Graves’ bill brings transportation planning, management into 21st Century

U.S. Rep. Garret Graves (R-LA) recently introduced bipartisan legislation that would bolster America’s traffic management and planning to help save lives, manage traffic congestion, reduce emissions, improve freight and supply chain efficiencies, integrate traffic management systems, provide better travel information, support emergency response and public safety, and promote a safe systems approach.

“We are using traffic light technology from the 1800s to manage traffic in 2023,” Rep. Graves said. “Thankfully, our horses are now faster, and we’ve paved roads since then.” 

The Intelligent Transportation Integration Act, H.R. 1500, which U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-CA) cosponsored on March 9, would establish a program to use anonymized data from third-party entities to inform infrastructure planning decisions and to improve transportation management capabilities and efficiency on federally funded highways, according to the congressional record bill summary.

“Folks shouldn’t be sitting and waiting for the stop light when they are the only car at the signal,” said Rep. Graves. “Traffic needs to be managed as a network — dynamically juggling freight and commuter demands so folks can get from Point A to Point B faster, safer, and more efficiently. 

“Our bill will deploy smarter technologies to meet these demands and ensure that data is available to our transportation planners who can build a more efficient system for the future,” he added. 

ITS America endorsed the bill, which has been referred for consideration to the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

“Efficient and safe transportation corridors are not only critical to local commerce and our national economy, but they are also one of the most bedrock parts of a working family’s quality of life,” said Rep. Carbajal. “I’m proud to join my colleague Rep. Graves from the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to demonstrate that there is bipartisan interest in combating traffic, making our roadways more efficient, and leveraging data we already have to raise our constituent’s quality of life behind the wheel.”