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Title 23, HighwaysRelease 119-110

§516 Research and Development

Title 23 › CHAPTER 5 — RESEARCH, TECHNOLOGY, AND EDUCATION › § 516

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary must run a broad program to research and test smart transportation systems, smart vehicles, and smart road technologies needed to carry out this chapter. The federal government will pay at most 80 percent of any project cost. Priority goes to projects that make travel easier and more productive (better traffic, transit, freight, tolls, traveler info, and road-weather tools), use work across different fields to fight congestion, study how weather and natural conditions (including cold) affect systems, help different transport modes and emergency or health services, improve safety (crash avoidance, notifications, commercial vehicle operations, and animal-detection to cut wildlife collisions), and link vehicle, infrastructure, and control technologies.

Full Legal Text

Title 23, §516

Highways, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)In General.—
The Secretary shall carry out a comprehensive program of intelligent transportation system research and development, and operational tests of intelligent vehicles, intelligent infrastructure systems, and other similar activities that are necessary to carry out this chapter.
(b)Priority Areas.—
Under the program, the Secretary shall give higher priority to funding projects that—
(1)enhance mobility and productivity through improved traffic management, incident management, transit management, freight management, road weather management, toll collection, traveler information, or highway operations systems and remote sensing products;
(2)use interdisciplinary approaches to develop traffic management strategies and tools to address multiple impacts of congestion concurrently;
(3)address traffic management, incident management, transit management, toll collection traveler information, or highway operations systems;
(4)incorporate research on the potential impact of environmental, weather, and natural conditions on intelligent transportation systems, including the effects of cold climates;
(5)enhance intermodal use of intelligent transportation systems for diverse groups, including for emergency and health-related services;
(6)enhance safety through improved crash avoidance and protection, crash and other notification, commercial motor vehicle operations, and infrastructure-based or cooperative safety systems, including animal detection systems to reduce the number of wildlife-vehicle collisions; or
(7)facilitate the integration of intelligent infrastructure, vehicle, and control technologies.
(c)Federal Share.—
The Federal share payable on account of any project or activity carried out under subsection (a) shall not exceed 80 percent.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2021—Subsec. (b)(6). Pub. L. 117–58 inserted “, including animal detection systems to reduce the number of wildlife-vehicle collisions” after “systems”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 2021 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 117–58 effective Oct. 1, 2021, see section 10003 of Pub. L. 117–58, set out as a note under section 101 of this title.

Effective Date

Section effective Oct. 1, 2012, see section 3(a) of Pub. L. 112–141, set out as an Effective and Termination Dates of 2012 Amendment note under section 101 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

23 U.S.C. § 516

Title 23, Highways

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110