Public-Sector R&D
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The research recommendations of several reports were adopted by Congress in the 2005 reauthorization legislation for surface transportation.
Congress authorized a $70 million program of advanced, long-term research and called for greater stakeholder involvement in competitively solicited, merit-reviewed proposals in FHWA’s research programs;
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The Strategic Highway Research Program II was authorized at $50 million annually for 2006-2009;
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The Surface Transportation Environment and Planning Cooperative Research Program was authorized at $17 million annually;
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Authorization for the Transit Cooperative Research Program was continued and funding increased 22 percent;
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The Long-Term Pavement Performance Program was continued; and
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A recommended pilot program of research in hazardous material transportation was authorized at $5 million.
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Congress adopted the recommendations to create an Airport Cooperative Research Program in the 2003 reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration. Funding was appropriated beginning in the following year.
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The Federal Railroad Administration should focus its R&D program on projects that promise the largest safety benefits, work with industry to improve the quality of safety data, fund research into the development of performance-based safety regulations, and wrap up the promising development and testing of positive train control technologies.
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Congress created the recommended Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) in 1991.
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Congress created the recommended Transit Cooperative Research Program in the surface transportation reauthorization legislation of 1991.
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Congress funded the recommended $150 million, 5-year Strategic Highway Research Program in surface transportation legislation of 1987.
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Studies for BTS recommended that it (a) shift its emphasis from reliance on a small number of periodically collected general-purpose surveys to a family of surveys that could be addressed more specifically to user needs and collected on an ongoing basis and (b) develop a long-term strategic plan to collect comprehensive statistics on freight flows.
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