Fuel prices took the top position in a 2026 survey of U.S. trucking stakeholders, an Oct. 18 release attributed to the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) said.
The Economy, which had led the rankings from 2023 through 2025, fell to sixth. ATRI’s earlier results put fuel prices first in 2022, the last time the issue held the top spot.
ATRI’s public Top Industry Issues archive still listed the 2025 survey as its latest result on Oct. 18, and its press release index did not show the 2026 rankings.
The participant pool approached 3,100. Carrier executives and personnel made up more than 48%, while drivers accounted for 26%, as did other freight stakeholders.
Drivers ranked fuel prices, truck parking and driver compensation as their leading concerns. Among motor carriers, lawsuit abuse reform came first, followed by fuel prices and the driver shortage.
On the overall list, Driver Shortage placed fifth and Economy sixth, while Driver Compensation came ninth and Driver Retention 10th. The release also kept Artificial Intelligence in Trucking and Diesel Emissions Regulations among the top 10; law enforcement respondents put Electronic Logging Device Fraud first.
ATRI linked the greater concern over fuel to rising operating costs. It said motor carriers’ lower ranking for the Economy reflected cautious optimism.
AAA lists Sept. 22, 2026, as the date its national-average diesel price reached a record $6.5276 per gallon. Its page showed an average of $6.3224 on Oct. 18, so the record figure was not the average that day.
Ben Banks, president of TCW, said diesel had topped $6.50 per gallon and described the fuel-cost increase as “particularly painful for small- to mid-size fleets”; the release did not date the price he cited.
In a separate report, ATRI put the average cost to operate a truck in 2025 at $2.336 per mile, up 3.4% from 2024 and a record in that report. Costs excluding fuel rose 4.2% to $1.854 per mile.
