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(i) the widespread use and adoption of 
intelligent transportation system technology 
as a component of the surface transpor-
tation systems of the United States; and 
(ii) interoperability among intelligent 
transportation system technologies imple-
mented throughout the States. 
(7) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ has the meaning 
given the term under section 101 of title 23, United 
States Code. 
(8) TRANSPORTATION
SYSTEMS
MANAGEMENT 
AND OPERATIONS.—The term ‘‘transportation systems 
management and operations’’ has the meaning given 
the term under section 101(a) of such title. 
SEC. 5608. RURAL INTERSTATE CORRIDOR COMMUNICA-
TIONS STUDY. 
(a) STUDY.—The Secretary, in cooperation with the 
Secretary of Commerce, State departments of transpor-
tation, and other appropriate State, regional, and local offi-
cials, shall conduct a study on feasibility of installing fiber 
optic cabling and wireless communication infrastructure 
along multistate Interstate System route corridors for im-
proved communications services to rural communities along 
such corridors.
755
(b) CONTENTS OF STUDY.—In conducting the study, 
the Secretary shall identify—
(1) impediments to installation of the infrastruc-
ture described in subsection (a) along multistate 
Interstate System route corridors and to connecting 
such infrastructure to the rural communities along 
such corridors; 
(2) the effective geographic range of such infra-
structure; 
(3) potential opportunities for the private sector 
to fund, wholly or partially, the installation of such 
infrastructure; 
(4) potential benefits fiber optic cabling and 
wireless communication infrastructure may provide 
to rural communities along such corridors, including 
the effects of the installation of such infrastructure on 
economic development, deployment of intelligent 
transportation systems technologies and applications, 
homeland security precaution and response, and edu-
cation and health systems in those communities; 
(5) rural broadband access points for such infra-
structure; 
(6) areas of environmental conflict with such in-
stallation;
756
(7) real estate ownership issues relating to such 
installation; 
(8) preliminary design for placement of fiber 
optic cable and wireless towers; 
(9) monetary value of the rights-of-way necessary 
for such installation; 
(10) applicability and transferability of the ben-
efits of such installation to other rural corridors; and 
(11) safety and other operational issues associ-
ated with the installation and maintenance of fiber 
optic cabling and wire infrastructure within Inter-
state System rights-of-way and other publicly owned 
rights-of-way. 
(c) CORRIDOR LOCATIONS.—The study required under 
subsection (a) shall be conducted for corridors along—
(1) Interstate Route I–90 through rural Wis-
consin, southern Minnesota, northern Iowa, and 
South Dakota; 
(2) Interstate Route I–20 through Alabama, Mis-
sissippi, and northern Louisiana; 
(3) Interstate Route I–91 through Vermont, New 
Hampshire, and Massachusetts; and 
(4) any other rural corridor the Secretary con-
siders appropriate.
757
(d) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share of the cost 
of the study shall be 100 percent. 
(e) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than September 
30, 2006, the Secretary shall transmit to Congress a report 
on the results of the study, including any recommendations 
of the Secretary. 
(f) FUNDING.—Of the amounts made available under 
section 5101(a)(5), $1,000,000 shall be available for fiscal 
year 2005, and $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2006, to carry 
out this section. 
SEC. 5609. REPEAL. 
Subtitle C of title V of The Transportation Equity Act 
for the 21st Century (23 U.S.C. 502 note; 112 Stat. 452–
463) is repealed. 
TITLE 
VI—TRANSPORTATION 
PLANNING AND PROJECT DE-
LIVERY 
SEC. 6001. TRANSPORTATION PLANNING. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle III of title 49, United 
States Code, is amended by inserting after chapter 51 the 
following: 
‘‘CHAPTER 52—TRANSPORTATION 
PLANNING AND PROJECT DELIVERY
‘‘SUBCHAPTER A—GENERAL PROVISIONS 
‘‘Sec. 
‘‘5201. Definitions.
758
‘‘SUBCHAPTER B—TRANSPORTATION PLANNING AND PROJECT DELIVERY 
‘‘5211. Policy. 
‘‘5212. Definitions. 
‘‘5213. Metropolitan transportation planning. 
‘‘5214. Statewide transportation planning. 
‘‘SUBCHAPTER C—EFFICIENT ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEWS FOR PROJECT 
DECISIONMAKING 
‘‘5251. Definitions and applicability. 
‘‘5252. Project development procedures.
‘‘SUBCHAPTER A—GENERAL PROVISIONS 
‘‘§ 5201. Definitions 
‘‘In this chapter, the following definitions apply: 
‘‘(1) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 
the Secretary of Transportation. 
‘‘(2) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means a State of 
the United States, the District of Columbia, and 
Puerto Rico. 
‘‘SUBCHAPTER B—TRANSPORTATION PLANNING 
AND PROJECT DELIVERY 
‘‘§ 5211. Policy 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—It is in the national interest to—
‘‘(1) encourage and promote the safe and effi-
cient management, operation, and development of sur-
face transportation systems that will serve the mobil-
ity needs of people and freight and foster economic 
growth and development within and between States 
and urbanized areas, while minimizing transpor-
tation-related fuel consumption and air pollution
759
through metropolitan and statewide transportation 
planning processes identified in this chapter; and 
‘‘(2) encourage the continued improvement and 
evolution of the metropolitan and statewide transpor-
tation planning processes by metropolitan planning 
organizations, State departments of transportation, 
and public transit operators as guided by the plan-
ning factors identified in sections 5213(f) and 
5214(d). 
‘‘(b) COMMON
TRANSPORTATION
PLANNING
PRO-
GRAM.—This subchapter provides a common transportation 
planning program to be administered by the Federal High-
way Administration and the Federal Transit Administra-
tion. 
‘‘§ 5212. Definitions 
‘‘(a) APPLICABILITY BY REFERENCE.—Unless other-
wise specified in subsection (b), the definitions in section 
101(a) of title 23 and section 5302 are applicable to this 
subchapter. 
‘‘(b) ADDITIONAL DEFINITIONS.—In this subchapter, 
the following definitions apply: 
‘‘(1) METROPOLITAN PLANNING AREA.—The term 
‘metropolitan planning area’ means the geographic 
area determined by agreement between the metropoli-
760
tan planning organization for the area and the Gov-
ernor under section 5213(c). 
‘‘(2) 
METROPOLITAN
PLANNING
ORGANIZA-
TION.—The term ‘metropolitan planning organiza-
tion’ means the policy board of an organization cre-
ated as a result of the designation process in section 
5213(b). 
‘‘(3) NONMETROPOLITAN AREA.—The term ‘non-
metropolitan area’ means a geographic area outside 
designated metropolitan planning areas. 
‘‘(4) NONMETROPOLITAN LOCAL OFFICIAL.—The 
term ‘nonmetropolitan local official’ means elected 
and appointed officials of general purpose local gov-
ernment in a nonmetropolitan area with responsi-
bility for transportation. 
‘‘(5) TIP.—The term ‘TIP’ means a transpor-
tation improvement program developed by a metro-
politan planning organization under section 5213. 
‘‘(6) URBANIZED
AREA.—The term ‘urbanized 
area’ means a geographic area with a population of 
50,000 or more, as designated by the Bureau of the 
Census. 
‘‘§ 5213. Metropolitan transportation planning 
‘‘(a) GENERAL REQUIREMENTS.—
761
‘‘(1) DEVELOPMENT OF LONG-RANGE PLANS AND 
TIPS.—To accomplish the objectives in section 5211, 
metropolitan 
planning 
organizations 
designated 
under subsection (b), in cooperation with the State 
and public transportation operators, shall develop 
long-range transportation plans and transportation 
improvement programs for metropolitan planning 
areas of the State. 
‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—The plans and TIPs for each 
metropolitan area shall provide for the development 
and integrated management and operation of trans-
portation systems and facilities (including accessible 
pedestrian walkways and bicycle transportation fa-
cilities) that will function as an intermodal transpor-
tation system for the metropolitan planning area and 
as an integral part of an intermodal transportation 
system for the State and the United States. 
‘‘(3) PROCESS OF DEVELOPMENT.—The process 
for developing the plans and TIPs shall provide for 
consideration of all modes of transportation and shall 
be continuing, cooperative, and comprehensive to the 
degree appropriate, based on the complexity of the 
transportation problems to be addressed. 
‘‘(b) DESIGNATION OF METROPOLITAN PLANNING OR-
GANIZATIONS.—
762
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—To carry out the transpor-
tation planning process required by this section, a 
metropolitan planning organization shall be des-
ignated for each urbanized area with a population of 
more than 50,000 individuals—
‘‘(A) by agreement between the Governor 
and units of general purpose local government 
that together represent at least 75 percent of the 
affected population (including the largest incor-
porated city (based on population) as named by 
the Bureau of the Census); or 
‘‘(B) in accordance with procedures estab-
lished by applicable State or local law. 
‘‘(2) STRUCTURE.—Each metropolitan planning 
organization that serves an area designated as a 
transportation management area, when designated or 
redesignated under this subsection, shall consist of—
‘‘(A) local elected officials; 
‘‘(B) officials of public agencies that admin-
ister or operate major modes of transportation in 
the metropolitan area; and 
‘‘(C) appropriate State officials. 
‘‘(3) LIMITATION
ON
STATUTORY
CONSTRUC-
TION.—Nothing in this subsection shall be construed 
to interfere with the authority, under any State law
763
in effect on December 18, 1991, of a public agency 
with multimodal transportation responsibilities to—
‘‘(A) develop the plans and TIPs for adop-
tion by a metropolitan planning organization; 
and 
‘‘(B) develop long-range capital plans, co-
ordinate transit services and projects, and carry 
out other activities pursuant to State law. 
‘‘(4) CONTINUING DESIGNATION.—A designation 
of a metropolitan planning organization under this 
subsection or any other provision of law shall remain 
in effect until the metropolitan planning organization 
is redesignated under paragraph (5). 
‘‘(5) REDESIGNATION
PROCEDURES.—A metro-
politan planning organization may be redesignated 
by agreement between the Governor and units of gen-
eral purpose local government that together represent 
at least 75 percent of the existing planning area pop-
ulation (including the largest incorporated city (based 
on population) as named by the Bureau of the Cen-
sus) as appropriate to carry out this section. 
‘‘(6) DESIGNATION OF MORE THAN 1 METROPOLI-
TAN PLANNING ORGANIZATION.—More than 1 metro-
politan planning organization may be designated 
within an existing metropolitan planning area only
764
if the Governor and the existing metropolitan plan-
ning organization determine that the size and com-
plexity of the existing metropolitan planning area 
make designation of more than 1 metropolitan plan-
ning organization for the area appropriate. 
‘‘(c) METROPOLITAN PLANNING AREA BOUNDARIES.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For the purposes of this sec-
tion, the boundaries of a metropolitan planning area 
shall be determined by agreement between the metro-
politan planning organization and the Governor. 
‘‘(2) INCLUDED AREA.—Each metropolitan plan-
ning area—
‘‘(A) shall encompass at least the existing 
urbanized area and the contiguous area expected 
to become urbanized within a 20-year forecast 
period for the transportation plan; and 
‘‘(B) may encompass the entire metropoli-
tan statistical area or consolidated metropolitan 
statistical area, as defined by the Bureau of the 
Census. 
‘‘(3) IDENTIFICATION OF NEW URBANIZED AREAS 
WITHIN EXISTING PLANNING AREA BOUNDARIES.—The 
designation by the Bureau of the Census of new ur-
banized areas within an existing metropolitan plan-
771
‘‘(A) recipients of assistance under chapter 
53; 
‘‘(B) governmental agencies and nonprofit 
organizations (including representatives of the 
agencies and organizations) that receive Federal 
assistance from a source other than the Depart-
ment of Transportation to provide nonemergency 
transportation services; and 
‘‘(C) recipients of assistance under section 
204 of title 23. 
‘‘(f) SCOPE OF PLANNING PROCESS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The goals and objectives de-
veloped through the metropolitan planning process for 
a metropolitan planning area under this section shall 
address the following factors as they relate to the per-
formance of the metropolitan area transportation sys-
tems: 
‘‘(A) Support of the economic vitality of the 
metropolitan area, especially by enabling global 
competitiveness, productivity, and efficiency. 
‘‘(B) Increases in the safety and security of 
the transportation system for motorized and non-
motorized users. 
‘‘(C) Increases in the accessibility and mo-
bility of people and for freight.