Title II — Multimodal Transportation Research

“(G) $35,000,000 for fiscal year 2021, $35,875,000 for fiscal year 2022, $36,772,000 for fiscal year 2023, $37,691,000 for fiscal year 2024, and $38,633,000 for fiscal year 2025, shall be available to carry out section 5312;”

“(i) Improving the mobility of people and goods.

“(ii) Reducing Congestion.

“(iii) Promoting Safety.

“(iv) Improving the durability and extending the life of transportation infrastructure and the existing transportation system.

“(v) Preserving the environment.”

“5506. Resilient Transportation Infrastructure Centers of Excellence

“(a) Centers of excellence—The Secretary shall award grants to establish Centers of Excellence to advance research and development that improves the resilience of regions of the United States to natural disasters, extreme weather, and the effects of climate change on modal and multimodal transportation and infrastructure.

“(b) Activities—In carrying out this section, the Secretary shall ensure the Centers promote resilient infrastructure through—

“(1) development of new design, operations, and maintenance standards that incorporate existing and anticipated impacts of natural disasters, extreme weather, and climate change;

“(2) development and integration of new materials and technologies into existing and future modal and multimodal transportation infrastructure;

“(3) workforce development and training; and

“(4) development and dissemination of tools, techniques, and information that informs Federal, State, and local government decision making, policies, planning, and investments.

“(c) Center coordination—In making awards under subsection (f), the Secretary shall designate one of the Centers to coordinate activities of all five Centers to prevent duplication and promote dissemination of research among awardees.

“(d) Eligibility—An institution of higher education as defined by section 102 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002) or a consortium of institutions of higher education shall be eligible to receive grants under this program.

“(e) Location—Centers shall be located in diverse geographic regions that experience different natural disasters, extreme weather patterns, and climate change impacts.

“(f) Selection criteria—In awarding a grant, the Secretary shall-—

“(1) give preference to the recipient’s past performance in the activities related to subsection (b);

“(2) consider the extent to which an applicant’s proposal would involve participation by local, regional, and national stakeholders; and

“(3) consider the local, regional, and national impacts of the applicant’s proposal.

“(g) Use of funds—Funds awarded under this subsection shall be used for—

“(1) research and development;

“(2) education, workforce development, and outreach; and

“(3) technology transfer and commercialization.

“(h) Federal share—The Federal share of a grant under this subsection shall be 50 percent of the costs of establishing and operating the center of excellence and related activities carried out by the grant recipient.

“(i) Authorization of appropriations

“(1) Fiscal years 2021 through 2025—There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary $50,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2021 through 2025 for grants under this subsection.

“(2) Availability—Amounts appropriated pursuant to this paragraph shall remain available until expended.”

“70205. National cooperative freight transportation research program

“(a) Establishment—Not later than one year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Transportation shall establish and support a multimodal national cooperative freight transportation research program.

“(b) Agreement—Upon establishment of the program under (a), the Secretary shall enter into an agreement with the National Academy of Sciences to support and carry out administrative and management activities relating to the governance of the national cooperative freight transportation research program.

“(c) Advisory committee—The National Academy of Sciences shall select an advisory committee consisting of a representative cross-section of freight stakeholders, including the Department of Transportation, other Federal agencies, State transportation departments, local governments, nonprofit entities, academia, and the private sector.

“(d) Governance—The national cooperative freight transportation research program established under this section may include the following administrative and management elements:

“(1) National research agenda—The advisory committee, in consultation with interested parties, shall recommend a multi-year national research agenda for the program. At a minimum, the advisory committee shall consider—

“(A) techniques for estimating and quantifying public benefits derived from transportation projects;

“(B) methods for incorporating estimates of international trade, originating at both water and land ports, into landside transportation planning;

“(C) ways to synchronize infrastructure improvements with freight transportation demand, including impacts of e-commerce on freight demand, and strategies for better management;

“(D) the effect of changing patterns of freight movement on transportation planning decisions relating to rest areas and implementation of truck parking solutions;

“(E) new innovative technologies and tools for data collection, analysis, modeling, routing, and overall management of freight movement;

“(F) ways to advance deployment of freight intelligent transportation systems, including advanced information systems;

“(G) methods for developing the outreach tools and incentives to increase the workforce;

“(H) new methods and technologies for monitoring and enforcement, including data sharing and harmonization;

“(I) new methods and policies for incorporating freight in urban transportation and land use planning; and

“(J) other research areas, including human factors research, to identify and address emerging and future research needs related to freight transportation by all modes.

“(2) Program administration—In carrying out the program under this section, the National Academy of Sciences shall ensure, to the maximum extent practicable, that grants and contracts awarded under this section are selected through open competitions and merit review conducted on a regular basis.

“(3) Dissemination of research findings—The National Academy of Sciences shall disseminate research findings to researchers, practitioners, and decisionmakers, including through conferences and seminars, field demonstrations, workshops, presentations, testimony to government officials, the Internet, publications for the general public, and other appropriate means.

“(e) Funding

“(1) Use of non-federal funds—In addition to using funds authorized for this section, the National Academy of Sciences may seek and accept additional funding from non-Federal sources, including public and private entities.

“(2) Period of availability—Amounts made available to carry out this section shall remain available until expended.”

“5507. Heavy Freight Autonomous Trucking Research Corridor

“(a) In general—Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of the Surface Transportation Research and Development Act of 2020, the Secretary of Transportation shall establish a Heavy Freight Autonomous Trucking Research Initiative to lay the foundation for the broad scale adoption of autonomous freight trucking.

“(b) Responsibilities—In carrying out the Initiative established under subsection (a), the Secretary shall—

“(1) support and conduct research and development on automated and connected freight trucking with private industry, and industry associations, other Federal agencies, State and local Transportation agencies, research universities, and a National Transportation center selected under section 5505(c)(2) of title 49, United States Code; and

“(2) support or establish a heavy freight autonomous trucking research and development corridor and related pilot programs.

“(c) Research and development agenda—The Secretary, in consultation with interested parties, shall establish an agenda for research and development conducted under subsection (b)(1) and the programs described in subsection (b)(2) that at a minimum, include—

“(1) analyzing, modeling, and piloting the feasibility and benefits of dedicated autonomous trucking corridors, including their impact on—

“(A) long Distance Freight movement;

“(B) supply chains that are critical to the United States economy;

“(C) fuel economy and emissions;

“(D) transportation infrastructure;

“(E) vehicle miles traveled;

“(F) the freight trucking workforce; and

“(G) safety, accidents, and fatalities; and

“(2) providing deployment guidance, including for—

“(A) utilization costs models;

“(B) cyber-physical security; and

“(C) human factors, including training the next generation of the transportation workforce.

“(d) Eligibility—An institution of higher education (as defined by section 102 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002)) or a consortium composed of nonprofits and institutions of higher education shall be eligible to receive grants under this program.

“(e) Selection criteria—In awarding a grant, the Secretary shall—

“(1) give preference to the recipient’s past and current collaboration with local and state transportation agencies in activities related to section;

“(2) give preference to a recipient whose geographic location offer access to long haul tucking corridors;

“(3) consider the extent to which an applicant’s proposal would involve participation by local, regional, and national stakeholders; and

“(4) and consider the local, regional, and national impacts of the applicant’s proposal.

“(f) Federal share—The Federal share of a grant under this subsection shall be 50 percent of the costs of establishing and operating the test corridor and related activities carried out by the grant recipient.

“(g) Authorization of appropriations—There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary $6,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2021 through 2025 for grants under this section.”

“5508. Scoping a New Strategic Transportation Research Program

“(a) In general—Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall enter into an agreement with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to undertake a study of the research needs of the surface transportation system to fully adapt and integrate advanced technologies and innovation. The study shall include the following focus areas—

“(1) advancing connected and autonomous technologies;

“(2) incorporating safety-related technologies;

“(3) addressing infrastructure resiliency;

“(4) multimodal connectivity;

“(5) data gathering of travel behavior, including the public’s short and long-term responses to transformational technologies;

“(6) impacts of private-sector transportation product development on society and the traditional research enterprise;

“(7) support for a public-sector culture of transportation innovation and acceleration of federally funded research into practice, codes, and standards; and

“(8) fostering development of transportation educators and transportation professionals.

“(b) Report—The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine shall submit a report to Congress not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act.”

“5509. Advanced Transportation Research and Innovation Program

“(a) Establishment; purposes—The Secretary of Transportation shall establish the Advanced Transportation Research and Innovation Program, to be administered by the Assistant Secretary of Research and Technology. The purposes of the program shall be to—

“(1) support research that addresses the long-term barriers to development of multimodal advanced transportation technologies with the potential to meet the Nation’s long-term safety, competitiveness, and transportation goals;

“(2) support high-risk research and development to accelerate transformational transportation innovations and make Federal investments in emerging technology development;

“(3) leverage Federal interagency research mechanisms and the academic research enterprise;

“(4) educate and train students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields to conduct research and standards development relevant to transportation technologies, materials, systems, operations, processes, and policies; and

“(5) fostering collaboration among Federal researchers and academic researchers.

“(b) Interagency collaboration—The Secretary shall collaborate on, identify, and disseminate within the Department, as appropriate, advanced transportation research, development, and other activities of other Federal agencies, including the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Department of Homeland Security, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Department of Defense to ensure the Department’s research investments are making the best possible contribution to the Nation’s goals of public health and safety, economic prosperity, national security, and environmental quality.

“(c) Research grants—The Secretary may support the purposes of the program and carry out activities described under subsection (a) through—

“(1) competitive, merit-based basic research grants to individual investigators and teams of investigators; and

“(2) centers of excellence selected through a competitive, merit-based process.

“(d) Application

“(1) In general—An investigator, team of investigators, or an institution of higher education (or consortium thereof) seeking funding under this section shall submit an application to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary may require.

“(2) Research centers—Each application under paragraph (1) from an institution of higher education (or consortium thereof) shall include a description of how the Center will promote multidisciplinary transportation research and development collaboration.

“(e) Authorization of appropriations—There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $25,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 through 2025.

“(f) Research—At a minimum, the Secretary shall award 75 percent of awards under this program to projects for basic research.

“(g) Review—Not later than September 30, 2025, the Secretary shall enter into an agreement with the National Academies to conduct a review of the research and activities carried out under this program and assess whether they are consistent with meeting the purposes described in subsection (a). Members of the review panel shall represent, at a minimum, multimodal surface transportation researchers and practitioners.

“(h) Report—Not later than one year after the date of enactment of this Act, and biennially thereafter, the Secretary shall provide to the Committees on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and Environment and Public Works of the Senate and the Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure and Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives a report on implementation of this program and research areas that the program will support.”

“(F) developing and maintaining a diverse workforce in transportation sectors;”