Comstock Amendment on Traffic Congestion Study Passes House

Statement

Congresswoman Barbara Comstock (R-VA) released the following statement today after the House passed her amendment that included key provisions from the Surface Transportation Research and Development Act of 2015, a bipartisan bill that she has sponsored. The amendment will now be included in the Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform (STRR) Act of 2015, otherwise known as the Highway Bill, which is expected to pass the House later this week:

"Every day in our community families get into their cars and tackle the ever-increasing congestion that plagues Northern Virginia roads. My amendment that passed today will help ease that burden by investing in research, development, and new technologies to better understand traffic patterns and combat road congestion. This commonsense bipartisan measure will not only help with traffic congestion, it should also save money for taxpayers at the federal, state, and local levels. I thank my colleagues for their support."

Background on Comstock's Surface Transportation Research and Development amendment that passed on the House floor today:

The first part of the amendment further clarifies language in the underlying bill regarding universities' abilities to submit grant applications for the University Transportation Centers Program as either the lead or partnering applicant.

The second part directs the Secretary of Transportation to develop a 5-Year Strategic Plan for Transportation Research and Development. The purpose is to think strategically about the future of federal transportation R&D, and it requires the Secretary to:

Take input from external stakeholders;

Integrate the R&D programs of all the Department's modal administrations and joint programs; and

Consider any other R&D conducted by other federal, state, local, private sector, and nonprofit institutions.

​The third part of the amendment provides authority for the Assistant Secretary of Transportation for Research and Technology to conduct research to reduce traffic congestion. Goals and objectives of the research include:

Helping to accelerate the adoption of transportation management systems that allow traffic to flow in safe and efficient ways;

Assessing traffic, transit, and freight data from various sources;

Developing and disseminating strategies to reduce congestion for high-density traffic regions. This would be helpful to the National Capital Region which also affects the district; and

Collaborating with other federal, state, and local governments, as well as industry representatives and universities.

The fourth and final part of the amendment authorizes the Assistant Secretary to transmit a report to Congress on rail safety issues. Specifically, the report would cover the state of rail safety technologies and an analysis of whether industry is keeping up with innovations in technologies to make rail cars safer for passengers. The report would also have a determination of how much additional time and resources will be required for railroad carriers to meet the positive train control implementation requirements under law.

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