784
tive structure and organization best suited to 
carry out those recommendations. 
‘‘(3) CONSULTATION.—In developing the report, 
the Transportation Research Board shall consult with 
a wide variety of stakeholders, including—
‘‘(A) the Federal Highway Administration; 
‘‘(B) the National Highway Traffic Safety 
Administration; and 
‘‘(C) the American Association of State 
Highway and Transportation Officials. 
‘‘(4) SUBMISSION.—Not later than February 1, 
2009, the report shall be submitted to the Committee 
on Environment and Public Works of the Senate and 
the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 
of the House of Representatives. 
‘‘(h) FUNDING.—
‘‘(1) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share of the 
cost of an activity carried out using amounts made 
available under a grant or cooperative agreement 
under this section shall be 100 percent, and such 
funds shall remain available until expended. 
‘‘(2) ADVANCE PAYMENTS.—The Secretary may 
make advance payments as necessary to carry out the 
program under this section.’’.
785
(b) PROGRAMMATIC EVALUATIONS.—Within 3 years 
after the first research and development project grants, co-
operative agreements, or contracts are awarded under sec-
tion 510 of title 23, United States Code, the Comptroller 
General shall review the program under such section, and 
recommend improvements. The review shall assess the de-
gree to which projects funded under such section have ad-
dressed the research and development topics identified in 
the Transportation Research Board Special Report 260, in-
cluding identifying those topics which have not yet been ad-
dressed. 
(c) CONFORMING
AMENDMENT.—The analysis for 
chapter 5 of such title is further amended by adding at the 
end the following:
‘‘510. Future strategic highway research program.’’.
(d) FUNDING.—Of the amounts made available by sec-
tion 5101(a)(1) of this Act, $17,000,000 for fiscal year 
2004, $60,000,000 for fiscal year 2005, and $63,000,000 for 
each of fiscal years 2006 through 2009, shall be available 
to carry out section 510 of title 23, United States Code. 
SEC. 5210. TRANSPORTATION SAFETY INFORMATION MAN-
AGEMENT SYSTEM PROJECT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall fund and carry 
out a project to further the development of a comprehensive 
transportation safety information management system (in 
this section referred to as ‘‘TSIMS’’).
786
(b) PURPOSES.—The purpose of the TSIMS project is 
to further the development of a software application to pro-
vide for the collection, integration, management, and dis-
semination of safety data from and for use among State 
and local safety and transportation agencies, including 
driver licensing, vehicle registration, emergency manage-
ment system, injury surveillance, roadway inventory, and 
motor carrier databases. 
(c) FUNDING.—
(1) FEDERAL CONTRIBUTION.—Of the amounts 
made available by section 5101(a)(1) of this Act, 
$1,000,000 for fiscal year 2004 and $3,000,000 for 
fiscal year 2005 shall be available to carry out the 
TSIMS project under this section. 
(2) STATE CONTRIBUTION.—The sums authorized 
in paragraph (1) are intended to supplement vol-
untary contributions to be made by State depart-
ments of transportation and other State safety and 
transportation agencies. 
SEC. 5211. SURFACE TRANSPORTATION CONGESTION RE-
LIEF SOLUTIONS RESEARCH INITIATIVE. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary, acting through 
the Federal Highway Administration, shall establish a sur-
face transportation congestion solutions research initiative 
consisting of 2 independent research programs described in
787
subsections (b)(1) and (b)(2) and designed to develop infor-
mation to assist State transportation departments and met-
ropolitan planning organizations measure and address sur-
face transportation congestion problems. 
(b) SURFACE TRANSPORTATION CONGESTION SOLU-
TIONS RESEARCH PROGRAM.—
(1) IMPROVED SURFACE TRANSPORTATION CON-
GESTION
MANAGEMENT
SYSTEM
MEASURES.—The 
purposes of the first research program established 
under this section shall be—
(A) to examine the effectiveness of surface 
transportation congestion management systems 
since enactment of the Intermodal Surface 
Transportation Assistance Act of 1991 (Public 
Law 102–240); 
(B) to identify best case examples of locally 
designed reporting methods and incorporate such 
methods in research on national models for de-
veloping and recommending improved surface 
transportation congestion measurement and re-
porting; and 
(C) to incorporate such methods in the de-
velopment of national models and methods to 
monitor, measure, and report surface transpor-
tation congestion information.
788
(2) ANALYTICAL
TECHNIQUES
FOR
ACTION
ON 
SURFACE
TRANSPORTATION
CONGESTION.—The pur-
poses of the second research program established 
under this section shall be—
(A) to analyze the effectiveness of procedures 
used by State transportation departments and 
metropolitan planning organizations to assess 
surface transportation congestion problems and 
communicate those problems to decisionmakers; 
and 
(B) to identify methods to ensure that the 
results of surface transportation congestion anal-
yses will lead to the targeting of funding for pro-
grams, projects, or services with demonstrated ef-
fectiveness in reducing travel delay, congestion, 
and system unreliability. 
(c) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND TRAINING.—In fiscal 
year 2006, the Secretary, acting through the Federal High-
way Administration, shall develop a technical assistance 
and training program to disseminate the results of the sur-
face transportation congestion solutions research initiative 
for the purpose of assisting State transportation depart-
ments and local transportation agencies with improving 
their approaches to surface transportation congestion meas-
urement, analysis, and project programming.
789
(d) FUNDING.—Of the amounts made available by sec-
tions 5101(a)(1) of this Act, $4,000,000 for fiscal year 2004 
and $11,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2005 through 2009 
shall be available to carry out subsections (a) and (b). Of 
the amounts made available by section 5101(a)(2), 
$500,000 for fiscal year 2004 and $1,000,000 for each of 
fiscal years 2005 through 2009 shall be available to carry 
out subsection (c). 
SEC. 5212. MOTOR CARRIER EFFICIENCY STUDY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in coordination 
with the motor carrier and wireless technology industry, 
shall conduct a study to—
(1) identify inefficiencies in the transportation 
of freight; 
(2) evaluate the safety, productivity, and reduced 
cost improvements that may be achieved through the 
use of wireless technologies to address the inefficien-
cies identified in paragraph (1); and 
(3) conduct, as appropriate, field tests dem-
onstrating the technologies identified in paragraph 
(2). 
(b) PROGRAM ELEMENTS.—The program shall include, 
at a minimum, the following: 
(1) Fuel monitoring and management systems. 
(2) Radio frequency identification technology.
790
(3) Electronic manifest systems. 
(4) Cargo theft prevention. 
(c) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share of the cost 
of the study under this section shall be 100 percent. 
(d) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Secretary shall prepare 
and transmit to Congress an annual report on the programs 
and activities carried out under this section. 
(e) FUNDING.—From funds made available under sec-
tion 5101(a)(1), the Secretary shall make available 
$1,000,000 to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Adminis-
tration for each of fiscal years 2005 through 2009 to carry 
out this section. 
SEC. 5213. TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH AND DEVELOP-
MENT STRATEGIC PLANNING. 
(a) AMENDMENT.—Section 508 of title 23, United 
States Code, is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘§ 508. Transportation research and development 
strategic planning 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—
‘‘(1) DEVELOPMENT.—Not later than 1 year 
after the date of enactment of the Transportation Eq-
uity Act: A Legacy for Users, the Secretary shall de-
velop a 5-year transportation research and develop-
ment strategic plan to guide Federal transportation 
research and development activities. This plan shall
791
be consistent with section 306 of title 5, sections 1115 
and 1116 of title 31, and any other research and de-
velopment plan within the Department of Transpor-
tation. 
‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—The strategic plan developed 
under paragraph (1) shall—
‘‘(A) describe the primary purposes of the 
transportation research and development pro-
gram, which shall include, at a minimum—
‘‘(i) reducing congestion and improv-
ing mobility; 
‘‘(ii) promoting safety; 
‘‘(iii) promoting security; 
‘‘(iv) protecting and enhancing the en-
vironment; 
‘‘(v) preserving the existing transpor-
tation system; and 
‘‘(vi) improving the durability and ex-
tending the life of transportation infrastruc-
ture; 
‘‘(B) for each purpose, list the primary re-
search and development topics that the Depart-
ment intends to pursue to accomplish that pur-
pose, which may include the fundamental re-
search in the physical and natural sciences, ap-
792
plied research, technology development, and so-
cial science research intended for each topic; and 
‘‘(C) for each research and development 
topic, describe—
‘‘(i) the anticipated annual funding 
levels for the period covered by the strategic 
plan; and 
‘‘(ii) the additional information the 
Department expects to gain at the end of the 
period covered by the strategic plan as a re-
sult of the research and development in that 
topic area. 
‘‘(3) CONSIDERATIONS.—In developing the stra-
tegic plan, the Secretary shall ensure that the plan—
‘‘(A) reflects input from a wide range of 
stakeholders; 
‘‘(B) includes and integrates the research 
and development programs of all the Depart-
ment’s operating administrations, including 
aviation, transit, rail, and maritime; and 
‘‘(C) takes into account how research and 
development by other Federal, State, private sec-
tor, and not-for-profit institutions contributes to 
the achievement of the purposes identified under
793
paragraph (2)(A), and avoids unnecessary dupli-
cation with these efforts. 
‘‘(4) PERFORMANCE PLANS AND REPORTS.—In 
reports submitted under sections 1115 and 1116 of 
title 31, the Secretary shall include—
‘‘(A) a summary of the Federal transpor-
tation research and development activities for the 
previous fiscal year in each topic area; 
‘‘(B) the amount of funding spent in each 
topic area; 
‘‘(C) a description of the extent to which the 
research and development is meeting the expecta-
tions set forth in paragraph (2)(C)(ii); and 
‘‘(D) any amendments to the strategic plan. 
‘‘(b) The Secretary shall submit to Congress an annual 
report, along with the President’s annual budget request, 
describing the amount spent in the last completed fiscal 
year on transportation research and development and the 
amount proposed in the current budget for transportation 
research and development. 
‘‘(c) NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL REVIEW.—The 
Secretary shall enter into an agreement for the review by 
the National Research Council of the details of each—
‘‘(1) strategic plan under section 508;
794
‘‘(2) performance plan required under section 
1115 of title 31; and 
‘‘(3) program performance report required under 
section 1116 of title 31, 
with respect to transportation research and development.’’. 
(b) CONFORMING
AMENDMENT.—The analysis for 
chapter 5 of such title is amended by striking the item re-
lated to section 508 and inserting the following:
‘‘508. Transportation research and development strategic planning.’’.
SEC. 5214. LIMITATION ON REMEDIES FOR FUTURE STRA-
TEGIC HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM. 
Section 510 of title 23, United States Code, as added 
by section 5209 of this Act, is amended by inserting after 
subsection (f) the following: 
‘‘(g) LIMITATION OF REMEDIES.—
‘‘(1) SAME REMEDY AS IF UNITED STATES.—The 
remedy against the United States provided by sections 
1346(b) and 2672 of title 28 for injury, loss of prop-
erty, personal injury, or death shall apply to any 
claim against the National Academy of Sciences for 
money damages for injury, loss of property, personal 
injury, or death caused by any negligent or wrongful 
act or omission by employees and individuals de-
scribed in paragraph (3) arising from activities con-
ducted under or in connection with this section. Any 
such claim shall be subject to the limitations and ex-
795
ceptions which would be applicable to such claim if 
such claim were against the United States. With re-
spect to any such claim, the Secretary shall be treated 
as the head of the appropriate Federal agency for 
purposes of sections 2672 and 2675 of title 28. 
‘‘(2) EXCLUSIVENESS OF REMEDY.—The remedy 
referred to in paragraph (1) shall be exclusive of any 
other civil action or proceeding for the purpose of de-
termining liability arising from any such act or 
omission without regard to when the act or omission 
occurred. 
‘‘(3) TREATMENT.—Employees of the National 
Academy of Sciences and other individuals appointed 
by the president of the National Academy of Sciences 
and acting on its behalf in connection with activities 
carried out under this section shall be treated as if 
they are employees of the Federal Government under 
section 2671 of title 28 for purposes of a civil action 
or proceeding with respect to a claim described in 
paragraph (1). The civil action or proceeding shall 
proceed in the same manner as any proceeding under 
chapter 171 of title 28 or action against the United 
States filed pursuant to section 1346(b) of title 28 
and shall be subject to the limitations and exceptions 
applicable to such a proceeding or action.