcing facially unlawful regulations is clearly contrary to the public interest…. Agencies thus have ample cause and the legal authority to immediately repeal unlawful regulations.”
Furthermore, notice-and-comment proceedings are unnecessary where repeal is based purely on legal analysis. For these reasons, FMCSA finds good cause that notice and public comment on this final rule are
unnecessary,” the agency said.
FMCSA anticipates minimal impact on the trucking industry from removal of the routing rule:
“FMCSA does not expect that any regulated entities will change their behavior as a result of this rule,
and therefore the rule will not result in any impacts to regulated entities other than removing unnecessary language from the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). It is expected to result in cost savings by reducing the amount of time to become familiar with the FMCSRs.”
