I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3825 

To improve transportation safety, efficiency, and system performance through 

innovative technology deployment and operations. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 23, 2015 

Mr. TAKANO introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To improve transportation safety, efficiency, and system performance through innovative technology deployment and 

operations. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Intelligent Tech5 nologies Initiative Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act, the following definitions apply: 

8 (1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti9 ty’’ means a State or local government, including a 

10 territory of the United States, tribal government, 


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1 transit agency, port authority, metropolitan planning 

2 organization, or other political subdivision of a State 

3 or local government or a multi-State or multi-juris4 dictional group applying through a single lead appli5 cant. 

6 (2) ITS.—The term ‘‘ITS’’ means intelligent 

7 transportation systems. 

8 (3) MULTI-JURISDICTIONAL GROUP.—The term 

9 ‘‘multi-jurisdictional group’’ means a combination of 

10 State governments, locals governments, metropolitan 

11 planning agencies, transit agencies, or other political 

12 subdivisions of a State that have signed a written 

13 agreement to implement the Intelligent Technology 

14 Initiative across jurisdictional boundaries. Each 

15 member of the group, including the lead applicant, 

16 must be an eligible entity to receive a grant under 

17 this Act. 

18 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

19 the Secretary of Transportation. 

20 SEC. 3. INTELLIGENT TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVE. 

21 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.—Not later than 

22 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec23 retary shall establish an Intelligent Technology Initiative 

24 to provide grants to eligible entities to establish deploy25 ment sites for large scale installation and operation of ITS 


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1 to improve safety, efficiency, system performance, and re2 turn on investment. The Secretary shall develop criteria 

3 for selection of an eligible entity to receive a grant, includ4 ing how the deployment of technology will enable the re5 cipient— 

6 (1) to reduce costs and improve return on in7 vestments, including through the enhanced utiliza8 tion of existing transportation capacity; 

9 (2) to deliver environmental benefits and reduce 

10 energy consumption by alleviating congestion and 

11 streamlining traffic flow; 

12 (3) to measure and improve the operational per13 formance of its transportation network; 

14 (4) to reduce the number and severity of traffic 

15 collisions and increase driver, passenger, and pedes16 trian safety; 

17 (5) to collect, disseminate, and utilize real-time 

18 traffic, transit, parking, and other transportation-re19 lated information to improve mobility, reduce con20 gestion, and provide for more efficient and accessible 

21 transportation alternatives; 

22 (6) to monitor transportation assets to improve 

23 infrastructure management, reduce maintenance 

24 costs, prioritize investment decisions, and ensure a 

25 state of good repair; and 


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1 (7) to deliver economic benefits by reducing 

2 delays, improving system performance, and providing 

3 for the efficient and reliable movement of goods and 

4 services. 

5 (b) REQUEST FOR APPLICATIONS.—Not later than 6 

6 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec7 retary shall request applications in accordance with sec8 tion 4 for participation in the Intelligent Technology Ini9 tiative. 

10 SEC. 4. GRANT PROGRAM. 

11 (a) GRANT APPLICATION.—To be considered for a 

12 grant under this Act, an eligible entity shall submit an 

13 application to the Secretary that includes the following: 

14 (1) DEPLOYMENT PLAN.—A plan to deploy and 

15 provide for the long-term operation and maintenance 

16 of intelligent transportation systems to improve safe17 ty, efficiency, system performance, and return on in18 vestment, such as— 

19 (A) real-time integrated traffic, transit, 

20 and multimodal transportation information; 

21 (B) advanced traffic, freight, parking, and 

22 incident management systems; 

23 (C) collision avoidance systems; 

24 (D) advanced technologies to improve tran25 sit and commercial vehicle operations; 


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1 (E) synchronized, adaptive, and transit 

2 preferential traffic signals; 

3 (F) advanced infrastructure condition as4 sessment technologies; and 

5 (G) other technologies to improve system 

6 operations, including ITS applications necessary 

7 for multimodal systems integration and for 

8 achieving performance goals. 

9 (2) OBJECTIVES.—Quantifiable system per10 formance improvements, including reducing traffic11 related crashes, congestion, and costs, optimizing 

12 system efficiency, and improving access to transpor13 tation services. 

14 (3) RESULTS.—Quantifiable safety, mobility, 

15 and environmental benefit projections including data 

16 driven estimates of how the project will improve the 

17 region’s transportation system efficiency and reduce 

18 traffic congestion. 

19 (4) PARTNERSHIPS.—A plan for partnering 

20 with the private sector, public agencies including 

21 multimodal and multi-jurisdictional entities, research 

22 institutions, organizations representing transpor23 tation and technology leaders, and other transpor24 tation stakeholders. 


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1 (5) LEVERAGING.—A plan to leverage and opti2 mize existing local and regional ITS investments. 

3 (6) INTEROPERABILITY.—A plan to ensure 

4 interoperability of deployed technologies with other 

5 tolling, traffic management, and intelligent transpor6 tation systems. 

7 (b) GRANT SELECTION.— 

8 (1) GRANT AWARDS.—Not later than 1 year 

9 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec10 retary shall award a grant to not more than 6 eligi11 ble entities with funds available for up to 5 fiscal 

12 years. 

13 (2) GEOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY.—In awarding a 

14 grant under this section, the Secretary shall ensure, 

15 to the extent practicable, that grant recipients rep16 resent diverse geographic areas of the United States, 

17 including urban, suburban, and rural areas. 

18 SEC. 5. USES OF FUNDS. 

19 A grant recipient may use funds authorized in this 

20 Act to deploy, operate, and maintain ITS and ITS-enabled 

21 operational strategies, including— 

22 (1) advanced traveler information systems; 

23 (2) advanced transportation management tech24 nologies; 


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1 (3) infrastructure maintenance, monitoring, and 

2 condition assessment; 

3 (4) advanced public transportation systems; 

4 (5) transportation system performance data col5 lection, analysis, and dissemination systems; 

6 (6) advanced safety systems, including vehicle7 to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communica8 tions and other collision avoidance technologies; 

9 (7) integration of intelligent transportation sys10 tems with the Smart Grid and other energy distribu11 tion and charging systems; 

12 (8) electronic pricing and tolling systems; and 

13 (9) advanced mobility and access technologies, 

14 such as dynamic ridesharing and information sys15 tems to support human services for elderly and dis16 abled Americans. 

17 SEC. 6. REPORTS. 

18 (a) REPORT TO SECRETARY.—Not later than 1 year 

19 after an eligible entity receives a grant award under this 

20 Act and each year thereafter, each grant recipient shall 

21 submit a report to the Secretary that describes— 

22 (1) deployment and operational cost compared 

23 to the benefits and savings from the pilot program 

24 and compared to other alternative approaches; and 


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1 (2) how the project has met the original expec2 tation as projected in the deployment plan submitted 

3 with the application, including— 

4 (A) data on how the program has helped 

5 reduce traffic crashes, congestion, costs, and 

6 other benefits of the deployed systems; 

7 (B) data on the effect of measuring and 

8 improving transportation system performance 

9 through the deployment of advanced tech10 nologies; 

11 (C) the effectiveness of providing real-time 

12 integrated traffic, transit, and multimodal 

13 transportation information to the public to 

14 make informed travel decisions; and 

15 (D) lessons learned and recommendations 

16 for future deployment strategies to optimize 

17 transportation efficiency and multimodal system 

18 performance. 

19 (b) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 2 years 

20 after grants have been allocated and each year thereafter, 

21 the Secretary shall submit a report to Congress that de22 scribes the effectiveness of grant recipients in meeting 

23 their projected deployment plan, including data on how the 

24 program has— 


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1 (1) reduced traffic-related fatalities and inju2 ries; 

3 (2) reduced traffic congestion and improved 

4 travel time reliability; 

5 (3) reduced transportation-related emissions; 

6 (4) optimized multimodal system performance; 

7 (5) improved access to transportation alter8 natives; 

9 (6) provided the public with access to real-time 

10 integrated traffic, transit, and multimodal transpor11 tation information to make informed travel deci12 sions; 

13 (7) provided cost savings to transportation 

14 agencies, businesses, and the traveling public; and 

15 (8) provided other benefits to transportation 

16 users and the general public. 

17 (c) ADDITIONAL GRANTS.—If the Secretary deter18 mines from a grant recipient’s reports that the recipient 

19 is not carrying out the requirements of the grant, the Sec20 retary may cease to provide any additional grant funds 

21 to the recipient. The Secretary shall have the authority 

22 to redistribute remaining funds to select additional eligible 

23 entities for a program under this Act. 

24 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

25 (a) FUNDING.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be 

2 appropriated out of the Highway Trust Fund to 

3 carry out this Act— 

4 (A) $200,000,000 for fiscal year 2015; 

5 (B) $200,000,000 for fiscal year 2016; 

6 (C) $200,000,000 for fiscal year 2017; 

7 (D) $200,000,000 for fiscal year 2018; 

8 (E) $200,000,000 for fiscal year 2019; and 

9 (F) $200,000,000 for fiscal year 2020. 

10 (2) CONTRACT AUTHORITY.—Funds authorized 

11 under this subsection shall be available for obligation 

12 in the same manner as if the funds were apportioned 

13 under chapter 1 of title 23, United States Code, ex14 cept that such funds shall not be transferable, the 

15 obligation limitations shall not apply to such funds, 

16 and shall remain available until expended. 

17 (b) GRANT LIMITATION.—The Secretary may not 

18 award more than 25 percent of the amount appropriated 

19 under this Act to a single grant recipient. 

20 (c) EXPENSES FOR GRANT RECIPIENTS.—A grant 

21 recipient under this Act may use not more than 5 percent 

22 of the grant award each fiscal year to carry out planning 

23 and reporting requirements. 

24 (d) EXPENSES FOR SECRETARY.—Before awarding 

25 grant funds under this Act, the Secretary may set aside 


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1 $3,000,000 each fiscal year for program reporting, evalua2 tion, and administrative costs. 

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