Need for Speed Act

Summary#

The bill would require the Secretary of Transportation to work with a university-based transportation research institute to develop and maintain a national infrastructure intelligence tool aligned with the official highway performance monitoring system. The tool would combine publicly available federal, State, local, and private data to: identify locations of congestion; provide context about causes of congestion; quantify congestion impacts; and help guide faster deployment of congestion mitigation resources through investment and operational decisions.

The bill lists specific data and sources the tool should include or leverage, such as: a national speed dataset (operating speeds and posted speed limits) with at least 3 years of historical data for public paved roads; a national vehicle origin-and-destination dataset with at least 3 years of historical data; crash and safety data; asset condition data; commodity data (type, tonnage, value); truck parking demand and supply data; Federal congestion performance resources; and several named State and university tools and reports. The Secretary would update the tool at least annually and consult with State departments of transportation and other organizations.

The bill authorizes $50,000,000 to be appropriated from the Highway Trust Fund (other than the Mass Transit Account) to carry out this section. These amounts would be available for a period of 5 fiscal years and are in addition to other amounts otherwise made available for related work.

What it means for you#

• The tool would be made for use by the Department of Transportation, State and local transportation agencies, metropolitan planning organizations, other transportation agencies, coalitions of public agencies, and regional planning agencies.
• It would provide a consistent national resource to find where congestion occurs, show data that can help explain why congestion happens, and present measures to estimate the size of congestion impacts.
• The tool is intended to support faster decisions about where to invest money or change operations to address congestion.
• The Secretary must update the tool at least once a year and consult with State DOTs and other groups during development.

Expenses#

• The bill authorizes $50,000,000 to be appropriated from the Highway Trust Fund (other than the Mass Transit Account) to carry out the section.
• The authorized amounts would be available for 5 fiscal years.
• The bill states these amounts are additional to any other amounts otherwise made available to carry out this section.
• No publicly available information on total program cost, implementation cost estimates, or specific budgeting beyond the $50,000,000 authorization.

Proponents' View#

No publicly available information.

Opponents' View#

No publicly available information.