# Trucking Compliance Services for Dallas-Fort Worth Carriers Canonical page: https://fleetregulators.com/locations/dallas-fort-worth-tx Page type: Location guide | Published: 2026-11-07 | Last updated: 2026-11-07 Summary: Remote DOT compliance help for Dallas-Fort Worth carriers: inland port and intermodal drayage, HOS auditing, driver files and audit preparation. --- Fleet Regulators supports Dallas-Fort Worth trucking companies remotely from Austin with HOS and ELD log auditing, driver qualification files, DOT audit and new entrant preparation, drug and alcohol program records and CSA score work. We have no DFW office. DFW carriers work around two large freight clusters, the AllianceTexas inland port in north Fort Worth and the International Inland Port of Dallas in South Dallas, on the I-35 and I-45 freight corridors. That means a lot of intermodal drayage and short regional runs, where on-duty time, equipment condition and driver files decide inspection outcomes. On this page 1. Who this page is for 2. Texas and federal rules: the short version 3. The DFW freight picture, and why it matters for compliance 4. City truck-route rules in Dallas and Fort Worth 5. Compliance problems DFW fleets run into 6. What DFW carriers get 7. Frequently asked questions 8. Sources ## Who this page is for The Texas Company Census lists 13,271 active carriers with a physical address in the cities of Dallas or Fort Worth alone, 4,378 of them interstate; carriers in Arlington, Irving, Grand Prairie and other suburbs are not included in that count. This page is for: - Intermodal drayage carriers serving the BNSF Alliance and Union Pacific South Dallas terminals. - Regional fleets running I-35 and I-45 to Austin, San Antonio, Houston and Oklahoma. - Local delivery and construction fleets that stay in Texas and run under intrastate rules. - Growing carriers moving from a handful of trucks to 20 or more, where an owner can no longer review every log personally. 13,271 Active carriers with a Dallas or Fort Worth city address 53,222 Texas-based interstate carriers in FMCSA's census 25.1% Vehicle out-of-service rate at Texas inspections (U.S. 22.5%) ## Texas and federal rules: the short version Trucks over 26,000 pounds that stay inside Texas run under Texas intrastate rules and need TxDMV registration; any trip that crosses into Oklahoma, Arkansas or Louisiana is under the federal rules for that run, so dispatch has to know which applies before the driver leaves. Our [Texas compliance guide](https://fleetregulators.com/locations/texas) explains the intrastate hours, age and registration rules with sources, and our [Texas Motor Carrier Safety Profile](https://fleetregulators.com/research/texas-motor-carrier-safety-profile) breaks inspection results down by fleet size. ## The DFW freight picture, and why it matters for compliance The North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) reports that approximately 4.2 million trucks move in and out of the BNSF Railway Alliance Intermodal Facility each year, a figure it expects to almost double by 2035. The AllianceTexas Smart Port project, awarded an $80 million federal INFRA grant, includes a connector bridge from the inland port to State Highway 170 intended to take trucks off I-35W. NCTCOG also describes the International Inland Port of Dallas as a 7,500-acre area in South Dallas containing Union Pacific's intermodal facility and warehousing, and notes that the AllianceTexas Inland Port connects to the I-35 and I-45 National Highway Freight Network corridors. For a carrier, the compliance meaning is concrete. Dense intermodal work means many short trips, frequent terminal waits and many yard moves, which is exactly where on-duty time is under-recorded, unassigned ELD driving piles up, and pre-trip inspections get rushed. Our guides to [unassigned driving time](https://fleetregulators.com/blog/eld-unassigned-driving-time) and [yard moves versus personal conveyance](https://fleetregulators.com/blog/personal-conveyance-vs-yard-move) cover the two most common logging errors in that kind of work. ## City truck-route rules in Dallas and Fort Worth - **Dallas truck routes.** Dallas City Code sections 28-71 to 28-73, as printed in the code supplement pages the City Secretary publishes (dated 2003 and 2010), limit truck-tractors, semitrailers, pole trailers and trailers to designated truck routes. A truck may leave a route only to reach a terminal or a pickup or delivery point, by the shortest practical path. - **Dallas overnight residential restriction.** Between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., a semitrailer, pole trailer or trailer may not leave a truck route onto streets next to single-family or duplex homes. Drivers off a route must carry a log, delivery slips or other proof of origin and destination for police. - **Fort Worth through trucks.** Fort Worth City Code (section 22-114 and following) requires trucks with no local origin or destination to stay on designated routes such as I-20, I-30, I-35W, I-820, SH 121, SH 183 and SH 360. Local trucks must use a truck route wherever one can be used, and off-route drivers need proof of their last stop and next destination. These rules turn into practical compliance items: dispatch has to route around them, and drivers need delivery paperwork in the cab whenever they leave a truck route. They also show up as citations on driver records. ## Compliance problems DFW fleets run into - **Short-haul assumptions.** Drivers on local runs using the short-haul log exception without meeting its radius and release-time conditions. - **Two rulebooks in one fleet.** Intrastate and interstate trips mixed without dispatch tracking which applies. - **Yard moves and unassigned time.** Common in intermodal and distribution work. - **Brake adjustment and lighting.** Texas's most frequent inspection findings. - **Growth outpacing files.** Driver files and annual reviews that slipped while the fleet doubled; see our [growing fleet page](https://fleetregulators.com/growing-fleet-compliance). ## What DFW carriers get There is no Dallas-Fort Worth office to visit, and the work does not need one: you share read-only ELD access and documents through a secure folder, and we review, fix and report on a set schedule. For intermodal and distribution fleets we look first at yard moves, terminal waits and short-haul use in the logs. - [Daily HOS and ELD log auditing](https://fleetregulators.com/hours-of-service-compliance) with unassigned driving cleanup. - [Driver qualification files](https://fleetregulators.com/driver-qualification-files) built and kept current, with annual reviews and MVRs. - [DOT audit preparation](https://fleetregulators.com/dot-audit-help) for DPS compliance reviews, and [new entrant audit](https://fleetregulators.com/new-entrant-audit-help) support for new authorities. - [CSA score improvement](https://fleetregulators.com/csa-score-improvement), including DataQs challenges. - A [fractional safety department](https://fleetregulators.com/fractional-safety-manager) for fleets that want the safety function handled. Client results reported on our [Results page](https://fleetregulators.com/results), with each client's context: SBS Trucking Services' Vehicle Maintenance BASIC moved from 93% to 65% in six months; Sandhu Trucking Services' HOS BASIC moved from 85% to 71% over five months; and Tamana Truck Lines' monthly HOS violations were reduced to near zero for extended periods. These are client-reported results, not guarantees. ## Frequently Asked Questions **Can trucks drive through Dallas neighborhoods at night?** Not off a designated truck route. Dallas City Code section 28-72(b) bars semitrailers, pole trailers and trailers from leaving a truck route onto streets next to single-family or duplex homes between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. **Can you help intermodal drayage carriers with logs?** Yes. Daily log auditing for drayage focuses on terminal waits, yard moves, unassigned driving time and short-haul exception use, the areas where drayage logs most often go wrong. Sources and Regulatory References - [Dallas City Code Chapter 28, Article (truck routes), secs. 28-71 to 28-73 ↗](https://citysecretary2.dallascityhall.com/pdf/cis/code/282.pdf) City of Dallas, City Secretary's Office, code supplement pages dated 2003 and 2010; accessed 2026-11-07. - [Fort Worth City Code, Chapter 22, Article IV (truck routes) ↗](https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/ftworth/latest/ftworth_tx/0-0-0-24613) City of Fort Worth (American Legal Publishing), 2025 code edition; accessed 2026-11-07. - [NCTCOG Transportation newsletter (Alliance intermodal volumes, Smart Port) ↗](https://www.nctcog.org/getContentAsset/35520ae6-da8b-495a-b331-968a50db51dc/dfc3d011-8f63-43f6-9ed8-4b444333a1d0/Nov.pdf) North Central Texas Council of Governments, November 2024; accessed 2026-11-07. - [General freight planning (International Inland Port of Dallas) ↗](https://www.nctcog.org/trans/plan/freight/general-freight-planning) North Central Texas Council of Governments; accessed 2026-11-07. - [Texas Motor Carrier Safety Regulations summary (MCS-9) ↗](https://www.dps.texas.gov/internetforms/forms/mcs-9.pdf) Texas Department of Public Safety, revised May 2021; accessed 2026-11-07. - [Company Census File (dataset az4n-8mr2), Texas extract ↗](https://data.transportation.gov/d/az4n-8mr2) FMCSA via data.transportation.gov; accessed 2026-11-07. - [SMS Input - Inspection (dataset rbkj-cgst) ↗](https://data.transportation.gov/d/rbkj-cgst) FMCSA via data.transportation.gov, rows updated 2026-10-13; accessed 2026-11-07. - [SMS Input - Violation (dataset 8mt8-2mdr) ↗](https://data.transportation.gov/d/8mt8-2mdr) FMCSA via data.transportation.gov, rows updated 2026-10-13; accessed 2026-11-07. - [SMS Input - Motor Carrier Census Information (dataset kjg3-diqy) ↗](https://data.transportation.gov/d/kjg3-diqy) FMCSA via data.transportation.gov, rows updated 2026-10-13; accessed 2026-11-07. Last updated November 2026. Prepared by Fleet Regulators from the sources listed above. This page explains regulations in plain English and is not legal advice. Rules change; confirm current requirements with the agency named in each source before acting.