SMART Transportation Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8579 To establish a program to provide grants to eligible entities to deploy, install, and operate advanced transportation technologies, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OCTOBER 13, 2020 Mr. BALDERSON (for himself, Mr. GIBBS, and Mr. GRAVES of Louisiana) in- troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To establish a program to provide grants to eligible entities to deploy, install, and operate advanced transportation technologies, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Strengthening Methods 4 to Advance Research and Technology in Transportation 5 Act’’ or the ‘‘SMART Transportation Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Nov 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8579.IH H8579 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8579 IH SEC. 2. ADVANCED TRANSPORTATION TECHNOLOGIES 1 PROGRAM. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 5 of title 23, United 3 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol- 4 lowing: 5 ‘‘§ 520. Advanced transportation technologies pro- 6 gram 7 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Transportation 8 shall establish a program to provide grants to eligible enti- 9 ties to deploy, install, and operate advanced transportation 10 technologies to improve safety, efficiency, system perform- 11 ance, mobility, intermodal connectivity, and infrastructure 12 return on investment. 13 ‘‘(b) CRITERIA.—In carrying out the program under 14 subsection (a), the Secretary shall develop criteria for se- 15 lection of an eligible entity to receive a grant, including 16 how the proposed deployment of technology— 17 ‘‘(1) reduces costs and improves return on in- 18 vestments, including through the optimization of ex- 19 isting transportation capacity; 20 ‘‘(2) delivers environmental benefits by alle- 21 viating congestion and streamlining traffic flow; 22 ‘‘(3) measures and improves the operational 23 performance of the applicable transportation net- 24 work; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Nov 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8579.IH H8579 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8579 IH ‘‘(4) reduces the number and severity of traffic 1 accidents and increases driver, passenger, and pedes- 2 trian safety; 3 ‘‘(5) collects, disseminates, and uses informa- 4 tion on real-time traffic, work zone, weather, transit, 5 paratransit, parking, and other transportation-re- 6 lated information to improve mobility, reduce con- 7 gestion, and provide for more efficient, accessible, 8 and integrated transportation and transportation 9 services; 10 ‘‘(6) monitors transportation assets to improve 11 infrastructure management, reduce maintenance 12 costs, prioritize investment decisions, and ensure a 13 state of good repair; 14 ‘‘(7) delivers economic benefits by reducing 15 delays, improving system performance, and providing 16 for the efficient and reliable movement of goods and 17 services; or 18 ‘‘(8) accelerates the deployment of vehicle-to-ve- 19 hicle, vehicle-to-infrastructure, autonomous vehicles, 20 and other technologies. 21 ‘‘(c) APPLICATIONS.—An application submitted for a 22 project to be carried out by a grant under this program 23 shall include the following: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Nov 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8579.IH H8579 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8579 IH ‘‘(1) A plan to deploy and provide for the long- 1 term operation and maintenance of advanced trans- 2 portation technologies to improve safety, efficiency, 3 system performance, and return on investment. 4 ‘‘(2) Objectives for quantifiable system perform- 5 ance improvements, such as— 6 ‘‘(A) reducing traffic-related accidents, 7 congestion, and costs; 8 ‘‘(B) optimizing system efficiency; and 9 ‘‘(C) improving access to transportation 10 services. 11 ‘‘(3) Quantifiable safety, mobility, and environ- 12 mental benefit projections such as data-driven esti- 13 mates of how the project proposes to improve the 14 applicable transportation system efficiency and how 15 such project proposes to reduce traffic congestion. 16 ‘‘(4) A plan for any partnerships with private 17 sector entities or public agencies, including 18 multimodal and multijurisdictional entities, research 19 institutions, organizations representing transpor- 20 tation and technology leaders, or other transpor- 21 tation stakeholders. 22 ‘‘(5) A plan to leverage and optimize existing 23 local and regional advanced transportation tech- 24 nology investments. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Nov 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8579.IH H8579 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 8579 IH ‘‘(d) GRANT SELECTION.— 1 ‘‘(1) GRANT AWARDS.—Each fiscal year for 2 which funding is made available under this section, 3 the Secretary shall award grants to not less than 5 4 and not more than 10 eligible entities. 5 ‘‘(2) GEOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY.— 6 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara- 7 graph (B), in awarding a grant under this sec- 8 tion, the Secretary shall ensure, to the extent 9 practicable, that grant recipients represent di- 10 verse geographic areas of the United States, in- 11 cluding urban areas and rural areas. 12 ‘‘(B) RURAL SET-ASIDE.—Not less than 20 13 percent of the amounts made available to carry 14 out this section shall be reserved for projects 15 serving rural areas, to the extent there are suf- 16 ficient eligible applications. 17 ‘‘(3) TECHNOLOGY DIVERSITY.—In awarding a 18 grant under this section, the Secretary shall ensure, 19 to the extent practicable, that grant recipients rep- 20 resent a variety of technology solutions. 21 ‘‘(e) USE OF GRANT FUNDS.—A grant recipient may 22 use funds awarded under this section to deploy advanced 23 transportation technologies, including— 24 ‘‘(1) advanced traveler information systems; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Nov 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8579.IH H8579 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 8579 IH ‘‘(2) advanced transportation management tech- 1 nologies; 2 ‘‘(3) advanced transportation technologies to 3 improve emergency evacuation and response by Fed- 4 eral, State, and local authorities; 5 ‘‘(4) infrastructure maintenance, monitoring, 6 and condition assessment; 7 ‘‘(5) advanced public transportation systems; 8 ‘‘(6) transportation system performance data 9 collection, analysis, and dissemination systems; 10 ‘‘(7) advanced safety systems, including vehicle- 11 to-vehicle, vehicle-to-pedestrian, and vehicle-to-infra- 12 structure communications, technologies associated 13 with autonomous vehicles, and other collision avoid- 14 ance technologies, including systems using cellular 15 technology; 16 ‘‘(8) integration of intelligent transportation 17 systems with the Smart Grid and other energy dis- 18 tribution and charging systems; 19 ‘‘(9) integrated corridor management systems; 20 ‘‘(10) advanced parking reservation or variable 21 pricing systems; 22 ‘‘(11) electronic pricing, toll collection, and pay- 23 ment systems; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Nov 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8579.IH H8579 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 8579 IH ‘‘(12) technology that enhances high occupancy 1 vehicle toll lanes, cordon pricing, or congestion pric- 2 ing; 3 ‘‘(13) advanced mobility and access tech- 4 nologies, such as dynamic ridesharing and informa- 5 tion systems to support human services for elderly 6 and disabled individuals; 7 ‘‘(14) technology that collects and maintains 8 automated driving system safety data and data anal- 9 ysis tools; 10 ‘‘(15) cybersecurity protection measures and ac- 11 tivities to protect against cybersecurity threats; or 12 ‘‘(16) advanced vulnerable road user safety in- 13 formation systems. 14 ‘‘(f) REPORT TO SECRETARY.— 15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall ensure 16 that a recipient of a grant under this section sub- 17 mits, not later than 1 year after the recipient re- 18 ceives a grant and annually thereafter, a report to 19 the Secretary that describes— 20 ‘‘(A) deployment and operational costs of 21 the project compared to the benefits and sav- 22 ings the project provides; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Nov 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8579.IH H8579 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 8579 IH ‘‘(B) how the project has met the original 1 expectations projected in the deployment plan 2 submitted with the application, such as— 3 ‘‘(i) data on how the project has 4 helped reduce traffic accidents, congestion, 5 costs, and other benefits of the deployed 6 systems; 7 ‘‘(ii) data on the effect of measuring 8 and improving transportation system per- 9 formance through the deployment of ad- 10 vanced transportation technologies; 11 ‘‘(iii) the effectiveness of providing 12 real-time integrated traffic, transit, and 13 multimodal transportation information to 14 the public to make informed travel deci- 15 sions; and 16 ‘‘(iv) lessons learned and rec- 17 ommendations for future deployment strat- 18 egies to optimize transportation mobility, 19 efficiency, and multimodal system perform- 20 ance. 21 ‘‘(2) REPORT CONSISTENCY.— 22 ‘‘(A) ADMINISTRATION.—The Secretary 23 shall provide grant recipients with methods and 24 techniques to support consistent data collection 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Nov 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8579.IH H8579 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 8579 IH across grant recipients and may update such 1 methods and techniques as appropriate. 2 ‘‘(B) UPDATE.—The Secretary shall pro- 3 vide grant recipients notice of an update de- 4 scribed in subparagraph (A) not less than 90 5 days before carrying out such update. 6 ‘‘(g) REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the date 7 of enactment of this section, and once every 2 years there- 8 after, the Secretary shall make available to the public on 9 the website of the Department of Transportation an up- 10 dated report that describes the effectiveness of grant re- 11 cipients in meeting projected deployment plans including 12 data described in subsection (f) on how the program has— 13 ‘‘(1) reduced traffic-related fatalities and inju- 14 ries; 15 ‘‘(2) reduced traffic congestion and improved 16 travel time reliability; 17 ‘‘(3) reduced transportation-related emissions; 18 ‘‘(4) optimized multimodal system performance; 19 ‘‘(5) improved access to transportation alter- 20 natives; 21 ‘‘(6) provided the public with access to real-time 22 integrated traffic, transit, and multimodal transpor- 23 tation information to make informed travel deci- 24 sions; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Nov 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8579.IH H8579 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 8579 IH ‘‘(7) provided cost savings to transportation 1 agencies, businesses, and the traveling public; or 2 ‘‘(8) provided other benefits to transportation 3 users and the general public. 4 ‘‘(h) PENALTY.—The Secretary may terminate a 5 grant provided under this section and deobligate funds 6 provided by such grant if— 7 ‘‘(1) the Secretary determines from a report 8 submitted pursuant to subsection (f) that a recipient 9 of such grant is not carrying out the requirements 10 of the grant; and 11 ‘‘(2) the Secretary provides written notice to 12 the Committees on Transportation and Infrastruc- 13 ture and Science, Space, and Technology of the 14 House of Representatives and the Committees on 15 Environment and Public Works and Commerce, 16 Science, and Transportation of the Senate 60 days 17 prior to deobligating funds under this subsection. 18 ‘‘(i) FUNDING.—Of the amounts provided to carry 19 out this section, the Secretary may set aside $2,000,000 20 each fiscal year for program reporting, evaluation, and ad- 21 ministrative costs related to this section. 22 ‘‘(j) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share of the 23 cost of a project for which a grant is awarded under this 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Nov 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8579.IH H8579 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 8579 IH subsection shall not exceed 50 percent of the cost of the 1 project. 2 ‘‘(k) GRANT LIMITATION.—The Secretary may not 3 award more than 15 percent of the amount described 4 under subsection (i). 5 ‘‘(l) EXPENSES FOR GRANT RECIPIENTS.—A grant 6 recipient under this section may use not more than 5 per- 7 cent of the funds awarded each fiscal year to carry out 8 planning and reporting requirements. 9 ‘‘(m) GRANT FLEXIBILITY.— 10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If, by August 1 of each fis- 11 cal year, the Secretary determines that there are not 12 enough grant applications that meet the require- 13 ments described in subsection (c) to carry out this 14 section for a fiscal year, the Secretary shall transfer 15 to the programs specified in paragraph (2)— 16 ‘‘(A) any of the funds reserved for the fis- 17 cal year under subsection (i) that the Secretary 18 has not yet awarded under this section; and 19 ‘‘(B) an amount of obligation limitation 20 equal to the amount of funds that the Secretary 21 transfers under subparagraph (A). 22 ‘‘(2) PROGRAMS.—The programs referred to in 23 paragraph (1) are— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Nov 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8579.IH H8579 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 8579 IH ‘‘(A) the programs under sections 503(b) 1 and 503(c); and 2 ‘‘(B) the programs under sections 512 3 through 518. 4 ‘‘(3) DISTRIBUTION.—Any transfer of funds 5 and obligation limitation under paragraph (1) shall 6 be divided among the programs referred to in that 7 paragraph in the same proportions as the Secretary 8 originally reserved funding from the programs for 9 the fiscal year under subsection (i). 10 ‘‘(n) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following 11 definitions apply: 12 ‘‘(1) ADVANCED TRANSPORTATION TECH- 13 NOLOGIES.—The term ‘advanced transportation 14 technologies’ means technologies that improve the ef- 15 ficiency, safety, or state of good repair of surface 16 transportation systems, including intelligent trans- 17 portation systems. 18 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en- 19 tity’ means a State or local government, a transit 20 agency, metropolitan planning organization, or a po- 21 litical subdivision of a State or local government, a 22 multijurisdictional group, a public academic institu- 23 tion, public research institution, or a [Text truncated for display. 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