Maybe my fault if you expected more: I shouldn't have added the subtitle "why COE trucks are no longer seen on American highways", as it was just a personal conclusion.
I think the real purpose of the article is just to talk about COEs in general, the 1982 act being logically mentioned (but without explanation) as one of the reasons of their "death".

You're right, there is maybe too many pictures and the structure may be loose. But don't forget that the "authors" writing for CurbsideClassic are just common people like us, not professionals. And whatever the form of the article, I think that we can precisely thank Ian A. Williams (the writer) for having mentioned the 1982 Act, as it is not really documented: to be honest, it was the first time I read about it. I must however admit that I would have liked some sources to dig a bit further

This said, I agree about the lack of reference articles about medium- and heavy trucks, as what one can find is mostly about light-duty vehicles.

Disappointing. I was expecting an article explaining the whys and hows of the deregulation that ultimately killed the cabover in the USA, but this is mostly a collection of captions under photos from various sources. There's even a pic of a scale model, but the author doesn't seem to have noticed it.

There's no logical structure either. It goes from 1960s COEs to a 1990s "drom box" to a Freightliner Argosy before even mentioning the 1982 Surface Transport Act.

It's too bad there's only so few reference articles about the history of the american truck industry.

The Rise and Fall Of The American COE Semi-Tractor, or: why COE trucks are no longer seen on American highways:
http://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-coe-semi-tractor/