I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3594 
To authorize appropriations to the Department of Transportation for surface 
transportation research, development, and deployment, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 28, 2021 
Ms. JOHNSON of Texas (for herself, Mr. LUCAS, Ms. STEVENS, Mr. WALTZ, 
Mr. BAIRD, Mr. LAMB, Mrs. KIM of California, Ms. WILD, Mr. 
OBERNOLTE, Ms. ROSS, Mrs. BICE of Oklahoma, Ms. MOORE of Wis-
consin, Mr. GIMENEZ, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. BABIN, and Ms. SHERRILL) 
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
Science, Space, and Technology, and in addition to the Committee on 
Transportation and Infrastructure, for a period to be subsequently deter-
mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To authorize appropriations to the Department of Transpor-
tation for surface transportation research, development, 
and deployment, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Surface Transportation Research and Development Act 
of 2021’’. 
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(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
TITLE I—HIGHWAY TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH 
Sec. 101. Authorization of appropriations. 
Sec. 102. Amendment to Highway Safety Improvement project definition. 
Sec. 103. Behavioral traffic safety cooperative research program. 
Sec. 104. Amendment to the exploratory advanced research program. 
Sec. 105. Amendment to the State Planning and Research Program. 
Sec. 106. Road weather centers of excellence. 
TITLE II—MULTIMODAL TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH 
Sec. 201. Authorization of appropriations. 
Sec. 202. Advisory council on transportation statistics. 
Sec. 203. Amendments to the University Transportation Centers Program. 
Sec. 204. Resilient Transportation Infrastructure Centers of Excellence. 
Sec. 205. Transportation Data for Healthy Living Study Pilot. 
Sec. 206. Vehicular Data Analytics Pilot Program. 
Sec. 207. National cooperative freight transportation research program. 
Sec. 208. Heavy Freight Automated Trucking Research Corridor. 
Sec. 209. Strategic Transportation Research Program. 
Sec. 210. Advanced transportation research and innovation program. 
Sec. 211. Rail Cooperative Research Program. 
Sec. 212. Multimodal Transportation Demonstration Program. 
Sec. 213. Advisory Council on Transportation Research and Development. 
Sec. 214. Transportation research and development quinquennial review and 
strategic plan. 
TITLE I—HIGHWAY 
TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH 
SEC. 101. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The following amounts are au-
thorized to be appropriated out of the Highway Trust 
Fund (other than the Mass Transit Account): 
(1) HIGHWAY SAFETY RESEARCH AND DEVEL-
OPMENT.—To carry out section 403 of title 23, 
United States Code— 
(A) $152,000,000 for fiscal year 2022; 
(B) $161,880,000 for fiscal year 2023; 
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(1) be available for obligation in the same man-
ner as if those funds were appropriated under chap-
ter 1 of title 23, United States Code, except that the 
Federal share of the cost of a project or activity car-
ried out using those funds shall be 80 percent, un-
less otherwise expressly provided by this Act (includ-
ing the amendments by this Act) or otherwise deter-
mined by the Secretary; and 
(2) remain available until expended and not be 
transferable. 
SEC. 102. AMENDMENT TO HIGHWAY SAFETY IMPROVE-
MENT PROJECT DEFINITION. 
Section 148(a)(4)(B) of title 23, United States Code, 
is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(xxix) Education. 
‘‘(xxx) Enforcement. 
‘‘(xxxi) Research activities. 
‘‘(xxxii) Cybersecurity.’’. 
SEC. 103. BEHAVIORAL TRAFFIC SAFETY COOPERATIVE RE-
SEARCH PROGRAM. 
Section 403(f) of title 23, United States Code, is 
amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘$2,500,000’’ and inserting 
‘‘$3,500,000’’; and 
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(2) by striking ‘‘fiscal year ending before’’ and 
all that follows through ‘‘December 4, 2015’’ and in-
serting ‘‘of fiscal years 2022 through 2026’’. 
SEC. 104. AMENDMENT TO THE EXPLORATORY ADVANCED 
RESEARCH PROGRAM. 
Section 503(b)(6) of title 23, United States Code, is 
amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(6) EXPLORATORY ADVANCED RESEARCH.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 
carry out long-term, exploratory advanced re-
search activities to develop potentially trans-
formational solutions to improve the durability, 
efficiency, environmental impact, productivity, 
and safety aspects of highway and intermodal 
transportation systems, including by— 
‘‘(i) awarding competitive grants and 
cooperative agreements to institutions of 
higher education and nonprofit research 
organizations (or consortia thereof); 
‘‘(ii) leveraging the targeted capabili-
ties of the Turner-Fairbank Highway Re-
search Center to develop technologies and 
innovations of national importance; and 
‘‘(iii) collaborating with other Federal 
agencies with relevant expertise, including 
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the National Science Foundation, the Na-
tional Institute of Standards and Tech-
nology, and the Department of Energy. 
‘‘(B) FUNDING.—From funds made avail-
able to carry out this subsection, the Secretary 
shall obligate $25,000,000 to carry out this 
paragraph for each of fiscal years 2022 through 
2026.’’. 
SEC. 105. AMENDMENT TO THE STATE PLANNING AND RE-
SEARCH PROGRAM. 
Section 505(b) of title 23, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(4) FLEXIBILITY.—In addition to the min-
imum expenditures required under paragraph (1), of 
the sums apportioned to a State under paragraphs 
(1) through (5) of section 104(b), a State may use 
additional funds under such paragraphs for multi- 
state pooled fund research activities.’’. 
SEC. 106. ROAD WEATHER CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE. 
Chapter 5 of title 23, United States Code, is amended 
by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘SEC. 520. ROAD WEATHER CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in collaboration 
with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra-
tion, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, 
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and the National Science Foundation, as appropriate, 
shall carry out a program to make awards to institutions 
of higher education or nonprofit research organizations (or 
a consortium thereof) to establish regional road weather 
research and development centers. 
‘‘(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the centers estab-
lished using funds under subsection (a) shall be to— 
‘‘(1) maximize use of available road weather in-
formation and technologies; 
‘‘(2) expand road weather research and develop-
ment efforts to enhance roadway safety, mobility, 
and transportation system efficiency while mini-
mizing environmental impacts; 
‘‘(3) support research and development focused 
on improving road weather information for auto-
mated vehicles and automated transportation sys-
tems; 
‘‘(4) promoting the adoption of road weather in-
formation and technologies by Federal, State, and 
local governments, and private entities; and 
‘‘(5) foster collaboration among academic re-
searchers, the private sector, State and local govern-
ments, and nongovernmental organizations, includ-
ing transportation, meteorological, and other organi-
zations. 
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‘‘(c) ACTIVITIES.—The activities of the program es-
tablished in subsection (a) shall include— 
‘‘(1) supporting research and development to— 
‘‘(A) integrate existing observational net-
works, including mobile and fixed sensor net-
works, and data management systems for road 
weather applications; 
‘‘(B) improve weather modeling capabilities 
and forecast tools, such as the road surface and 
atmospheric interface; 
‘‘(C) enhance mechanisms for commu-
nicating road weather information to users, 
such as transportation officials and the public; 
‘‘(D) understand the human and cultural 
factors in driver decision-making in response to 
road weather hazards and in response to the de-
livery of road weather information; and 
‘‘(E) integrate road weather technologies 
into an information infrastructure; 
‘‘(2) improving coordination of research, devel-
opment, testing, and implementation of road weather 
information technologies and automated vehicle and 
automated transportation systems technologies; 
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