§16361 Arctic Engineering Research Center

Summary

The Secretary of Transportation, after consulting the appropriate Secretary and the U.S. Arctic Research Commission, must give yearly grants to a university next to the Department of Energy’s Arctic Energy Office to set up and run an Arctic Engineering Research Center in Fairbanks. The Center must research better ways to build and use materials so roads, bridges, rail, homes, businesses, and other infrastructure work well in Arctic conditions. It should focus on new construction methods that withstand the Arctic and save energy, improve safety and reliability, develop better or new materials for energy-efficient performance, and recommend local, regional, and State permitting and building code changes. The Center must do both basic and applied research reviewed by experts and run a program to turn research into usable technology. For each fiscal year 2006 through 2011, the Secretary must give $3,000,000 to that university, and up to $3,000,000 is authorized to be appropriated for each of those years.