[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 2 (Thursday, January 6, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E33-E34]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   INTRODUCTION OF H.R. 242, THE SURFACE TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH AND 
                        DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 2005

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. VERNON J. EHLERS

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, January 6, 2005

  Mr. EHLERS. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to introduce ``The Surface 
Transportation Research and Development Act of 2005.'' This legislation 
is actually a reintroduction of the bill that passed the Science 
Committee last Congress. After the bill passed the Science Committee, I 
worked with my colleagues on the Transportation and Infrastructure 
Committee to have many of the provisions included in the House version 
of the reauthorization of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st 
Century--better known as TEA-21. Unfortunately, the House and Senate 
were not able to reach consensus on a final transportation bill.
  As we prepare to complete the reauthorization early in this Congress, 
my legislation still provides the needed emphasis on transportation 
research and development that will ensure our whole transportation 
system can meet the tremendous challenges of today and especially for 
the future. Considering that we won't have the ability to simply build 
more roads to address these challenges, especially in urban areas, we 
must look at new ways to improve the overall system, to make it safer 
and more efficient, and to ensure that the system meets future needs. 
Good research, properly done, will more than pay for itself in longer-
lasting roads, better bridges, faster traffic flow, and fewer 
accidents.
  In the last Congress, as chairman of the House Science Subcommittee 
on Environment, Technology and Standards, which shares jurisdiction 
over surface transportation research with the Transportation and 
Infrastructure Committee, I held hearings to hear from experts on the 
state of the Federal Government's current surface transportation 
research program. In addition, we heard from a wide array of interests 
on how to improve and reform the research program, and the levels at 
which research should be funded. Based on this input, I introduced the 
Surface Transportation Research and Development Act last Congress.
  This legislation I am introducing today is identical to the bill that 
passed the Science Committee last Congress. It has three overarching 
goals: to increase stakeholder input to ensure that the people who must 
implement and use the research agree that it is applicable to everyday 
challenges; to create the highest quality research through increased 
competition and peer-review of all projects; and to ensure greater 
accountability so that our research supports the goals of our surface 
transportation system.
  More specifically, the bill:
  Creates and funds an important research program run by the National 
Academy of Sciences to address short to medium-term research needs. 
Research will focus on reducing congestion, renewing existing roads and 
bridges while minimizing impact to the public, improving safety by 
reducing crashes, and developing tools for getting more out of our 
existing highway capacity and assessing future needs. All projects 
funded by this program will be competitively awarded and peer-reviewed;
  Provides needed funds to implement a public-private cooperative 
environmental research program, with the goal of developing the 
knowledge, tools, and performance measures that will help us better 
understand and manage the linkage between the environment and the 
transportation system;
  Calls on the U.S. Department of Transportation to take the lead in 
carrying out fundamental, long-term research to achieve breakthroughs 
in transportation research;
  Increases funding for University Transportation Centers and ensures 
greater competition among universities which seek to become 
transportation research centers;
  Reforms and increases the responsiveness of the Bureau of 
Transportation Statistics to the needs of the transportation community; 
and
  Provides States with additional resources to better train and educate 
the transportation workforce.
  This legislation will significantly, yet prudently, increase funding 
for transportation research starting at $500 million a year in fiscal 
year 2006 for Federal research programs and gradually rising to $850 
million a year by 2010. When Congress increased funding for overall 
transportation programs by upwards of 40 percent in TEA-21, funding for 
transportation research remained relatively flat. I believe that lack 
of investment in research has hurt our ability to meet new challenges. 
My approach ensures that our transportation research is well planned, 
peer reviewed, properly funded and evaluated and will go a long way to 
help solve the many challenges facing our Nation's transportation 
system.
  I look forward to again working with my colleagues on the Science and 
Transportation and Infrastructure Committees, the U.S. Department of 
Transportation, state transportation departments, and all other 
interested stakeholders as we try to finish the job begun last 
Congress.

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