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“INTRODUCTION OF H.R. 242, THE SURFACE TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 2005” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Transportation was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E33-E34 on Jan. 6, 2005.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
INTRODUCTION OF H.R. 242, THE SURFACE TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH AND
DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 2005
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HON. VERNON J. EHLERS
of michigan
in the house of representatives
Thursday, January 6, 2005
Mr. EHLERS. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to introduce ``The Surface Transportation Research and Development Act of 2005.'' This legislation is actually a reintroduction of the bill that passed the Science Committee last Congress. After the bill passed the Science Committee, I worked with my colleagues on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to have many of the provisions included in the House version of the reauthorization of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century--better known as TEA-21. Unfortunately, the House and Senate were not able to reach consensus on a final transportation bill.
As we prepare to complete the reauthorization early in this Congress, my legislation still provides the needed emphasis on transportation research and development that will ensure our whole transportation system can meet the tremendous challenges of today and especially for the future. Considering that we won't have the ability to simply build more roads to address these challenges, especially in urban areas, we must look at new ways to improve the overall system, to make it safer and more efficient, and to ensure that the system meets future needs. Good research, properly done, will more than pay for itself in longer-
lasting roads, better bridges, faster traffic flow, and fewer accidents.
In the last Congress, as chairman of the House Science Subcommittee on Environment, Technology and Standards, which shares jurisdiction over surface transportation research with the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, I held hearings to hear from experts on the state of the Federal Government's current surface transportation research program. In addition, we heard from a wide array of interests on how to improve and reform the research program, and the levels at which research should be funded. Based on this input, I introduced the Surface Transportation Research and Development Act last Congress.
This legislation I am introducing today is identical to the bill that passed the Science Committee last Congress. It has three overarching goals: to increase stakeholder input to ensure that the people who must implement and use the research agree that it is applicable to everyday challenges; to create the highest quality research through increased competition and peer-review of all projects; and to ensure greater accountability so that our research supports the goals of our surface transportation system.
More specifically, the bill:
Creates and funds an important research program run by the National Academy of Sciences to address short to medium-term research needs. Research will focus on reducing congestion, renewing existing roads and bridges while minimizing impact to the public, improving safety by reducing crashes, and developing tools for getting more out of our existing highway capacity and assessing future needs. All projects funded by this program will be competitively awarded and peer-reviewed;
Provides needed funds to implement a public-private cooperative environmental research program, with the goal of developing the knowledge, tools, and performance measures that will help us better understand and manage the linkage between the environment and the transportation system;
Calls on the U.S. Department of Transportation to take the lead in carrying out fundamental, long-term research to achieve breakthroughs in transportation research;
Increases funding for University Transportation Centers and ensures greater competition among universities which seek to become transportation research centers;
Reforms and increases the responsiveness of the Bureau of Transportation Statistics to the needs of the transportation community; and
Provides States with additional resources to better train and educate the transportation workforce.
This legislation will significantly, yet prudently, increase funding for transportation research starting at $500 million a year in fiscal year 2006 for Federal research programs and gradually rising to $850 million a year by 2010. When Congress increased funding for overall transportation programs by upwards of 40 percent in TEA-21, funding for transportation research remained relatively flat. I believe that lack of investment in research has hurt our ability to meet new challenges. My approach ensures that our transportation research is well planned, peer reviewed, properly funded and evaluated and will go a long way to help solve the many challenges facing our Nation's transportation system.
I look forward to again working with my colleagues on the Science and Transportation and Infrastructure Committees, the U.S. Department of Transportation, state transportation departments, and all other interested stakeholders as we try to finish the job begun last Congress.
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