§510 Future Strategic Highway Research Program

Summary

Creates a future strategic highway research program that the Secretary must set up with the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and run through the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences. The program must follow the National Research Council Special Report 260 and the 2002–2003 planning work under Project 20–58. Research will focus on renewing aging roads with little disruption to users, studying driver behavior and crash causes, cutting nonrecurring congestion, and planning new road capacity to meet mobility, economic, environmental, and community needs. The research results must be shared with practicing engineers as soon as practical. The Council must pick projects by open competition and merit, involve State DOTs and other stakeholders in oversight, hire a qualified permanent core staff to manage multi‑year budgets, and avoid duplicating other Department research. The Secretary may give grants or cooperative agreements to AASHTO and the National Academy of Sciences to run the work. The Transportation Research Board must write a report on how to put research results into practice. The report must identify the most promising results and users, explain incentives and barriers, estimate implementation costs, and recommend how to coordinate and support implementation, including the best administrative setup. The Board must consult with the Federal Highway Administration, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and AASHTO, and send the report to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works and the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure by February 1, 2009. Federal funding will cover 100 percent of grant or agreement costs and remain available until spent; the Secretary may make advance payments. Claims for injury or loss from program activities against the National Academy of Sciences are handled like claims against the United States under 28 U.S.C. 1346(b) and 2672, with exclusivity and employee treatment under 28 U.S.C. 2671; awards must be paid first from NAS insurance, then program funds, then funds under 31 U.S.C. 1304, and may be treated as judgments under 28 U.S.C. 2414 or 2672. The Secretary may also use program funds to develop, demonstrate, evaluate, and transfer the technologies produced.