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-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Strengthening Methods 
to Advance Research and Technology in Transportation 
Act’’ or the ‘‘SMART Transportation Act’’. 
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SEC. 
2. 
ADVANCED 
TRANSPORTATION 
TECHNOLOGIES 
PROGRAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 5 of title 23, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘§ 520. Advanced transportation technologies pro-
gram 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Transportation 
shall establish a program to provide grants to eligible enti-
ties to deploy, install, and operate advanced transportation 
technologies to improve safety, efficiency, system perform-
ance, mobility, intermodal connectivity, and infrastructure 
return on investment. 
‘‘(b) CRITERIA.—In carrying out the program under 
subsection (a), the Secretary shall develop criteria for se-
lection of an eligible entity to receive a grant, including 
how the proposed deployment of technology— 
‘‘(1) reduces costs and improves return on in-
vestments, including through the optimization of ex-
isting transportation capacity; 
‘‘(2) delivers environmental benefits by alle-
viating congestion and streamlining traffic flow; 
‘‘(3) measures and improves the operational 
performance of the applicable transportation net-
work; 
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‘‘(4) reduces the number and severity of traffic 
accidents and increases driver, passenger, and pedes-
trian safety; 
‘‘(5) collects, disseminates, and uses informa-
tion on real-time traffic, work zone, weather, transit, 
paratransit, parking, and other transportation-re-
lated information to improve mobility, reduce con-
gestion, and provide for more efficient, accessible, 
and integrated transportation and transportation 
services; 
‘‘(6) monitors transportation assets to improve 
infrastructure management, reduce maintenance 
costs, prioritize investment decisions, and ensure a 
state of good repair; 
‘‘(7) delivers economic benefits by reducing 
delays, improving system performance, and providing 
for the efficient and reliable movement of goods and 
services; or 
‘‘(8) accelerates the deployment of vehicle-to-ve-
hicle, vehicle-to-infrastructure, autonomous vehicles, 
and other technologies. 
‘‘(c) APPLICATIONS.—An application submitted for a 
project to be carried out by a grant under this program 
shall include the following: 
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‘‘(1) A plan to deploy and provide for the long- 
term operation and maintenance of advanced trans-
portation technologies to improve safety, efficiency, 
system performance, and return on investment. 
‘‘(2) Objectives for quantifiable system perform-
ance improvements, such as— 
‘‘(A) reducing traffic-related accidents, 
congestion, and costs; 
‘‘(B) optimizing system efficiency; and 
‘‘(C) improving access to transportation 
services. 
‘‘(3) Quantifiable safety, mobility, and environ-
mental benefit projections such as data-driven esti-
mates of how the project proposes to improve the 
applicable transportation system efficiency and how 
such project proposes to reduce traffic congestion. 
‘‘(4) A plan for any partnerships with private 
sector 
entities 
or 
public 
agencies, 
including 
multimodal and multijurisdictional entities, research 
institutions, organizations representing transpor-
tation and technology leaders, or other transpor-
tation stakeholders. 
‘‘(5) A plan to leverage and optimize existing 
local and regional advanced transportation tech-
nology investments. 
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