TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Title I: Federal-Aid Highways

Subtitle A: Authorizations and Programs

Subtitle B: General Provisions

Subtitle C: Program Streamlining and Flexibility

Subtitle D: Safety

Subtitle E: Finance

Subtitle F: High Priority Projects

Title II: Highway Safety

Title III: Federal Transit Administration Programs

Title IV: Motor Carrier Safety

Title V: Transportation Research

Subtitle A: Funding

Subtitle B: Research and Technology

Subtitle C: Intelligent Transportation Systems

Title VI: Ozone and Particulate Matter Standards

Title VII: Miscellaneous

Subtitle A: Automobile Safety and Information

Subtitle B: Railroads

Subtitle C: Comprehensive One-Call Notification

Subtitle D: Sportfishing and Boating Safety

Title VIII: Transportation Discretionary Spending Guarantee

and Budget Offsets

Subtitle A: Transportation Discretionary Spending

Guarantee

Subtitle B: Veterans' Benefits

Subtitle C: Temporary Student Loan Provision

Subtitle D: Block Grants for Social Services

Title IX: Amendments of Internal Revenue Code of 1986

Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century - Title I: Federal-Aid Highways - Subtitle A: Authorizations and Programs - Authorizes appropriations from the Highway Trust Fund, other than the Mass Transit Account (HTF), for the following: (1) the Interstate Maintenance Program (IM); (2) the National Highway System (NHS); (3) the Bridge Program; (4) the Surface Transportation Program (STP); (5) the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program (CMAQ); (6) the Appalachian Development Highway System Program; (7) the Recreational Trails Program; (8) the Federal Lands Highways Program (FLHP); (9) National Corridor Planning and Development and Coordinated Border Infrastructure Programs; (10) Construction of Ferry Boats and Ferry Terminal Facilities; (11) the National Scenic Byways Program; (12) the Value Pricing Pilot Program; (13) the High Priority Projects Program; (14) Highway Use Tax Evasion Projects; and (15) the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Highway Program.

Directs that not less than ten percent of the amounts made available under titles I (Federal-Aid Highways), III (Federal Transit Administration Programs), and V (Transportation Research) of this Act be expended with small business concerns owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals. Requires: (1) States to annually survey and compile a list of disadvantaged business enterprises (DBEs) and to make certain written notifications to the Secretary of Transportation (the Secretary); and (2) the Secretary to establish minimum uniform criteria for State governments to use in certifying whether a concern qualifies. Sets forth provisions regarding compliance with court orders and review of the impact throughout the United States of administering DBE requirements.

(Sec. 1102) Sets forth specified obligation ceilings, and formulas for distribution of obligation authority and redistribution of unused obligation authority for Federal-aid highway programs. Limits obligations for administrative expenses.

(Sec. 1103) Rewrites provisions regarding: (1) administrative expenses to require the Secretary to deduct an amount not to exceed one and a half percent of apportionments under specified programs to administer legal provisions to be financed from appropriations for the Federal-aid highway program and for other highways, and to make transfers of appropriate sums to the Appalachian Regional Commission for administrative activities associated with the Appalachian Development Highway System; (2) the apportionment formulas under Federal highway provisions for the Interstate System (IS) and NHS, CMAQ, STP, and IM; (3) Operation Lifesaver and railway-highway crossing hazard elimination in high speed rail corridors to direct the Secretary to increase funds, before making STP apportionments, for such purposes and to include among eligible high speed rail corridors a Gulf Coast high speed railway corridor, a Keystone high speed railway corridor from Philadelphia to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and an Empire State railway corridor from New York City to Albany to Buffalo, New York; (4) the metropolitan planning set aside to delete references to outdated programs and provide that the set aside not be deducted from funds for the Recreational Trails Program; and (5) National Recreational Trails funding to direct the Secretary to deduct one and a half percent of sums authorized to carry out the recreational trails program for administration of, and research and technical assistance under, that program and for administration of the National Recreational Trails Advisory Committee, distributing the remainder with half apportioned equally among eligible States and half apportioned among such States in amounts proportionate to the degree of non-highway recreational fuel use in each of those States during the preceding year.

Authorizes the Secretary to reimburse the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Transportation (DOT) for the conduct of annual audits of financial statements pertaining to HTF.

Sets forth provisions regarding certain transfers of highway and transit funds, the effect of delay in deposits into HTF, and adjustments for the Surface Transportation Extension Act of 1997.

(Sec. 1104) Directs the Secretary: (1) for each of FY 1998 through 2003, to allocate sums to the States according to a list of State percentages of total apportionments for the IM, NHS, Bridge Program, CMAQ, STP, Metropolitan Planning, Minimum Guarantee, High Priority Projects, Appalachian Development Highway System, and Recreational Trails Programs; (2) to adjust such percentages, before making any apportionment, to reflect the estimated percentage of estimated tax payments attributable to highway users in each State paid into HTF in the latest fiscal year for which data is available, to ensure that no State's return is less than 90.5 percent; (3) on October 15 of FY 1999 and each fiscal year thereafter, to allocate an amount of funds determined under the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 for distribution according to a specified formula (and authorizes appropriations from HTF).

(Sec. 1106) Directs the Secretary to administer the NHS and IM as a combined program to allow States maximum flexibility.

Rewrites provisions regarding Federal-aid systems. Declares that NHS consists of highway routes and connections to transportation facilities depicted on the map submitted by the Secretary to the Congress with a specified report dated May 24, 1996.

Sets forth provisions regarding NHS components, maximum mileage of the NHS, modifications to the NHS, congressional high priority corridors, eligible NHS projects, and the IS.

Provides for an intermodal freight connectors study.

(Sec. 1107) Revises IM provisions to authorize the Secretary to approve: (1) projects for resurfacing, restoring, rehabilitating, and reconstructing certain designated IS routes, including in Alaska and Puerto Rico; and (2) a project on a toll road only if such road is subject to a secretarial agreement provided for or continued in effect by the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) and not voided by the Secretary under the Surface Transportation and Uniform Relocation Assistance Act of 1987.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) set aside specified sums for interstate discretionary projects; (2) give priority in selecting projects to fund to any project the cost of which exceeds $10 million on any high volume route in an urban area or a high truck-volume route in a rural area; and (3) conduct and report to the Congress on a study, in cooperation with States and affected metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), to determine the expected condition over the next ten years and the needs of States and MPOs to reconstruct and improve the IS, the resources necessary to maintain and improve the IS, and the means to ensure that the Nation's STP can address such needs and allow for States to address any extraordinary needs.

(Sec. 1108) Revises STP provisions to include among eligible projects: (1) the application of sodium acetate-formate or other environmentally acceptable, minimally corrosive anti-icing and de-icing compositions to bridges under the STP; (2) modification of public sidewalks to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990; (3) infrastructure-based intelligent transportation systems capital improvements; and (4) environmental restoration and pollution abatement projects to address water pollution or environmental degradation caused or contributed to by transportation facilities, subject to specified restrictions.

Requires: (1) States, with respect to STP fund obligations in urban areas, to comply with obligation rates over two equal three-year periods, as opposed to the existing requirement of complying over a single six-year period; and (2) the Secretary to encourage the States to enter into contracts and cooperative agreements with qualified youth conservation or service corps to perform appropriate transportation enhancement activities.

(Sec. 1109) Amends provisions regarding the highway bridge program to provide that if a State transfers funds apportioned to it in a fiscal year beginning after September 30, 1997, to any other apportionment of funds to such State, the total cost of deficient bridges in such State and in all States to be determined for the succeeding fiscal year shall be reduced by the amount of such transferred funds.

Grants the Secretary discretion regarding a portion of sums authorized for FY 1998 through 2003 for bridges under this Act.

(Sec. 1110) Includes among eligible CMAQ projects certain projects that improve traffic flow.

Authorizes an MPO, State transportation department, or other project sponsor to enter into an agreement with any public, private, or nonprofit entity to cooperatively implement CMAQ projects.

Directs the Secretary and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to: (1) enter into arrangements with the National Academy of Sciences to complete a study of CMAQ, including evaluations of the air quality impacts of motor vehicle emissions and the negative effects of traffic congestion, assessments of project effectiveness, and recommendations on improvements and expanding the scope of the program to address traffic-related pollutants not currently addressed; and (2) report to the Congress.

(Sec. 1111) Authorizes a State to: (1) determine a lower Federal share than that specified for IS and other projects; and (2) use as a credit toward the non-Federal share requirement toll revenues that are generated and used by public, quasi-public, and private agencies to build, improve, or maintain highways, bridges, or tunnels that serve the public purpose of interstate commerce, provided such agencies have built, improved, or maintained such facilities without Federal funds.

Makes an increased Federal share payable for certain safety projects applicable to transit vehicles.

(Sec. 1112) Directs the Secretary to carry out a program to provide and maintain recreational trails. Sets forth provisions regarding State responsibilities, use of apportioned funds, State consideration of proposals that benefit or mitigate the impact to the natural environment, the Federal cost share (80 percent), uses not permitted, project administration, contract authority, and termination of the advisory committee.

Permits a State to use appropriated funds for construction of new trails only if the construction is permissible under some other law or is otherwise required by a statewide comprehensive outdoor recreational plan in effect that is required by the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act. Places a cap on the amount that a State can expend on educational programs to promote safety and environmental protection at five percent of annual apportionments.

Modifies existing law to exclude all small States with a total land area of less than 3.5 million acres from the requirement to expend annual apportionments for trails and trails-related projects in a ratio of 40 percent diverse use, 30 percent motorized use, and 30 percent nonmotorized use. Allows a State trail advisory committee to waive the trails diversity requirement if the State notifies the Secretary that it does not have sufficient projects to meet the diversity requirements.

Authorizes States to make grants to private organizations, municipal, county, State, and Federal governmental entities after considering guidance from the recreational advisory committee for uses consistent with this section.

(Sec. 1113) Amends emergency relief provisions to authorize an emergency fund for expenditure by the Secretary, subject to specified restrictions, for the repair or reconstruction of highways, roads, and trails, in any part of the United States, including Indian reservations, that the Secretary finds to have suffered serious damage as a result of natural disaster over a wide area or catastrophic failure from any external cause. Prohibits the use of funds for the repair or reconstruction of bridges that have been permanently closed to all vehicular traffic by the State or responsible local official because of imminent danger of collapse due to a structural deficiency or physical deterioration. Authorizes appropriations from HTF to establish the fund and replenish it annually. Makes a specified project to repair or reconstruct a Federal-aid primary route in San Mateo County, California, eligible for assistance.

(Sec. 1114) Repeals provisions regarding economic growth center development highways. Revises provisions of ISTEA regarding highway use tax evasion projects to set the Federal share of such projects at 100 percent and to make available specified funds to the Secretary from HTF for FY 1998 through 2003. Authorizes a State to expend up to .25 percent of its annual Federal-aid apportionments on initiatives to halt the evasion of payment of motor fuel taxes.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) enter into a memorandum of understanding with the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for the development and maintenance by the IRS of an excise fuel reporting system; and (2) make available sufficient funds to the IRS to establish and operate an automated fuel reporting system.

(Sec. 1115) Authorizes the use of: (1) Federal land management agency funds to pay the non-Federal cost share of funded Federal-aid highway projects; and (2) FLHP funds to pay the non-Federal cost share of specified projects that provide access to or within Federal or Indian lands.

Modifies FLHP provisions to: (1) provide for the allocation of funds for Indian reservation roads for FY 2000 and thereafter, based on a funding formula that reflects the relative needs of the Indian tribes for transportation assistance and the relative administrative capacities of, and challenges faced by, various Indian tribes; (2) require the Secretary to establish a nationwide priority program for improving deficient Indian reservation road bridges; and (3) establish a coordinated FLHP.

Requires: (1) the Secretary to develop transportation planning procedures that are consistent with required metropolitan and statewide planning processes; (2) the Secretary's approval of the transportation improvement program (TIP); (3) that all regionally significant FLHP projects be developed in cooperation with States and MPOs and be included in appropriate FLHP, State, and metropolitan plans and TIPs; (4) the inclusion of the approved FLHP TIP in appropriate State and MPO plans and programs without further action on the TIP; and (5) the Secretary and the Secretary of each appropriate Federal land management agency to develop safety, bridge, pavement, and congestion management systems for roads funded under the FLHP. Allows funds available for public lands highways, park roads and parkways, and Indian reservation roads to be used by the Secretary and the appropriate Federal land management agency to pay for the cost of transportation planning, research, engineering, and construction of the highways, roads, and parkways, or of transit facilities within public lands, national parks, and Indian reservations.

Includes among eligible projects a project to build a replacement of the federally owned bridge over Hoover Dam in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area between Nevada and Arizona.

Directs: (1) the Secretary to transfer to the appropriate Federal land management agency from amounts made available for public lands highways such amounts as necessary to pay the cost to the agency to conduct necessary transportation planning for Federal lands if funding for the planning is not otherwise provided, and to allocate sums each October 1 for refuge roads according to the relative needs of the various refuges in the National Wildlife Refuge System, taking into consideration the comprehensive conservation plan, the need for access, and the impact of land use planning on existing transportation facilities; and (2) the Indian tribal government, in cooperation with the Secretary of the Interior and, as appropriate, with a State, local government, or MPO, to carry out a transportation planning process in accordance with this Act.

(Sec. 1116) Amends the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge Authority Act of 1995 to direct the Secretary to convey to the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge Authority (as under current law), or any Capital Region jurisdiction, all rights to the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge.

Modifies ownership provisions of the Act to require the Secretary to submit to the Congress a proposed agreement which shall: (1) identify whether the Authority or a Capital Region jurisdiction will accept ownership of the new Bridge; (2) contain a financial plan satisfactory to the Secretary which shall be prepared before the execution of the agreement and which shall specify the total cost of the project, a schedule for project implementation, and specified funding sources; and (3) require that the project include not more than 12 traffic lanes, including eight general purpose lanes, two merging-diverging lanes, and two high occupancy vehicle, express bus, or rail transit lanes; that all provisions described in the environmental impact statement for the project or the record of decision for the project for mitigation and other impacts of the project be implemented; and that the Authority and the Capital Region jurisdictions develop an ongoing process to fully integrate affected local governments in carrying out the engineering, design, and construction phases of the project.

Authorizes appropriation of $900 million through FY 2003 from HTF for the project. Limits the availability of apportioned funds for construction, but permits the Secretary to fund Bridge maintenance and rehabilitation, the design of the project, and right-of-way acquisition, including early acquisition of construction staging areas.

(Sec. 1117) Directs the Secretary to apportion specified funds for FY 1998 through 2003 among the States based on the latest available cost-to-complete estimate for the Appalachian development highway system prepared by the Appalachian Regional Commission. Increases the Federal share for pre-financed projects. Designates an addition to Corridor O in Pennsylvania.

(Sec. 1118) Requires the Secretary to establish and implement a program to make allocations to States and MPOs for coordinated planning, design, and construction of corridors of national significance, economic growth, and international or interregional trade. Authorizes a State or MPO to apply to the Secretary for such allocations. Requires recipients of such allocations to develop, and submit to the Secretary for review, a corridor development and management plan.

(Sec. 1119) Directs the Secretary to establish and implement a coordinated border infrastructure program under which the Secretary may make allocations to border States and MPOs for areas within the boundaries of one or more border States for projects to improve the safe movement of people and goods at or across the borders between the United States and Canada, and the United States and Mexico. Authorizes the Secretary, at the request of the Administrator of General Services, to transfer specified funds to the Administrator for the construction of transportation infrastructure necessary for law enforcement in the border States.

Subtitle B: General Provisions - Rewrites provisions regarding definitions, including the addition of definitions for "refuge road" and "safety improvement project."

(Sec. 1202) Revises provisions regarding bicycle transportation and pedestrian walkways to authorize the use of NHS funds for pedestrian walkways. Directs that bicyclists and pedestrians be given due consideration in the comprehensive transportation plans developed by each MPO and State, and that transportation plans and projects provide due consideration for safety and contiguous routes for bicyclists and pedestrians.

Requires: (1) the Secretary to develop guidance on the various approaches to accommodating bicycles and pedestrian travel. Prohibits the Secretary from approving any project or taking any regulatory action that will result in the severance of an existing major route or have significant adverse impact on the safety for non-motorized transportation traffic and light motorcycles, unless such project or action provides for a reasonable alternate route or such a route exists; and (2) a State, in carrying out railway-highway crossing projects, to take into account bicycle safety.

Authorizes the Secretary to develop a national bicycle safety education curriculum that may include courses relating to on-road training. Makes specified funds available for FY 1999.

(Sec. 1203) Revises metropolitan planning provisions to include economic growth and development as a general requirement in metropolitan planning.

Provides that, in the case of an urbanized area designated after this Act's enactment as a nonattainment area for ozone or carbon monoxide, the boundaries of existing or new MPO boundaries will be retained, but may be adjusted by agreement of the governor and the affected MPOs.

Replaces 16 factors to be considered in the planning process with seven general factors consisting of projects and strategies that will: (1) support the economic vitality of the metropolitan area, especially by enabling global competitiveness, productivity, and efficiency; (2) increase the safety and security of the transportation system for motorized and nonmotorized users; (3) increase the accessibility and mobility options available to people and for freight; (4) protect and enhance the environment, promote energy conservation, and improve quality of life; (5) enhance the integration and connectivity of the transportation system, across and between modes, for people and freight; (6) promote efficient system management and operation; and (7) emphasize the preservation of the existing transportation system.

Adds freight shippers and providers of freight transportation services, and representatives of users of public transit, to the list of persons to be given an opportunity to comment on metropolitan long-range plans and programs.

Allows an MPO to include an illustrative list of projects that would be included on the TIP if additional resources were available.

(Sec. 1204) Consolidates 20 factors in statewide planning into the seven general factors. Specifies that failure to consider any specified factor in formulating plans, projects, or strategies or in the certification of planning processes is not reviewable in court.

Adds freight shippers and providers of freight transportation services and representatives of users of public transit to the list of persons to be given an opportunity to comment on statewide long-range plans and programs.

Allows a State to include an illustrative list of projects that would be included on the TIP if additional resources were available.

Gives States flexibility to move projects within a three-year TIP without the Secretary's approval or action if the governor and MPO agree. Requires States to consult with local officials with responsibility for transportation when formulating plans and programs.

(Sec. 1205) Authorizes a State to procure, under a single contract, the services of a consultant to prepare any environmental impact assessments or analyses required for a project, as well as subsequent engineering and design work, if the State conducts a review that assesses the objectivity of the assessment or analysis prior to its submission to the Secretary.

(Sec. 1206) Prohibits a State or political subdivision thereof from enacting or enforcing a law that applies only to motorcycles, the principal purpose of which is to restrict motorcycle access to any highway or portion of a highway for which Federal-aid highway funds have been utilized for planning, design, construction, or maintenance.

(Sec. 1207) Modifies provisions regarding ferries to authorize the Secretary to permit Federal participation in the construction of a ferry boat and terminal facility that is publicly operated or majority publicly owned if such boat or facility provides substantial public benefits.

Provides for the obligation of specified sums for the construction or refurbishment of ferry boats and terminal facilities and approaches within marine highway systems that are part of the NHS, including set-asides for the States of Alaska, New Jersey, and Washington.

Directs the Secretary to conduct a study of ferry transportation in the United States and report to specified congressional committees.

(Sec. 1208) Allows a State to reserve training positions for welfare recipients. Authorizes the Secretary to develop, conduct, and administer highway technology training, and to develop and fund summer transportation institutes.

(Sec. 1209) Authorizes a State to permit a vehicle with fewer than two occupants to operate in high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes if the vehicle is certified as an Inherently Low-Emission Vehicle.

(Sec. 1210) Directs the Secretary to establish an advanced travel forecasting procedures program. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1998 through 2003.

(Sec. 1211) Amends: (1) ISTEA to authorize the Secretary, the Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration, or their designees to serve as ex officio members of the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania Station Redevelopment Corporation; and (2) the National Visitor Center Facilities Act of 1968 to authorize such persons to serve as ex officio members of the Board of Directors of the Union Station Redevelopment Corporation.

Amends the National Highway System Designation Act of 1995 to: (1) remove Maine from the list of States (currently, Maine and New Hampshire) to which specified safety belt use law requirements apply (and extends such requirements with respect to New Hampshire by requiring a belt use rate of at least 50 percent through FY 2000); (2) prohibit the Secretary from requiring States to use or plan the use of the metric system (currently, the Secretary may not require such action before September 30, 2000); and (3) reauthorize and extend the winter home heating oil delivery program.

Terminates the right-of-way revolving fund (provides for a 20-year close-out period), a pilot toll collection program, and a congressional bridge commission.

Amends: (1) ISTEA to include specified high priority corridors on the NHS in various States and to direct the Secretary to approve one or more substitute projects in lieu of a specified project in Wisconsin at the request of the Governor of Wisconsin if submitted by October 1, 2000; (2) the Surface Transportation and Uniform Relocation Assistance Act of 1987 to reduce the scope of a project in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and (3) the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982 to repeal certain lane restrictions in unincorporated areas of Alameda County, California.

(Sec. 1212) Replaces references to State highway departments with references to State transportation departments.

Authorizes the Secretary to fund the production of a documentary that demonstrates how public works and infrastructure projects stimulate job growth and the economy and contribute to the general welfare of the Nation.

Amends ISTEA to extend through October 1, 2003, a temporary exemption for public transit vehicles from specified axle weight limitations on the IS.

Sets forth provisions regarding vehicle weight limitations in Colorado, Louisiana, Maine, and New Hampshire. Directs such States to conduct specified studies with respect to such limitations.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) make grants to establish a driver training and safety center at Connellsville, Pennsylvania, and a welcome center in Point Pleasant, West Virginia; (2) make grants to a national, not-for-profit organization engaged in promoting bicycle and pedestrian safety; (3) establish a heavy equipment operator training facility in Hibbing, Minnesota; (4) make grants to the State of Pennsylvania to establish and operate an advanced tractor trailer safety and operator training facility in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania; and (5) provide specified funds for the High Priority Las Vegas Intermodal Center.

(Sec. 1213) Directs the Comptroller General of the United States to conduct: (1) an evaluation of the methodology used by DOT to determine highway needs using the highway economic requirement system (the model); (2) a study on the extent to which the model can be used to provide States with useful information for developing State transportation investment plans and State infrastructure investment projections; (3) a study on the international roughness index that is used as an indicator of pavement quality on the Federal-aid highway system; (4) a study on the extent and effectiveness of State use of uniformed police officers on Federal-aid highway construction projects; and (5) a study to assess the impact that a utility company's failure to relocate its facilities in a timely manner has on the delivery and cost of Federal-aid highway and bridge projects. Sets forth reporting requirements.

Directs the Secretary to conduct: (1) a comprehensive assessment of the state of the transportation infrastructure on the southwest U.S.-Mexican border; (2) a study to examine the impact of truck weight standards on specialized hauling vehicles; (3) a study to determine practices in States for specific service food signs; (4) a study of State laws relating to penalties for violation of State commercial motor vehicle weight laws; and (5) a study to assess the feasibility of providing high speed rail passenger service from Atlanta, Georgia, to Charleston, South Carolina. Sets forth reporting requirements.

Requires the Secretary to: (1) request the National Academy of Sciences' Transportation Research Board to conduct a study regarding the regulation of weights, lengths, and widths of commercial motor vehicles operating on Federal-aid highways to which Federal regulations apply on the date of this Act's enactment; and (2) enter into an agreement with the State of Oklahoma to carry out a traffic analysis to determine the feasibility of a trade processing center in McClain County, Oklahoma.

(Sec. 1214) Directs the Secretary to: (1) conduct a study of methods to improve pedestrian and vehicular access to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and to report to the Congress; (2) allocate specified sums for certain transportation-related exhibits at the Smithsonian Institution; (3) allocate to the Secretary of the Interior certain sums for the planning, design, and construction of a visitor center and related facilities at the New River Gorge National River, West Virginia; and (4) make certain funds available to States encompassing an Indian reservation having a land area of at least 10 million acres. Authorizes appropriations.

Authorizes the Secretary to carry out reconstruction projects of highways located outside the United States that are important to the national defense. Makes funds available for obligation.

Directs the Secretary to make funds available for various projects, such as the removal of asphalt runways at Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge and revitalization of the Tredegar Iron Works to serve as a visitor center for Richmond National Battlefield Park.

(Sec. 1215) Directs the Secretary to allocate funds for various projects, such as the restoration of the Gettysburg, Pennsylvania train station, and to establish a center for national scenic byways in Duluth, Minnesota. Authorizes appropriations.

(Sec. 1216) Amends ISTEA to: (1) increase from five to 15 the number of value (formerly, congestion) pricing pilot programs eligible for funding; (2) require the Secretary to fund all pre-implementation costs, but prohibits Federal funding of such costs after three years; (3) remove the three-program cap on the number of such programs on which the Secretary shall allow the use of tolls on the IS; (4) provide an exemption from HOV restrictions to permit single occupancy vehicles to operate in HOV lanes if the vehicles are part of a value pricing program; and (5) require any value pricing pilot program to include, if appropriate, an analysis of the impact of the program on low income drivers. Makes sums available from HTF for FY 1998 through 2003.

Directs the Secretary to establish and implement an IS reconstruction and rehabilitation pilot program.

(Sec. 1217) Makes a specified project to repair or reconstruct a Federal-aid primary route in San Mateo County, California, eligible for assistance. Lists several other projects in various States that are eligible for assistance.

(Sec. 1218) Requires the Secretary to solicit applications from States, or authorities designated by one or more States, for financial assistance authorized for planning, design, and construction of eligible MAGLEV (i.e., transportation systems employing magnetic levitation that would be capable of safe use by the public at a speed in excess of 240 miles per hour) projects.

Sets forth provisions regarding project eligibility; the Federal cost share; project selection criteria; preconstruction planning and final design, engineering, and construction activities; and joint ventures. Authorizes appropriations. Permits the use by a State of certain STP and CMAQ funds to pay a portion of project costs.

(Sec. 1219) Directs the Secretary to: (1) carry out a national scenic byways program that recognizes roads having outstanding scenic, historic, cultural, natural, recreational, and archeological qualities; (2) eliminate any programmatic decisionmaking responsibility of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) for the Federal-aid highway program as part of FHWA's efforts to restructure its field organization; and (3) establish a comprehensive initiative to investigate and address the relationships between transportation and community and system preservation and identify private sector-based initiatives.

(Sec. 1222) Amends the Appalachian Regional Development Act of 1965 to expand the counties that comprise the Appalachian Region.

(Sec. 1223) Authorizes the Secretary to: (1) give priority to funding for a transportation project relating to an international quadrennial Olympic or Paralympic event, or a Special Olympics International event, if the project meets the extraordinary needs associated with such an event and the project is otherwise eligible for assistance; (2) participate in planning activities of States and MPOs and transportation projects relating to such an event and in developing intermodal transportation plans necessary for the projects in coordination with State and local transportation agencies; and (3) provide assistance to States and local governments in carrying out transportation projects relating to such an event.

Sets an 80 percent Federal cost share for such a project. Authorizes appropriations from HTF for FY 1998 through 2003.

Subtitle C: Program Streamlining and Flexibility - Amends Federal highway provisions to: (1) authorize advance acquisition of real property for transportation improvements (currently, limited to highway projects); and (2) provide a credit for acquired lands based on the value of publicly owned lands incorporated within a federally funded project if such land is lawfully obtained by the State or local government, is not park land, and the Secretary determines it will not influence the environmental assessment of the project.

Directs that a contribution by a local governmental unit of real property, funds, or material in connection with a project eligible for assistance be credited against the State share of the project at fair market value.

(Sec. 1302) Repeals a restriction that applies the Federal-non-Federal matching share requirement to each payment a State receives for construction. Makes the requirement applicable to total project costs rather than to individual voucher payments.

(Sec. 1303) Replaces provisions regarding income from airspace rights-of-way with provisions regarding proceeds from the sale or lease of real property acquired with assistance from HTF.

(Sec. 1304) Directs the State to pay an amount equal to the amount of Federal funds made available for preliminary engineering of a highway project if on-site construction of, or acquisition of the right-of-way for, such project is not commenced within ten years after the date on which Federal funds are first made available out of HTF (current law), or such longer period as the State requests and the Secretary determines to be reasonable.

(Sec. 1305) Rewrites provisions regarding State plans, specifications, and estimates for projects (plans) to direct that: (1) the Secretary act upon plans submitted by the State transportation department as soon as practicable after the date of their submission and enter into an agreement formalizing the conditions of project approval; and (2) the project agreement make provision for State funds required to pay the State's non-Federal share of project construction cost and maintenance after completion of construction.

Authorizes the State to assume the Secretary's responsibilities for design, plans, specifications, estimates, contract awards, and project inspections under specified circumstances.

Requires that a recipient of Federal financial assistance for a project with an estimated total cost of $1 billion or more submit to the Secretary an annual financial plan for the project, based on detailed annual estimates of the cost to complete the remaining project elements and on reasonable assumptions of future cost increases to complete the project.

Directs the Secretary to develop recommendations for the States to conduct life-cycle cost analyses.

(Sec. 1306) Repeals a requirement that the Secretary issue guidelines describing the criteria applicable to the IS. Specifies that safety considerations for a project may be met by phase construction consistent with the operative safety management system or in accordance with a statewide transportation improvement program approved by the Secretary.

(Sec. 1307) Authorizes a State transportation department or local transit agency to award a "design-build contract" (defined as an agreement that provides for design and construction of a project by a contractor, whether in the form of a design-build contract, a franchise agreement, or any other form of contract approved by the Secretary) for a qualified project using any procurement process permitted by applicable State and local law. Prohibits final design under such a contract from commencing before compliance with requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969.

Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) the inapplicability of a standardized contract clause concerning site conditions, certain suspensions of work ordered by the State, and material changes in the scope of work specified in the contract; (2) regulations to be issued by the Secretary; (3) the approval of design-build contracts during the transition period before such regulations take effect three years after this Act's enactment date; and (4) a reporting requirement to the Congress on the effectiveness of design-build contracting procedures.

(Sec. 1308) Directs the Secretary to: (1) eliminate the major investment study as a separate requirement and to integrate such requirement, as appropriate, as part of analyses required pursuant to specified planning provisions for Federal-aid highway and transit projects; and (2) develop and implement a coordinated environmental review process for highway construction projects.

(Sec. 1310) Sets forth provisions regarding the transfer of Federal-aid highway funds to other apportionments.

Subtitle D: Safety - Expands the list of projects eligible for hazard elimination program funds to include projects that would remove road hazards to any public surface transportation facility or any publicly owned bicycle or pedestrian pathway or trail.

(Sec. 1402) Directs the Secretary to: (1) issue guidance regarding the benefits and safety performance of redirective and nonredirective crash cushions in different road applications; and (2) conduct a study on the technologies and methods to enhance safety, streamline construction, and improve capacity by providing positive separation at all times between traffic, equipment, and workers on highway construction projects. Sets forth reporting requirements.

(Sec. 1403) Provides incentive grants to States that either obtain a State seat belt use rate above the national average or increase the State seat belt usage. Directs the Secretary to use sums made available to make allocations to States to carry out innovative projects to promote increased seat belt use rates. Makes funding available from HTF for FY 1999 through 2003.

(Sec. 1404) Directs the Secretary to make a grant to any State that has enacted and is enforcing a law that provides that any person with a blood alcohol concentration of .08 percent or greater while operating a motor vehicle in the State shall be deemed to have committed a per se offense (or an equivalent per se offense) of driving while intoxicated. Authorizes appropriations from HTF for FY 1998 through 2003.

Subtitle E: Finance - Chapter 1 - Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation - Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act of 1998 - Establishes a transportation Federal credit assistance pilot program to provide alternative financing for eligible surface transportation projects and projects for an international bridge or tunnel for which an international entity authorized under Federal or State law is responsible, for intercity passenger bus or rail facilities and vehicles, and for certain publicly owned intermodal surface freight transfer facilities.

Sets forth eligibility and project selection criteria, including: (1) the extent to which the project is nationally or regionally significant; (2) the creditworthiness of the project; (3) the extent to which assistance would foster innovative public-private partnerships and attract private debt or equity investment; (4) the likelihood that assistance would enable the project to proceed at an earlier date than it would otherwise; (5) the extent to which the project uses new technologies that enhance project efficiency; (6) the amount of budget authority required to fund the Federal credit instrument made available herein; (7) the extent to which the project helps maintain or protect the environment; and (8) the extent to which assistance would reduce the contribution of Federal grant assistance to the project.

Requires the Secretary to require each applicant to provide a preliminary rating opinion letter from at least one rating agency indicating that the project's senior obligations have the potential to achieve an investment-grade rating.

Authorizes the Secretary to enter into agreements with one or more obligers to make secured loans, the proceeds of which shall be used to finance eligible project costs, or to refinance interim construction financing of eligible project costs (subject to a limitation), of any projected selected. Directs the Secretary, in consultation with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget and each rating agency providing a preliminary rating opinion letter, to determine an appropriate capital reserve subsidy amount for each secured loan, taking such letter into account.

Makes the funding of a secured loan contingent on the project's senior obligations receiving an investment-grade rating, with exceptions.

Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) secured loan terms and limitations, repayment schedules, sales of secured loans, and loan guarantees; (2) lines of credit; (3) project servicing; and (4) State and local permits. Authorizes appropriations from HTF for FY 1999 through 2003. Sets forth credit limits and reporting requirements.

Directs the Secretary to develop and coordinate Federal policy on financing transportation infrastructure, including the provision of direct Federal credit assistance and other techniques used to leverage Federal transportation funds.

Chapter 2: State Infrastructure Bank Pilot Program - Authorizes the Secretary to enter into cooperative agreements with the States of California, Florida, Missouri, and Rhode Island for the establishment of State and multistate infrastructure banks for making loans and providing other specified assistance to public and private entities to carry out eligible projects. Grants congressional consent to States entering into an interstate compact establishing such a bank.

Sets forth provisions regarding funding, capitalization grants, a special rule for urbanized areas of over 200,000, forms of assistance, qualifying projects, infrastructure bank requirements, a limit on repayments, secretarial requirements, applicability of Federal law, non-obligation of the United States to any third party, management of Federal funds, and program administration.

Subtitle F: High Priority Projects - Authorizes the Secretary to carry out a high priority projects program under which specified funds shall be made available for various projects in different States for FY 1998 through 2003. Sets forth provisions regarding allocation percentages, the Federal share, delegation of responsibility to States, advance construction, period of funds availability, availability of obligation limitation, and treatment of funds for programmatic purposes.

Title II: Highway Safety - Amends Federal highway law to: (1) require State uniform guidelines for highway safety programs to include accident prevention programs and provisions for enforcement of light transmission standards of glazing for passenger motor vehicles and light trucks as necessary to improve highway safety; (2) increase the minimum apportionment to the Secretary of the Interior for Indian tribes for highway safety programs from one-half to three-fourths of one percent of the total apportionment; (3) apply to Indian tribes, with exceptions, certain requirements for access for physically handicapped across curbs at pedestrian crosswalks; (4) extend to tribes in Indian Country the authorization of highway safety program grants for Indian tribes; and (5) replace a mandatory rulemaking process with one authorizing the Secretary of Transportation (the Secretary, unless otherwise indicated) to periodically identify highway safety programs that are highly effective in reducing motor vehicle crashes, injuries, and deaths.

(Sec. 2001) Directs the Secretary to: (1) allow States to use highway safety program funds to purchase television and radio time for highway safety public service messages; and (2) study and report to the Congress on the effectiveness of purchasing such time for highway safety public service messages.

(Sec. 2002) Authorizes the use of safety research funds for training in work zone safety management.

Authorizes the Secretary to carry out safety research with respect to: (1) measures that may deter drugged driving; and (2) programs to train law enforcement officers on motor vehicle pursuits.

(Sec. 2003) Directs the Secretary to make occupant protection incentive grants to States that adopt and implement effective programs to reduce highway deaths and injuries resulting from individuals riding unrestrained or improperly restrained in motor vehicles.

Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to States to carry out child passenger protection programs. Authorizes appropriations.

(Sec. 2004) Revises requirements for the alcohol-impaired driving countermeasures program (which provides for grants to States that adopt and implement effective programs to reduce traffic safety problems resulting from individuals driving while under the influence of alcohol). Eliminates drugged driving prevention from the program. Divides basic grants into: (1) basic grant A for meeting certain existing requirements, plus new requirements for a three-stage graduated licensing system for young drivers and programs targeting drivers with high blood alcohol concentrations (BAC); and (2) basic grant B for certain reductions in a State's percentage of fatal impaired drivers with a BAC of 0.10 or greater.

Provides for supplemental grants if a State: (1) acquires video equipment for detection of drunk drivers, and passive alcohol sensors, among other things; and (2) demonstrates an effective driving while intoxicated (DWI) tracking system.

(Sec. 2005) Directs the Secretary to make grants to States that take specified actions to advance highway safety with respect to State highway safety data improvements.

(Sec. 2006) Authorizes the Secretary to enter into an agreement with an organization that represents the interests of the States to manage, administer, and operate the National Driver Register's (NDR) computer timeshare and user assistance functions. Declares that any transfer of such functions to an organization that represents the interests of the States shall begin only after the Secretary determines that all States are participating in NDR's "Problem Driver Pointer System" and that the system is functioning properly.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) evaluate the implementation of the NDR and motor carrier and commercial driver license information systems and identify alternatives to improve the ability of States to exchange information about unsafe drivers and to identify drivers with multiple licenses; and (2) make an assessment of available electronic technologies to improve access to and exchange of motor vehicle driving records (including consideration of alternative unique motor vehicle driver identifiers that would facilitate accurate matching of drivers and their records). Authorizes appropriations.

(Sec. 2007) Directs the Secretary to study and report to the Congress on: (1) the benefit to public safety of the use of blowout resistant tires on commercial motor vehicles and the potential to decrease the incidence of accidents and fatalities from accidents occurring as a result of blown out tires; and (2) occupant safety in school buses.

(Sec. 2008) Directs the Comptroller General to study and report to specified congressional committees on the effectiveness in reducing the number and severity of alcohol-involved crashes of State laws that deem any individual with a BAC of .08 percent or greater (.02 percent or greater for persons under age 21) to be DWI.

(Sec. 2009) Authorizes appropriations out of the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) for: (1) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) highway safety programs, and highway safety research and development (R&D) (earmarking amounts for research related to the effects of drugs and driver behavior on highway safety, training of law enforcement officers on motor vehicle pursuits, and educating the motoring public on how to share the road safely with commercial motor vehicles); (2) occupant protection incentive grants; (3) the alcohol-impaired driving countermeasures incentive grant program; (4) State highway safety data grants; and (5) the NDR.

Title III: Federal Transit Administration Programs - Federal Transit Act of 1998 - Amends Federal mass transportation law to include among capital projects any transit-related intelligent transportation systems, preventive maintenance, leasing of equipment and facilities, mass transportation improvement that enhances economic development or incorporates private investment, as well as the introduction of new technology and provision of nonfixed route paratransit transportation services.

(Sec. 3004) Revises metropolitan planning requirements, including those related to development, process and scope, designation of metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), including metropolitan planning areas, MPO duties, metropolitan transportation improvement program, information publication, and transportation management areas.

Requires MPOs to include representatives of public transit users.

(Sec. 3007) Changes the capital project block grant program into an urbanized area formula grant program. Repeals authority to finance operating costs generally under the program. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to finance the operating cost of equipment and facilities for use in mass transportation only in an urbanized area with a population of less than 200,000.

Changes the interest allowance under the covered cost of advance construction projects from a specified formula to the most favorable financing terms reasonably available, given the applicant's reasonable diligence in seeking them.

Declares that one percent of the block grant funds apportioned to urbanized areas of at least 200,000 population shall only be available for transit enhancement activities.

(Sec. 3008) Establishes a clean fuels formula grant program for vehicles powered by compressed natural gas, liquefied natural gas, biodiesel fuels, batteries, alcohol-based fuels, or hybrid electric, fuel cell, clean diesel, or other low or zero emissions technology. Provides for assistance to eligible mass transit entities for projects to: (1) purchase or lease clean fuel buses; (2) construct or lease clean fuel buses or electrical recharging facilities and equipment; (3) improve existing mass transportation facilities to accommodate clean fuel buses; (4) repower pre-1993 engines with clean fuel technology that meets current urban bus emission standards; or (5) retrofit or rebuild pre-1993 engines if before half life to rebuild.

Provides for apportionment of funds to eligible entities in specified types of areas with certain conditions.

Limits grant amounts for eligible projects in an area with a population of less than one million to $15 million (one million or more to $25 million), or 80 percent of the total cost of such projects.

Requires the use of a specified portion of funds for: (1) purchase or construction of hybrid electric or battery-powered buses; (2) facilities specifically designed to service those buses; (3) clean diesel buses; and (4) retrofitting or replacement of bus engines that do not meet Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) clean air standards.

(Sec. 3009) Renames specified discretionary grants and loans as capital investment grants and loans.

Authorizes the Secretary to make grants and loans to assist State and local authorities in financing: (1) capital projects to modernize existing fixed guideway systems; and (2) capital projects to replace, rehabilitate, and purchase buses and related equipment and to construct bus-related facilities. Repeals authority to make such grants and loans for transportation projects that enhance urban economic development or incorporate private investment.

Repeals the requirement that the Secretary consider the adverse effect of decreased commuter rail transportation when deciding whether to approve a grant or loan to acquire a rail line and all related facilities: (1) owned by a rail carrier subject to reorganization under the bankruptcy code; and (2) used to provide commuter rail transportation.

Revises the criteria for grants and loans for fixed guideway systems. Revises requirements for: (1) letters of intent and full funding agreements; and (2) grant and loan allocations, including bus and bus facility grants. Earmarks out of such allocations amounts for the clean fuels formula grant program and certain capital projects for ferry boat systems in Alaska and Hawaii.

Limits to not more than eight percent in each fiscal year the amount of funding under the New Starts program that may be used for fixed guideway system activities other than final design and construction.

(Sec. 3010) Prohibits the Secretary of Transportation, in developing regulations or in carrying out any other duty, from considering the dollar value of mobility improvements in evaluating capital projects for new fixed guideway systems and extensions to existing fixed guideway systems. Directs the Comptroller General to study, and the Secretary to report to specified congressional committees on, the dollar value of mobility improvements and the relationship of mobility improvements to the overall transportation justification of such systems.

(Sec. 3011) Authorizes recipients of mass transportation block grants and capital investment grants and loans, if certain State and local government financial support is given, to use proceeds from the issuance of revenue bonds in meeting the required local share of funding for capital projects.

(Sec. 3012) Directs the Secretary to make grants for the study, design, and demonstration of fixed guideway technology and bus technology. Earmarks amounts for such projects in Florida, Texas, Nevada, Massachusetts, California, and for a new Advanced Propulsion Control System in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

(Sec. 3013) Converts certain existing grant and financial assistance programs to: (1) formula grants and loans for the special needs of elderly individuals and individuals with disabilities; and (2) formula grants for other than urbanized areas.

(Sec. 3015) Authorizes the Secretary to make grants and enter into 50 percent cost-sharing contracts, and cooperative and other agreements, with selected consortia to promote the early deployment of innovation in mass transportation services, management, operational practices, or technology that has broad applicability.

Authorizes the Secretary to establish an international mass transportation program that: (1) informs the U.S. domestic mass transportation community about technological innovations available in the international marketplace; and (2) affords domestic businesses the opportunity to become globally competitive in the export of mass transportation products and services.

Earmarks certain amounts for: (1) the fuel cell powered transit bus program and the intermodal transportation fuel cell bus maintenance facility; and (2) grants for 80 percent of the costs of developing low speed magnetic levitation technology for public transportation in urban areas to demonstrate energy efficiency, congestion mitigation, and safety.

(Sec. 3016) Increases mass transportation funding to help mass transit providers comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

(Sec. 3017) Authorizes National Transit Institute programs to include courses in: (1) architectural design; (2) construction management, insurance, and risk management; (3) innovative finance; and (4) workplace safety.

(Sec. 3019) Increases from 90 percent to 95 percent the Federal share of a project providing bicycle access to mass transportation.

(Sec. 3020) Authorizes the Secretary to allow manufacturers or suppliers of steel, iron, or manufactured goods to correct after bid opening any certification of noncompliance or failure to properly complete a certification (except failure to sign the certification) with respect to Buy American requirements if such manufacturer or supplier attests under penalty of perjury that they submitted an incorrect certification as a result of an inadvertent or clerical error.

Declares that the Federal share of costs shall be 90 percent with respect to the acquisition of clean fuel or alternative fuel vehicle- related equipment for purposes of complying with the Clean Air Act.

Requires that governmental agencies and nonprofit organizations that receive assistance from Government sources (other than the Department of Transportation (DOT)) for nonemergency transportation services: (1) participate and coordinate with recipients of assistance under Federal mass transit law in the design and delivery of transportation services; and (2) be included in the planning for those services.

Authorizes the consolidation into a single document of certain certifications to be submitted to the Secretary.

(Sec. 3021) Directs the Secretary to establish, and report to specified congressional committees on, a pilot program to determine the benefits of using funds from the HTF Mass Transit Account for intercity passenger rail. Authorizes Oklahoma to use such funds for capital improvements to, and operating assistance for, intercity passenger rail service.

(Sec. 3022) Authorizes a mass transportation grant recipient to award a procurement contract to other than the lowest bidder when the award furthers an objective consistent with grant purposes, including improved long-term operating efficiency and lower long-term costs.

(Sec. 3023) Includes among turnkey system projects any project under which a grant recipient enters into a contract with a seller, firm, or consortium of firms to design (as well as, currently, to build) a mass transportation system (or an operable segment) that advances new technologies and lowers capital project costs.

Authorizes an urbanized area formula grant recipient procuring an associated capital maintenance item to contract directly with the original manufacturer or supplier of the item to be replaced, without the Secretary of Transportation's prior approval, if the recipient first certifies to the Secretary in writing that: (1) the manufacturer or supplier is the only source for the item; and (2) the item's price is no more than what similar customers pay for it.

(Sec. 3024) Authorizes the Secretary to provide technical assistance to correct deficiencies identified in compliance reviews and audits of major capital projects with respect to mass transportation. Requires recipients of mass transportation assistance with estimated project total costs of $1 billion or more to submit an annual financial plan to the Secretary.

(Sec. 3025) Authorizes the Secretary to collect fees to cover the costs of training or conferences, including costs of promotional materials, sponsored by the Federal Transit Administration to promote mass transportation and credit amounts collected to the appropriation concerned.

Authorizes the Secretary to allow recipients of mass transportation assistance to sell, transfer, or lease real property, equipment, or supplies acquired with such assistance if: (1) it is no longer needed for mass transportation purposes; and (2) the net income from asset sales, uses, or leases (including lease renewals) is used by the recipient to reduce the gross project cost of other mass transportation capital projects.

(Sec. 3027) Repeals provisions regarding the apportionment of formula grants (formerly, block grants) for operating assistance for mass transportation projects in urbanized areas (effectively eliminating operating assistance for areas over 200,000). Authorizes the Secretary to continue the provision of formula grants to finance the operating costs of equipment and facilities for use in mass transportation in urbanized areas with a population of at least 200,000, if the Secretary determines that: (1) the number of the total bus revenue vehicle-miles operated in or directly serving the area is less than 600,000; and (2) the number of buses operated in or directly serving the area does not exceed 15.

(Sec. 3028) Revises distribution formulas for apportionment of appropriations under the fixed guideway modernization program. Requires inclusion of route segments in specified apportionment formulas.

(Sec. 3029) Authorizes appropriations for FY 1998 through 2003 for various mass transit programs.

(Sec. 3030) Authorizes for final design and construction and alternatives analysis and preliminary engineering specified new fixed guideway systems and extensions to existing guideway systems projects (including the New Orleans-Canal Streetcar, the Dulles Corridor Extension, and the Westlake-Commuter Rail Link) under the New Starts program. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1998 through 2003 for specified mass transit projects.

Authorizes appropriations on a priority basis for certain transit projects for the Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games. Requires that the Long Island Rail Road East Side Access project be given priority consideration for funding.

Makes eligible for capital investment grants and loans the Huntington, West Virginia Intermodal Facility project and the Huntsville Intermodal Center project.

Amends the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 to direct the Secretary, with respect to the New Jersey Urban Core project, to set aside certain funds for FY 1998 through 2003 for preliminary engineering, design, and construction of: (1) the rail connection between Penn Station, Newark and Broad Street Station, Newark; (2) the Newark-Newark International Airport-Elizabeth Transit Link, including construction of the auxiliary New Jersey Transit station; and (3) the light rail connection and alignment within and serving Elizabeth.

Authorizes the Los Angeles MOS-3 Project to include any fixed guideway project selected by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority for development in the transportation corridors to be served by the three extensions of MOS-3 of the Los Angeles County Metro Rail project. Prescribes criteria for selecting fixed guideway alternatives.

Directs the Secretary, as part of the Baltimore-Washington Transportation Improvements Program, to: (1) carry out 80 percent federally-funded alternatives for double tracking and related improvement projects with respect to the construction of locally preferred alternatives for the Hunt Valley, Baltimore-Washington International Airport, and Penn Station extensions to the light rail line in Baltimore, Maryland; and (2) provide for capacity and efficiency improvements through construction of a Penn-Camden Connection, MARC maintenance and storage facilities, and other capacity related improvements, and the Silver Spring Intermodal Center.

(Sec. 3031) Earmarks capital investment grant and loan amounts for FY 1999 and 2000 for specified bus and bus-related facilities.

(Sec. 3032) Directs the Secretary to enter into an agreement with the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences to study (for a report to specified congressional committees on) the effect of contracting out mass transportation operation and administrative functions on cost, availability and level of service, efficiency, safety, quality of services provided to transit-dependent populations, and employer-employee relations. Authorizes appropriations.

(Sec. 3033) Directs the Secretary to study, and report to specified congressional committees, on: (1) whether the formula for apportioning specified funds to urbanized areas accurately reflects their transit needs; and, if not, (2) whether any changes should be made either to the formula or through some other mechanism to reflect the fact that some urbanized areas with a population between 50,000 and 200,000 have transit systems that carry more passengers per mile or hour than the average of those transit systems in urbanized areas with a population over 200,000.

(Sec. 3034) Directs the Comptroller General to study and report to specified congressional committees on Federal agencies (other than DOT) that receive Federal financial assistance for non-emergency transportation services.

(Sec. 3035) Requires all buses manufactured on or after September 1, 1999, that are purchased with Federal Trade Administration (FTA) assistance to conform with FTA Guidance on Buy America Requirements, dated March 18, 1997.

(Sec. 3036) Directs the Comptroller General to study and report to specified congressional committees on the various low and zero emission fuel technologies for transit vehicles.

(Sec. 3037) Establishes a job access and reverse commute grants program. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants, on a competitive basis, to qualified entities for up to 50 percent of the costs of projects to develop transportation services to transport welfare recipients and eligible low-income individuals, and residents of urban areas, urbanized areas, and areas other than urbanized areas, to and from jobs and employment-related activities (including suburban employment opportunities). Authorizes appropriations, with specified allocations for different areas.

(Sec. 3038) Directs the Secretary to make grants, on a competitive basis, to operators of over-the-road buses for up to 50 percent of the costs of projects to finance the incremental capital and training costs of complying with DOT's final rule regarding accessibility of over-the-road buses required under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

Authorizes appropriations for the rural transportation accessibility incentive program for FY 1999 through 2003 for operators of intercity, fixed-route over-the-road bus service (including operators of other over-the-road bus service) to finance the incremental capital and training costs of DOT's final rules regarding accessibility of over-the-road buses.

(Sec. 3039) Directs the Secretary to study and report to specified congressional committees on alternative transportation needs in national parks and related public lands managed by Federal land management agencies in order to conserve natural, historical, and cultural resources and prevent adverse impact, relieve congestion, reduce pollution, and enhance visitor mobility and accessibility and the visitor experience.

(Sec. 3040) Sets obligation ceilings for FY 1999 through 2003.

(Sec. 3041) Provides for the adjustment of amounts apportioned to each urbanized area for fixed guideway modernization for FY 1998.

Title IV: Motor Carrier Safety - Amends Federal transportation law to provide for performance-based grants to States for: (1) improving motor carrier safety; and (2) enforcing regulations for hazardous materials transportation safety. Requires State plans under such grants to: (1) implement performance-based activities by FY 2000; and (2) ensure, among other things, that roadside inspections will be conducted at a location adequate to protect the safety of drivers and enforcement personnel.

(Sec. 4003) Makes 100 percent the Federal share of public education activities with respect to commercial motor vehicle safety programs and enforcement.

Authorizes appropriations for commercial motor vehicle safety programs for FY 1998 through 2003. Revises allocation criteria to authorize the Secretary to designate up to certain percentages of such amounts for States, local governments, and other persons for carrying out: (1) discretionary high priority activities that improve commercial motor vehicle safety and compliance with commercial motor vehicle safety regulations; and (2) discretionary border commercial motor vehicle safety programs and enforcement activities.

(Sec. 4004) Changes from discretionary to mandatory the Secretary's authority to establish motor carrier, commercial motor vehicle, and driver information systems and data analysis programs to support safety regulatory and enforcement activities. Requires such information systems, in cooperation with the States, to be coordinated into a network providing accurate identification of motor carriers and drivers, commercial motor vehicle registration and license tracking, and motor carrier, commercial motor vehicle, and driver safety performance data.

Specifies the objectives of data analysis capacity and programs the Secretary shall develop.

Directs the Secretary to include, as part of the motor carrier information system, a performance and registration information program that acts as a clearinghouse of information related to State registration and licensing of commercial motor vehicles, the registrants of such vehicles, and the motor carriers operating such vehicles.

Authorizes the Secretary to establish a program to improve commercial motor vehicle driver safety.

Provides FY 1998 through 2003 contract authority funding for the information systems and data analysis program. Repeals the existing truck and bus accident grant program.

(Sec. 4007) Revises specified waiver authority to authorize the Secretary to grant a waiver of, or exemption from, Federal commercial motor vehicle and motor carrier safety regulations, as well as related pilot programs, if it is in the public interest and is likely to achieve a level of safety equivalent to, or greater than, the level of safety that would be obtained in its absence. Limits waivers, in scope and circumstances, to: (1) a period of three months; (2) nonemergency and unique events; and (3) any conditions the Secretary may impose.

Authorizes the Secretary to carry out pilot programs to evaluate alternatives to regulations relating to, or innovative approaches to, motor carrier, commercial motor vehicle, and driver safety.

(Sec. 4008) Redefines "commercial motor vehicle" to mean, among other things, a vehicle that: (1) has a gross vehicle weight of at least 10,001 pounds; and (2) is designed or used to transport more than eight passengers (including the driver) for compensation.

Revises the requirement for State submission of commercial motor vehicle safety laws and regulations to the Secretary for review. Repeals the mandate for the Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Regulatory Review Panel.

(Sec. 4009) Revises provisions relating to safety fitness determinations of owners and operators of commercial motor vehicles to direct the Secretary to: (1) determine the fitness of an owner or operator to operate commercial motor vehicles safely; (2) periodically update and make available to the public such safety fitness determinations; and (3) prescribe by regulation penalties for violations.

Prohibits motor carriers, including passenger and hazardous material carriers, which fail to meet safety fitness requirements from operating in interstate commerce. Prohibits Federal agencies from using for transportation service any owner or operator determined unfit, until the Secretary determines such owner or operator is fit.

(Sec. 4010) Repeals certain requirements for: (1) procedures to ensure timely correction of safety violations; and (2) compliance review priority.

(Sec. 4011) Declares that an individual may: (1) operate a commercial motor vehicle only with a valid commercial driver's license (CDL); and (2) have only one driver's license at any time.

Requires each CDL issued after January 1, 2001, to include unique identifiers to minimize fraud and duplication.

Repeals the Secretary's discretionary authority to contract out for the operation of a CDL information system. Requires the Secretary to maintain the system directly.

Repeals current authority for grants to States for: (1) testing and ensuring the fitness of operators of commercial motor vehicles; and (2) issuing CDLs and complying with State participation requirements.

(Sec. 4012) Exempts drivers of utility service vehicles during emergency periods from certain maximum driving and on-duty times and recordkeeping regulations, together with installation of related equipment. Declares that certain Federal commercial motor vehicle safety, maintenance, and driver license renewal requirements shall continue to apply.

(Sec. 4013) Repeals the mandate for a working group of State and local government officials with respect to the International Registration Plan and International Fuel Tax Agreement. Repeals the authority for grants to States and appropriate persons to facilitate participation in such Plan and Agreement, as well as the authorization of appropriations for the program.

(Sec. 4014) Declares that no action or proceeding for defamation, invasion of privacy, or interference with a contract that is based on the furnishing or use of safety performance records in accordance with DOT regulations may be brought against: (1) a motor carrier requesting the safety performance records of an individual under consideration for employment as a commercial motor vehicle driver as required by and in accordance with regulations issued by the Secretary; (2) a person who has complied with such a request; or (3) the agents or insurers of such persons.

Directs the Secretary, as part of a certain rulemaking, to amend specified regulations regarding information on the safety performance history of new drivers, to: (1) provide protection for driver privacy; and (2) establish procedures for review, correction, and rebuttal of the safety performance records of a commercial motor vehicle driver.

(Sec. 4015) Revises civil penalties for violations of Federal law with respect to commercial motor vehicle safety.

(Sec. 4016) Declares that Federal preemption of interstate and intrastate transportation regulation shall not restrict the safety regulatory authority of a State with respect to motor vehicles, imposition of highway route controls or limitations based on the size or weight of the motor vehicle, or regulation of carriers with regard to minimum amounts of financial responsibility relating to insurance requirements and self-insurance authorization.

(Sec. 4017) Directs the Secretary to establish a nationwide toll-free telephone system for drivers of commercial motor vehicles and others to report potential violations of Federal motor carrier safety regulations.

(Sec. 4018) Directs the Secretary to determine whether a practicable and cost-effective screening, operating, and monitoring protocol could likely be developed for insulin-treated diabetes mellitus individuals who want to operate commercial motor vehicles in interstate commerce that would ensure a level of safety equal to or greater than that achieved with the current prohibition against operation of such vehicles by such individuals.

Requires the Secretary to compile, evaluate, and report to Congress on research and other information on the effects of insulin treated diabetes mellitus on driving performance.

(Sec. 4019) Requires the Secretary to: (1) review State procedures to determine if the current system for testing is an accurate measure and reflection of an individual's knowledge and skills as an operator of a commercial motor vehicle; and (2) identify methods to improve testing and licensing standards, including identifying the benefits and costs of a graduated licensing system. Requires issuance of regulations reflecting the results of such review.

(Sec. 4020) Requires the Secretary to study and report to Congress on: (1) the feasibility of using law enforcement officers to conduct post-accident alcohol testing of commercial motor vehicle operators as a method of obtaining more timely information; and (2) the impact of the current post-accident alcohol testing requirements on motor carrier employers, including any burden that employers may encounter in meeting the testing requirements.

(Sec. 4021) Requires the Secretary to: (1) encourage the research, development, and demonstration of technologies that may aid in reducing the fatigue of commercial motor vehicle operators; and (2) review available information on the effects of medications (including antihistamines) on driver fatigue and performance, and consider encouraging, if appropriate, the use of nonsedating medications (including nonsedating antihistamines) as a means of reducing the adverse effects of the use of other medications by drivers.

(Sec. 4022) Directs the Secretary to carry out a pilot program in cooperation with one or more States to: (1) improve upon the timely exchange of pertinent driver performance and safety records data to motor carriers; and (2) determine to what extent such data, including relevant fines, penalties, and failures to appear for a hearing or trial, should be included as part of any information systems under DOT oversight.

(Sec. 4023) Directs the Secretary to report to specified congressional committees on the effectiveness of certain existing statutory commercial motor carrier employee protections, including recommendations to address any changes necessary to strengthen their enforcement.

(Sec. 4024) Directs the Secretary to initiate a rulemaking to determine whether or not current commercial motor carrier safety regulations should apply to all interstate school transportation operations by local educational agencies.

(Sec. 4025) Directs the Secretary to issue a final rule regarding the conspicuity of trailers manufactured before December 1, 1993. Requires the Secretary of Transportation, in conducting such rulemaking, to consider: (1) the cost-effectiveness of any requirement to retrofit such trailers; (2) the extent to which motor carriers have voluntarily taken steps to increase equipment visibility; and (3) regulatory flexibility to accommodate differing trailer designs and configurations, such as tank trucks.

(Sec. 4026) Directs the Secretary to assess the scope of the problem of shippers, freight forwarders, brokers, consignees, or other persons (other than rail carriers, motor carriers, motor carriers of migrant workers, or motor private carriers) encouraging violations of Federal motor carrier laws. Authorizes the Secretary, after completing the assessment, to submit to the Congress a DOT plan for implementing authority to investigate and bring civil actions to enforce such laws.

(Sec. 4027) Directs the Secretary to study the location and quantity of parking facilities at commercial truck stops, travel plazas, and public rest areas that could be used by motor carriers to comply with Federal hours-of-service rules. Provides funding for such study.

(Sec. 4028) Directs the Secretary to review: (1) the qualifications of any foreign motor carrier that applied to operate in the United States, but whose application has not been processed due to the moratorium on granting authority to operate here; and (2) the carrier's ability to comply with applicable U.S. laws and regulations. Requires a related report to specified congressional committees.

(Sec. 4029) Requires DOT to maintain at least the number of Federal motor carrier safety inspectors for international border commercial vehicle inspections as on September 30, 1997, or provide for alternative resources and mechanisms to ensure at least an equivalent level of commercial motor vehicle safety inspections.

(Sec. 4030) Directs the Secretary to enter into an agreement with the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences to study and report to specified congressional committees on the safety issues attendant to the transportation of school children to and from school and school-related activities by various transportation modes. Authorizes appropriations for FY 2000 and 2001.

(Sec. 4031) Designates a New Mexico Commercial Zone, consisting of Dona Ana and Luna Counties, which shall be exempt from the jurisdiction of the Secretary and the Surface Transportation Board with respect to motor carrier transportation. Requires New Mexico to submit to the Secretary a plan describing how it will monitor commercial motor vehicle traffic and enforce safety regulations.

(Sec. 4032) Directs the Secretary to study, and report to the Congress on, the effects of reductions of Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP) grants due to nonconformity of State intrastate motor carrier, commercial motor vehicle, and driver requirements with Federal interstate requirements. Authorizes the Secretary to adjust State MCSAP allocations to reflect the results of the study.

Title V: Transportation Research - Subtitle A: Funding - Authorizes appropriations from HTF for FY 1998 through 2003 for: (1) surface transportation research; (2) a technology deployment program; (3) training and education; (4) the Bureau of Transportation Statistics; (5) Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) standards, research, operational tests, and development; (6) ITS deployment; and (7) university transportation research. Allocates funds within those categories.

(Sec. 5002) Sets obligation ceilings.

(Sec. 5003) Requires notice to specified congressional committees of any reprogramming of funds or program reorganization.

Subtitle B: Research and Technology - Defines: (1) "Federal laboratory" to include a Government-owned, Government-operated, and a Government-owned, contractor-operated, laboratory; and (2) "safety" to include highway and traffic safety systems, research, and development relating to vehicle, highway, driver, passenger, bicyclist, and pedestrian characteristics, accident investigations, communications, emergency medical care, and transportation of the injured.

(Sec. 5102) Authorizes the Secretary to: (1) carry out research, development, and technology transfer activities with respect to motor carrier transportation, all phases of transportation planning and development, and the effect of State laws on such activities; and (2) test, develop, or assist in testing and developing any material, invention, patented article, or process.

Authorizes the Secretary to carry out, on a cost-shared basis, collaborative research and development (R&D) with non-Federal entities and with Federal laboratories. Limits the Federal cost share of activities carried out under a cooperative R&D agreement to 50 percent, except if there is a substantial public interest or benefit.

Requires the Secretary to include in surface transportation research, technology development, and technology transfer programs coordinated activities in areas including: (1) development, use, and dissemination of indicators to measure the performance of surface transportation systems of the United States; (2) methods, materials, and testing to improve the durability of surface transportation infrastructure facilities and extend the life of bridge structures; (3) technologies that practices that reduce costs and minimize disruptions associated with the construction, rehabilitation, and maintenance of surface transportation systems, including responses to natural disasters; (4) development of nondestructive evaluation equipment for use with existing infrastructure facilities and with next-generation infrastructure facilities that use advanced materials; and (5) telecommuting and the linkages between transportation, information technology, and community development and the impact of technological change and economic restructuring on travel demand.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish an advanced research program that addresses longer-term, higher-risk research that shows potential benefits for improving the durability, efficiency, environmental impact, productivity, and safety of highway and intermodal transportation systems; (2) complete the long-term pavement performance program tests initiated under the strategic highway research program and continued by ISTEA through the midpoint of a planned 20-year life of the long-term pavement performance program; (3) establish a program to study the vulnerability of the Federal-aid highway system and other surface transportation systems to seismic activity and to develop and implement cost-effective methods to reduce such vulnerability; and (4) report to specified congressional committees on estimates of future U.S. highway and bridge needs and the backlog of current needs.

(Sec. 5103) Requires the Secretary to: (1) develop and administer a national technology deployment initiatives and partnerships program to accelerate the adoption of innovative technologies; (2) establish and carry out a program to demonstrate the application of innovative material technology in the construction of bridges and other structures; (3) operate in the Federal Highway Administration a National Highway Institute to administer authority vested in the Secretary and to conduct highway education and training programs; (4) carry out a local technical assistance program that will provide access to surface transportation technology to highway and transportation agencies in urbanized areas with populations of between 50,000 and one million individuals, to highway and transportation agencies in rural areas, and to contractors that do work for the agencies; and (5) establish and implement a Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship Program.

(Sec. 5105) Makes two percent of sums apportioned to a State for FY 1998 and thereafter available for expenditure for: (1) engineering and economic surveys and investigations; (2) planning of future highway programs, local public transportation systems, and their financing; (3) development and implementation of management systems; (4) studies of the economy, safety, and convenience of surface transportation systems and the desirable regulation and equitable taxation of such systems; (5) research, development, and technology transfer activities necessary in connection with the planning, design, construction, management, and maintenance of highway, public transportation, and intermodal transportation systems; and (6) study, research, and training on engineering standards and construction materials for transportation systems.

Directs that not less than 25 percent of funds subject to such provision that are apportioned to a State for a fiscal year be expended by the State for research, development, and technology transfer activities relating to highway, public transportation, and intermodal transportation systems, subject to a waiver. Sets forth Federal cost share provisions.

(Sec. 5106) Authorizes the Secretary to establish an international highway transportation outreach program to: (1) inform the U.S. highway community of technological innovations in foreign countries that could significantly improve highway transportation in the United States; (2) promote U.S. highway transportation expertise, goods, and services in foreign countries; and (3) increase transfers of U.S. highway transportation technology to foreign countries.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish and carry out a surface transportation-environment cooperative research program; and (2) establish an advisory board to recommend environmental and energy conservation research, technology, and technology transfer activities related to surface transportation.

Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to, and enter into cooperative agreements with, the National Academy of Sciences to carry out appropriate activities relating to research, technology, and technology transfer activities.

(Sec. 5108) Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish a strategic planning process for the Department of Transportation (DOT) to determine national transportation research and technology development priorities related to surface transportation; (2) coordinate Federal surface transportation research and technology development activities; (3) measure the results of those activities and how they impact the performance of U.S. surface transportation systems; (4) ensure that planning and reporting activities herein are coordinated with all other surface transportation planning and reporting requirements; (5) develop an integrated surface transportation research and technology development strategic plan; (6) report to the Congress on competitive merit review procedures for use in selecting grantees and contractors in the programs covered by such plan; and (7) develop model procurement procedures that encourage the use of advanced technologies, and model transactions for carrying out and coordinating Federal and State surface transportation research and technology development activities.

(Sec. 5109) Expands the list of topics to be covered by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), including transportation-related variables influencing global competitiveness.

Requires the Director of BTS to: (1) establish and maintain a transportation data base for all modes of transportation and a National Transportation Library; and (2) develop and maintain geospatial data bases that depict transportation networks, flows of people, goods, vehicles, and craft over the networks and social, economic, and environmental conditions that affect or are affected by the networks.

Authorizes the Secretary to make specified research and development grants, including for development of electronic clearinghouses of transportation data and related information, as part of the National Transportation Library.

Sets forth provisions regarding prohibited disclosures and disposition of proceeds of data product sales.

(Sec. 5110) Directs the Secretary to make grants to nonprofit institutions of higher learning to establish and operate: (1) one university transportation center in each of the ten United States Government regions that comprise the Standard Federal Regional Boundary System; and (2) additional university centers to address transportation management and R&D matters, with special attention to increasing the number of highly skilled individuals entering the transportation field.

Requires the Secretary to coordinate the research, education, training, and technology transfer activities that grant recipients carry out, disseminate the results of the research, and establish and operate a clearinghouse. Requires at least annual program review and evaluation.

Sets forth provisions regarding selection criteria, the Federal share, the number and amount of grants according to identified groups of universities or centers.

(Sec. 5111) Directs the Secretary to: (1) encourage and promote the research, development, and deployment of transportation technologies that will use technological advances in multimodal vehicles, vehicle components, environmental technologies, and related infrastructure to remove impediments to an efficient, safe, and cost- effective national transportation system; (2) make a grant to, or enter into a cooperative agreement or contract with, the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a study to determine the goals, purposes research agenda and projects, administrative structure, and fiscal needs for a new strategic highway research program; and (3) establish and carry out a program to validate commercial remote sensing products and spatial information technologies for application to national transportation infrastructure development and construction.

(Sec. 5114) Urges the Secretary to: (1) give high priority to correcting all two-digit date-related problems in DOT computer systems to ensure that the systems continue to operate effectively in the year 2000 and thereafter; (2) immediately assess the extent of the risk to DOT operations and plan and budget for achieving year 2000 compliance for all DOT mission-critical systems; and (3) develop contingency plans for those systems that the Secretary is unable to correct in time.

(Sec. 5115) Requires the Director to carry out a study to: (1) measure the ton-miles and value-miles of international trade traffic carried by highway for each State; (2) evaluate the accuracy and reliability of such measures for use in the formula for highway apportionments and of the use of diesel fuel data as a measure of international trade traffic by State; and (3) identify needed improvements in long-term data collection programs to provide accurate and reliable measures of international traffic for use in the formula for highway apportionments. Sets forth reporting requirements.

(Sec. 5116) Directs the Secretary to make grants to: (1) the University of California at San Diego to upgrade earthquake simulation facilities at the University; (2) the University of Alabama at Huntsville for global climate research; (3) Auburn University for asphalt research; (4) the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa for advanced vehicle research, including the study of fuel cell and electric vehicle technology; (5) Oklahoma State University for research, development, and field testing of the Geothermal Heat Pump Smart Bridge Program; (6) the University of Oklahoma for research, development, and field testing of the Intelligent Stiffener for Bridge Stress Reduction; (7) the University of Alabama at Birmingham for the study of advanced trauma care; (8) Calspan University of Buffalo Research Center to establish and maintain a center for transportation injury research; and (9) the Neuroscience Center for Excellence at Louisiana State University and the Virginia Transportation Research Institute at George Washington University for research and technology development for preventing and minimizing head and spinal cord injuries relating to automobile accidents.

(Sec. 5117) Directs the Secretary to: (1) expand and continue a study relating to the development of a motor vehicle safety warning system and test such system; (2) conduct research on deployment of a system of advanced sensors and signal processors in trucks and tractor trailers; (3) carry out a program to advance the deployment of an operational intelligent transportation infrastructure system for measuring various transportation system activities to aid in transportation planning and analysis while making a significant contribution to the ITS program; (4) make a grant to conduct a study on the costs and benefits of corrosion control and prevention; (5) continue to carry out or expand ISTEA provisions regarding fundamental properties of asphalts and modified asphalts; (6) make grants to the Pennsylvania Transportation Institute to establish an advanced traffic monitoring and emergency response center at Letterkenny Army Depot in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania; (7) continue development and deployment through the New Jersey Institute of Technology to MPOs of the Transportation Economic and Land Use System; (8) establish at the University of New Hampshire a research program to be known as the Recycled Materials Resource Center; and (9) establish the Intelligent Infrastructure Institute at Drexel University, Pennsylvania, to conduct activities to advance infrastructure research.

Subtitle C: Intelligent Transportation Systems - Intelligent Transportation Systems Act of 1998 - Sets forth findings, goals, and purposes regarding ITS.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) conduct an ongoing ITS program to research, develop, and operationally test ITS and advance nationwide deployment of such systems as a component of U.S. surface transportation systems; (2) maintain a repository for technical and safety data collected as a result of federally sponsored projects carried out under this subtitle and make that information readily available upon request (except for proprietary information and date) to users at an appropriate costs; (3) develop and appropriate technical assistance and guidance to assist State and local agencies in evaluating and selecting appropriate methods of procurement for ITS projects carried out using funds made available from HTF; and (4) issue guidelines and requirements for the evaluation of operational tests and deployment projects carried out under this subtitle.

(Sec. 5205) Requires the Secretary to: (1) maintain and update, as necessary, the National ITS Program Plan developed by DOT and the Intelligent Transportation Society of America; and (2) develop, implement, and maintain a national architecture and supporting standards and protocols to promote the widespread use and evaluation of ITS technology as a component of U.S. surface transportation systems. Sets forth provisions regarding reporting requirements, provisional standards and waivers, and conformance with national architecture.

Directs the Federal Communications Commission to consider spectrum needs for the operation of ITS and to complete a rulemaking considering the allocation of spectrum for ITS by January 1, 2000.

(Sec. 5207) Requires the Secretary to carry out a comprehensive program of ITS research, development, and operational tests of intelligent vehicles and intelligent infrastructure systems and similar activities necessary to carry out this subtitle. Lists funding priorities and the Federal cost share.

(Sec. 5208) Directs the Secretary to conduct a comprehensive program to accelerate the integration and interoperability of ITS in metropolitan and rural areas. Sets forth provisions regarding project selection, fiscal year and funding limitations, funding for rural areas, and the Federal share.

Requires the Secretary to: (1) encourage multistate cooperative agreements, coalitions, or other arrangements intended to promote regional cooperation, planning, and shared project implementation for ITS projects; and (2) make grants to the State of Wisconsin to continue ITS activities in the corridor serving the Greater Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Chicago, Illinois, and Gary, Indiana areas and other areas of the State; and (3) make grants to certain States to continue ITS activities in the northeast.

(Sec. 5209) Directs the Secretary to carry out a comprehensive program to deploy ITS that improve the safety and productivity of commercial vehicles and drivers and reduce costs associated with commercial vehicle operations and Federal and State commercial vehicle regulatory requirements. Sets forth provisions regarding priority areas, leveraging of Federal funds, and the Federal share.

(Sec. 5210) Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) limits on the use of ITS funds for outreach, public relations, displays, scholarships, tours, and brochures; (2) infrastructure development; and (3) life cycle cost analysis, and a multiyear financing and operations plan.

(Sec. 5212) Directs the Secretary to: (1) conduct research on improved methods of deploying and integrating existing ITS projects to include hazardous materials monitoring systems across various modes of transportation; (2) continue to support the Urban Consortium's ITS outreach and technology transfer activities; and (3) make grants to the Texas Transportation Institute to continue the Translink Research Program.

(Sec. 5213) Repeals the Intermodal Transportation Systems Act of 1991.

Title VI: Ozone and Particulate Matter Standards - Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to fund through grants to States under the Clean Air Act 100 percent of the cost of the establishment, by December 31, 1999, of a particulate matter monitoring network to implement the PM2.5 ozone national ambient air quality standards established in July, 1997. Requires State Governors to designate areas of attainment or nonattainment with respect to such air standards within one year after receipt of three years of air quality monitoring data.

Title VII: Miscellaneous - Subtitle A: Automobile Safety and Information - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Reauthorization Act of 1998 - Amends Federal motor vehicle safety law to reauthorize appropriations for motor vehicle safety and information activities of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for FY 1999 through 2001.

(Sec. 7103) Directs the Secretary of Transportation to issue a final rule by September 1, 1999 (unless it is determined that it cannot be completed by that date, in which case no later than March 1, 2000), to improve occupant protection for occupants of different sizes, belted and unbelted, under Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 208, while minimizing the risks to infants, children, and other occupants from injuries and deaths caused by air bags, by means that include advanced air bags.

(Sec. 7104) Prohibits the use of such funds for any (lobbying) activity specifically designated to urge a State or local legislator to favor or oppose the adoption of any specific legislative proposal pending before a State or local legislature. States that this prohibition does not prohibit U.S. officers or employees from testifying before such legislatures in response to the invitation of member of the legislature or State executive office.

(Sec. 7105) Applies specified mileage disclosure requirements to all transfers of motor vehicles (not exempted by the Secretary), except in the case of transfers of new motor vehicles from a vehicle manufacturer jointly to a dealer and a person engaged in the business of renting or leasing vehicles for a period of 30 days or less. Authorizes the Secretary to exempt from such mileage disclosure requirements any classes or categories of vehicles the Secretary deems appropriate.

(Sec. 7106) Considers retailers of motor vehicle equipment to be dealers in order to subject them to the prohibition against the sale of defective equipment.

Repeals specified tire labeling requirements.

Changes from biannual to annual the Secretary's mandatory report on the effectiveness of occupant restraint systems.

Amends the American Automobile Labeling Act to: (1) include the assembly and labor costs incurred for the final assembly of engines and transmissions within the engine and transmission "country of origin" determination; and (2) exclude from the definition of "final assembly place" facilities for engine and transmission fabrication and assembly and for fabrication of motor vehicle equipment component parts which are produced at the same final assembly place using forming processes such as stamping, machining, or molding processes.

Requires suppliers to report domestic content (U.S.-Canadian origin) of parts manufactured by outside suppliers to the nearest five percent, subject to specified requirements.

Authorizes a manufacturer to: (1) add to the required label a line stating the country in which vehicle assembly was completed; (2) display separately on the required label, after the required matter, the domestic content of a vehicle based on the country in which the assembly plant is located; and (3) make its own good faith value added determinations (subject to certain limitations), including determinations regarding the content of up to ten percent of the vehicle's parts.

Considers the country of origin of specified small parts installed in a vehicle to be the country in which such parts were included in the vehicle's final assembly.

Directs NHTSA to study and report to specified congressional committees on the benefits to motor vehicle drivers of a regulation to require the installation of an interior device to release the trunk lid.

(Sec. 7107) Reinstates NHTSA's authority to exempt certain motor vehicles imported for the purpose of show or display from certain applicable motor vehicle safety standards.

Subtitle B: Railroads - Amends Federal railroad law to authorize appropriations for FY 1998 through 2001 for high-speed rail technology activities (including corridor planning).

(Sec. 7202) Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to States that have State rail plans to fund light density rail line pilot projects. Directs the Secretary to study and report to the Congress on the pilot projects to determine the public interest benefits associated with the light density railroad networks in the States and their contribution to a multimodal transportation system.

Authorizes appropriations for FY 1998 through 2003.

(Sec. 7203) Amends the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976 to authorize the Secretary to provide direct loans and loan guarantees to State and local governments, government- sponsored authorities and corporations, railroads, and joint ventures that include at least one railroad. Authorizes the use of such loans and loan guarantees (except for railroad operating expenses) to: (1) acquire, improve, or rehabilitate intermodal or rail equipment or facilities, including track, components of track, bridges, yards, buildings, and shops; (2) refinance outstanding debt incurred with respect to such activities; and (3) develop or establish new intermodal or railroad facilities. Sets forth direct loan and loan guarantee requirements.

(Sec. 7204) Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to the Alaska Railroad for capital rehabilitation of and improvements to its passenger services.

Authorizes appropriations for FY 1998 through 2003.

Subtitle C: Comprehensive One-Call Notification - Amends Federal transportation law to provide for the establishment of a State one-call notification program to protect underground facilities from excavation damage. Outlines required elements of the program, including minimum standards. Authorizes a State to maintain an alternative one-call notification program if it provides protection for public safety, excavators, and the environment that is equivalent to, or greater than, protection under a program that meets the minimum standards of this Act.

(Sec. 7302) Directs the Secretary to study damage prevention practices associated with existing one-call notification systems in order to determine which systems practices appear to be the most effective in protecting the public, excavators, and the environment and in preventing disruptions to public services and damage to underground facilities.

Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to assist qualifying States in improving their one-call notification programs.

Authorizes appropriations for FY 1999 through 2001.

Subtitle D: Sportfishing and Boating Safety - Sportfishing and Boating Safety Act of 1998 - Amends the Act popularly known as the Federal Aid in Fish Restoration Act to earmark for FY 1999 through 2003 specified amounts of fish restoration and management project funds for the National Outreach and Communications Program. Increases: (1) the regional average that States must allocate from project funds for certain recreational boating purposes; and (2) the State allocation for aquatic resource education, outreach, and communications (currently, for aquatic resource education and outreach) programs.

(Sec. 7402) Directs the Secretary of the Interior to develop and implement a national plan for outreach and communications. Requires States to develop State plans.

(Sec. 7403) Requires that specified funds remaining after the initial annual distribution of fish restoration and management project funds for FY 1999 through 2003 be used for: (1) grants to coastal States for pumpout stations and waste reception facilities under the Clean Vessel Act of 1992; (2) State recreational boating safety programs; and (3) matching grants to States for the cost of constructing, renovating, or maintaining facilities for transient nontrailerable recreational vessels.

(Sec. 7404) Directs the Secretary of the Interior to adopt a national framework for a public boat access needs assessment. Requires each participating State to conduct the assessment unless the Secretary of the Interior certifies that it is implementing a plan that ensures adequate access. Allows States to fund the assessments from amounts dedicated to access to recreational waters under existing provisions.

Authorizes a State, after submitting a survey to the Secretary of the Interior, to develop and submit a plan for construction, renovation, and maintenance of public facilities for transient nontrailerable recreational vessels.

Mandates matching grants to States for up to 75 percent of the cost of such facilities.

(Sec. 7405) Amends Federal boating safety law to revise requirements for Federal funding of State recreational boating safety programs. Earmarks funds for the payment of expenses of the Coast Guard for personnel and activities directly related to carrying out the national recreational boating safety program, including a specified sum only to ensure compliance with Federal safety standards for recreational vessels and related equipment. Reduces the period of availability of State allocations of recreational boating safety funds from three years to two years after the date of allocation.

Title VIII: Transportation Discretionary Spending Guarantee and Budget Offsets - Subtitle A: Transportation Discretionary Spending Guarantee - Amends the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act) to establish maximum discretionary spending outlays for FY 1999 through 2003 for highways and mass transit.

(Sec. 1801) Reduces discretionary spending limits in new budget authority and outlays for FY 1999 through 2003 for nondefense and discretionary spending categories.

Directs the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to make specified adjustments to the receipts and outlays of the highway and mass transit categories of the President's budget (including outyear) for FY 1998 through 2003.

(Sec. 8102) Prohibits the Director of OMB from making any estimates of changes in direct spending outlays and receipts for any fiscal year resulting from this title.

(Sec. 8103) Sets forth the sum of budget authority and obligation limits for FY 1999 through 2003 for the highway and mass transit categories (as provided in the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century).

Subtitle B: Veterans' Benefits - Veterans Benefits Act of 1998 - Amends Federal veterans law to prohibit payment of compensation for a service-connected disability if the disability results from the use of tobacco products.

(Sec. 8203) Increases (by 20 percent) the rates of veterans' basic educational assistance.

(Sec. 8204) Increases by specified amounts: (1) assistance for specially adapted housing; (2) assistance for automobile and adaptive equipment for certain disabled veterans; and (3) aid and attendance rates for veterans eligible for a pension.

(Sec. 8207) Declares that the remarriage of the surviving spouse of a veteran shall not bar the furnishing of dependency and indemnity compensation to such person as the veteran's surviving spouse if the remarriage is terminated by death, divorce, or annulment, unless the Secretary determines that the divorce or annulment was secured through fraud or collusion.

(Sec. 8208) Extends to any payment of disability compensation between December 5, 1991, and September 30, 1996, the exclusion of withheld Federal tax from the amount deducted from such disability compensation for any separation pay under the special separation benefits program that was made during such period.

(Sec. 8209) Declares that it is the sense of the Congress: (1) that the Attorney General or the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, as appropriate, should take all steps necessary to recover from tobacco companies amounts corresponding to the costs which would be incurred by the Department of Veterans Affairs for treatment of tobacco-related illnesses of veterans, if such treatment were authorized by law; and (2) that the Congress should authorize by law the treatment of tobacco-related illnesses of veterans upon the recovery of such amounts.

Subtitle C: Temporary Student Loan Provision - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to prescribe temporary interest rates for new Federal Family Education (FFEL) Loans disbursed between July 1 and October 1, 1998. Caps the interest rate for student loans during such period at 8.25 and for PLUS loans at 9 percent.

(Sec. 8301) Prescribes formulae for temporary special allowances paid on loans disbursed between July 1 and October 1, 1998.

Subtitle D: Block Grants for Social Services - Amends title XX (Block Grants to States for Social Services) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to reduce: (1) from $2.38 billion to $1.7 billion the appropriations authorized for such grants for FY 2001 and 2002; and (2) from $2.8 billion to $1.7 billion the appropriations authorized for such grants for FY 2003 and each succeeding fiscal year.

(Sec. 8401) Amends SSA title IV part A (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) (TANF) to reduce from ten percent to 4.25 percent for FY 2001 and each succeeding fiscal year the amount of any State family assistance grant which a State may transfer to title XX programs.

Title IX: Amendments of Internal Revenue Code of 1986 - Surface Transportation Revenue Act of 1998 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend Highway Trust Fund excise taxes and certain motor fuels exemptions for six years.

(Sec. 903) Extends alcohol fuel tax benefit related provisions for seven years. Reduces the credit for ethanol blenders.

(Sec. 904) Provides for the determination of Highway Trust Fund and Mass Transit Fund balances after September 30, 1998. Places a specified limitation on Highway Trust Fund transfers, with an exception for obligations entered into prior to October 1, 2003.

(Sec. 905) Revises provisions concerning the Aquatic Resources Trust Fund, including extending through September 30, 2003: (1) transfers of certain motorboat fuel tax revenues to the Boat Safety Account and Wetlands sub-Account; and (2) expenditure authority for the Boat Safety Account.

(Sec. 906) Repeals the 1.25 cents-per-gallon tax rate on fuel for trains.

(Sec. 907) Amends the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 to expand the definition of qualified expenses for which non-Amtrak States may use funds received due Amtrak's use of certain net operating losses.

(Sec. 908) Delays the effective date of certain provisions concerning diesel or kerosene terminals.

(Sec. 909) Sets forth provisions concerning fuel tax refund procedures.

(Sec. 910) Allows an employee to choose to receive taxable cash compensation in lieu of nontaxable qualified transportation fringe benefits. Increases and indexes the exclusion for transit passes and vanpooling.

(Sec. 911) Eliminates the National Recreational Trails Trust Fund.

(Sec. 912) States that for purposes of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 concerning the line item veto the Joint Committee on Taxation has determined that this title does not contain any limited tax benefit.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Title I: Surface Transportation

Subtitle A: General Provisions

Subtitle B: Program Streamlining and Flexibility

Subtitle C: Finance

Subtitle D: Safety

Subtitle E: Environment

Subtitle F: Planning

Subtitle G: Technical Corrections

Subtitle H: Miscellaneous Provisions

Title II: Research and Technology

Subtitle A: Research and Training

Subtitle B: Intelligent Transportation Systems

Subtitle C: Funding

Title III: Intermodal Transportation Safety and Related

Matters

Subtitle A: Highway Safety

Subtitle B: Hazardous Materials Transportation

Reauthorization

Subtitle C: Comprehensive One-Call Notification

Subtitle D: Motor Carrier Safety

Subtitle E: Rail and Mass Transportation Anti-

Terrorism; Safety

Subtitle F: Sportfishing and Boating Safety

Subtitle G: Miscellaneous

Title IV: Ozone and Particulate Matter Standards

Title V: Mass Transit

Title VI: Revenue

Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1998 - Title I: Surface Transportation - Surface Transportation Act of 1998 - Subtitle A: General Provisions - Authorizes the use of specified sums from the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) for: (1) the Interstate (IS) and National Highway System (NHS) Program; (2) the Surface Transportation Program (STP); (3) the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program (CMAQ); and (4) the Federal Lands Highways Program (FLHP).

Requires the Secretary of Transportation to reduce amounts made available under this subtitle by the amounts made available under the Surface Transportation Extension Act of 1997 according to specified requirements.

(Sec. 1102) Modifies the apportionment formulas under Federal highway provisions with respect to: (1) the IS and NHS Program (including an interstate maintenance (IM) and interstate bridge component, as well as funding for the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands; (2) CMAQ (providing for adjustments based on population and level of air pollution and requiring the Secretary of Transportation (Secretary) to use the latest available annual population estimates prepared by the Secretary of Commerce); and (3) STP. Sets forth transitional provisions.

Authorizes the Secretary to reimburse the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Transportation (DOT) for the conduct of annual audits of financial statements.

(Sec. 1103) Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) obligation ceilings for Federal-aid highways and highway safety construction programs for FY 1998 through 2003, with exceptions; and (2) obligation authority.

Subjects demonstration projects to limitations on obligations established by law that applies to Federal-aid highways and highway safety construction programs. Sets maximum obligation levels for such projects set by States. Limits obligations for administrative expenses.

(Sec. 1104) Revises provisions regarding obligation authority under the STP to direct: (1) a State that is required to obligate in an urbanized area with an urbanized area population of over 200,000 individuals certain funds apportioned to the State to make available during the three-fiscal year periods of 1998-2000 and 2001-2003 a specified amount of obligation authority distributed to the State for Federal-aid highways and highway safety construction programs; and (2) each State, each affected metropolitan planning organization (MPO), and the Secretary to jointly ensure compliance.

(Sec. 1105) Amends provisions regarding emergency relief to authorize an emergency fund for expenditure by the Secretary, subject to specified restrictions, for the repair or reconstruction of highways, roads, and trails, in any part of the United States, including Indian reservations, that the Secretary finds to have suffered serious damage as a result of natural disaster over a wide area or catastrophic failure from any external cause. Prohibits the use of funds for the repair or reconstruction of bridges that have been permanently closed to all vehicular traffic by the State or responsible local official because of imminent danger of collapse due to a structural deficiency or physical deterioration. Authorizes appropriations from the HTF to establish the fund and replenish it annually. Makes a specified project to repair or reconstruct a Federal-aid primary route in San Mateo County, California, eligible for assistance.

(Sec. 1106) Authorizes the use of: (1) Federal land management agency funds to pay the non-Federal cost share of funded Federal-aid highway projects; and (2) FLHP funds to pay the non-Federal cost share of specified projects that provide access to or within Federal or Indian lands.

Modifies FLHP provisions to establish a coordinated FLHP. Requires: (1) the Secretary to develop transportation planning procedures that are consistent with required metropolitan and statewide planning processes; (2) the Secretary's approval of the transportation improvement program (TIP); (3) that all regionally significant FLHP projects be developed in cooperation with States and MPOs, and be included in appropriate FLHP, State, and metropolitan plans and TIPs; (4) the inclusion of the approved FLHP TIP in appropriate State and MPO plans and programs without further action on the TIP; and (5) the Secretary and the Secretary of each appropriate Federal land management agency to develop safety, bridge, pavement, and congestion management systems for roads funded under the FLHP. Allows funds available for public lands highways, park roads and parkways, and Indian reservation roads to be used by the Secretary and the Secretary of the appropriate Federal land management agency to pay for the cost of transportation planning, research, engineering, and construction of the highways, roads, and parkways, or of transit facilities within public lands, national parks, and Indian reservations.

Includes among eligible projects a project to build a replacement of the federally owned bridge over the Hoover Dam in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area between Nevada and Arizona.

Directs: (1) the Secretary to transfer to the appropriate Federal land management agency from amounts made available for public lands highways such amounts as necessary to pay the cost to the agency to conduct necessary transportation planning for Federal lands if funding for the planning is not otherwise provided; and (2) the Indian tribal government, in cooperation with the Secretary of the Interior and, as appropriate, with a State, local government, or MPO, to carry out a transportation planning process in accordance with this Act.

(Sec. 1107) Directs the Secretary to carry out a program to provide and maintain recreational trails. Sets forth provisions regarding State responsibilities, use of apportioned funds, State consideration of proposals that benefit or mitigate the impact to the natural environment, the Federal share (80 percent), uses not permitted, project administration, apportionment among the States, administrative costs, and contract authority. Makes amounts available from the HTF for FY 1998 through 2003 for such program.

(Sec. 1108) Amends the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) to: (1) increase from five to 15 the number of value (formerly, congestion) pricing pilot programs eligible for funding; (2) require the Secretary to fund all pre-implementation costs; and (3) remove the three-program cap on the number of such programs on which the Secretary shall allow the use of tolls on the IS. Makes sums available from the HTF for each of FY 1998 through 2003.

(Sec. 1109) Repeals provisions regarding economic growth center development highways. Revises provisions of ISTEA regarding highway use tax evasion projects to set the Federal share of such projects at 100 percent and to make available specified funds to the Secretary from the HTF for FY 1998 through 2003. Authorizes a State to expend up to .25 percent of its annual Federal-aid apportionments on initiatives to halt the evasion of payment of motor fuel taxes.

Directs the Secretary to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for the development and maintenance by the IRS of an excise fuel reporting system. Authorizes appropriations to the Secretary from the HTF for development, operation, and maintenance of the system, but provides that such funds shall not be available in advance of an annual appropriation.

(Sec. 1110) Includes the construction of pedestrian walkways as an eligible use of States' NHS apportionments under the same criteria by which bicycle transportation facilities are eligible. Removes a restriction against safely accommodating bicycles on highway bridges located on fully access-controlled highways.

Modifies planning provisions to require that: (1) consideration be given to bicyclists and pedestrians in the comprehensive statewide and metropolitan planning processes; and (2) the inclusion of bicycle transportation facilities and pedestrian walkways be considered in conjunction with all new construction and reconstruction of transportation facilities, except where such transportation is not permitted.

(Sec. 1111) Requires that: (1) at least ten percent of the funds authorized for specified programs under this Act be expended with small businesses owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals; (2) each State annually survey and compile a list of such businesses; and (3) the Secretary establish minimum uniform criteria for State government use in certifying business qualification.

Sets forth provisions regarding compliance with court orders. Directs the Comptroller General of the United States to review, and report to the Congress on, the impact of administering the requirements of this section.

(Sec. 1112) Revises provisions regarding the Federal share payable on IS and other projects to authorize a State to determine a lower Federal share than that determined under such provisions.

Authorizes a State to use as a credit toward the non-Federal share requirement for any program under ISTEA or specified Federal highway provisions, other than an emergency relief program, toll revenues that are generated and used by public, quasi-public, and private agencies to build, improve, or maintain, without the use of Federal funds, highways, bridges, or tunnels that serve the public purpose of interstate commerce, subject to specified requirements.

(Sec. 1113) Directs the Comptroller General of the United States to study and report to the Congress on: (1) the methodology used by DOT to determine highway needs using the highway economic requirement system (the model); (2) the extent to which the model can be used to provide States with useful information for developing State transportation investment plans and State infrastructure investment projections; (3) the international roughness index used as an indicator of pavement quality on the Federal-aid highway system; and (4) the impact of a utility company's failure to relocate its facilities in a timely manner on the delivery and cost of Federal-aid highway and bridge projects, methods States use to mitigate delays, the prevalence and use of incentives to utility companies for early completion of utility relocations on Federal-aid transportation project sites, and related issues.

(Sec. 1115) Establishes the Cooperative Federal Lands Transportation Program, under which funds may be used for projects on highways that are owned or maintained by States or political subdivisions thereof that cross, are adjacent to, or lead to federally owned land or Indian reservations (including Army Corps of Engineers reservoirs), as determined by the State. Directs that such projects be proposed by a State and selected by the Secretary.

Sets forth provisions regarding formulas for the distribution of funds for projects, funds transfers, and rights-of-way across Federal land (not affected). Makes specified funds available from the HTF for FY 1998 through 2003. Grants additional authorization of contract authority for States with Indian reservations.

(Sec. 1116) Directs the Secretary to make incentive grants to designated States and MPOs to encourage joint transportation planning activities and to improve people and vehicle movement into and through international gateways as a supplement to statewide and metropolitan transportation planning funding. Requires as a grant condition that a State transportation department or MPO certify to the Secretary that it commits to be engaged in joint planning with its counterpart agency in Mexico or Canada. Limits grant awards to $100,000 per department or MPO for any fiscal year. Makes funds available from the HTF for FY 1998 through 2003.

Requires the Secretary to make grants to States to encourage, within the framework of the statewide transportation planning process, cooperative multistate corridor analysis of, and planning for, the safe and efficient movement of goods along and within international or interstate trade corridors of national importance and through affected ports of entry. Sets forth provisions regarding the identification of corridors, corridor plans, and planning coordination. Consents to any two or more States: (1) entering into multistate agreements for cooperative efforts and mutual assistance in support of interstate trade corridor planning activities; and (2) establishing agencies to make the agreements effective. Makes specified funds available from the HTF for each of FY 1998 through 2003.

Directs the Secretary to make grants to States or MPOs that submit an application that: (1) demonstrates need for assistance in carrying out transportation projects that are necessary to relieve traffic congestion or improve enforcement of motor carrier safety laws; (2) includes strategies to involve both the public and private sectors in the proposed project; (3) provides for the safe and efficient movement of goods along and within international or interstate trade corridors; and (4) provides for the continued planning and development of trade corridors.

Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) the selection of States, MPOs, and projects to receive grants; (2) permissible uses of grants; and (3) construction of transportation infrastructure for law enforcement purposes. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1998 through 2003.

Sets forth provisions regarding coordination of planning, the Federal cost share, and the use of unallocated funds.

(Sec. 1117) Amends the Appalachian Regional Development Act of 1965 to provide that: (1) each allocation to a State for the Appalachian development highway system shall remain available for expenditure for the fiscal year in which the allocation is made and the three following fiscal years; and (2) funds authorized for FY 1998 or thereafter, and not expended by a State during those four fiscal years, shall be released to the Appalachian Regional Development Commission for reallocation and shall remain available until expended.

Includes within the Appalachian development highway system a substitute corridor in lieu of Corridor H in Virginia. Increases the Federal share for prefinanced projects. Makes specified funds available for the continued construction of the system for FY 1998 through 2003.

(Sec. 1118) Directs the Secretary to set aside specified funds for IS resurfacing, restoring, rehabilitating, or reconstructing, and for highway bridge replacement or rehabilitation, subject to specified requirements and exceptions.

Makes any bridge that is owned and operated by an agency that does not have taxing powers and whose functions include operating a federally assisted public transit system subsidized by toll revenues eligible for assistance, subject to a limitation.

Allocates funds to specified States ranked among the lowest ten percent of States in per capita personal income if certain other conditions regarding Federal-aid highway apportionment levels and State tax receipts apply.

(Sec. 1119) Requires the Secretary to solicit applications from States, or authorities designated by one or more States, for financial assistance authorized under this section for planning, design, and construction of eligible MAGLEV (i.e, transportation systems employing magnetic levitation that would be capable of safe use by the public at a speed in excess of 240 miles per hour) projects.

Sets forth provisions regarding project eligibility, the Federal cost share, project selection criteria, preconstruction planning and final design, engineering, and construction activities, and joint ventures. Makes funds available from the HTF for FY 1999 and 2000. Authorizes appropriations from the HTF for FY 2000 through 2003, but provides that such funds shall not be available in advance of an annual appropriation. Permits the use by a State of certain STP and CMAQ funds to pay a portion of project costs.

(Sec. 1120) Amends the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge Authority Act of 1995 to direct the Secretary to convey to the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge Authority (as under current law), or any Capital Region jurisdiction all rights to the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge.

Modifies ownership provisions of the Act to require the Secretary to submit to the Congress a proposed agreement which shall: (1) identify whether the Authority or a Capital Region jurisdiction will accept ownership of the Bridge; (2) contain a financial plan satisfactory to the Secretary which shall be prepared before the execution of the agreement and which shall specify the total cost of the project, a schedule for project implementation, and specified funding sources; and (3) require that the project include not more than 12 traffic lanes, of which two lanes shall be exclusively for use by high occupancy vehicles, express buses, or rail transit, that all provisions described in the environmental impact statement for the project or the record of decision for the project for mitigation and other impacts of the project be implemented, and that the Authority and the Capital Region jurisdictions develop an ongoing process to fully integrate affected local governments in carrying out the engineering, design, and construction phases of the project.

Makes specified sums available from HTF for FY 1998 through 2003.

(Sec. 1121) Establishes the NHS as those routes and transportation facilities depicted on the map submitted by the Secretary to the Congress with a specified report, dated May 24, 1996.

(Sec. 1122) Replaces the bridge program authorized in ISTEA with a requirement that States maintain their current funding levels for bridges on the Federal-aid system. Requires States to reserve at least an amount equivalent to the funding a State received under the bridge program for FY 1997 for bridges on either the IS, the NHS, or other Federal-aid roads.

Requires an amount equivalent to at least 15 percent of a State's FY 1997 bridge apportionment to be expended on bridges off the Federal-aid system.

Replaces the current requirement that States with Indian reservations reserve one percent of their bridge program funds for Indian reservation bridges to direct the Secretary to reserve at least $9 million for a program to fund improvements to Indian bridges.

(Sec. 1123) Extends eligibility for CMAQ funding to include areas classified as submarginal ozone nonattainment areas and maintenance areas.

Modifies eligibility for such funding to allow a State with a nonattainment area or maintenance area that received the minimum apportionment to use that amount of its apportionment not based on its nonattainment and maintenance area population on any project in the State eligible for STP funds. Excludes projects funded with CMAQ apportionments from the list of safety projects eligible for 100 percent Federal participation (making the standard 80 percent Federal share applicable).

(Sec. 1124) Amends the National Highway System Designation Act of 1995 to remove Maine from the list of States (currently, Maine and New Hampshire) to which specified safety belt use law requirements apply. Updates and extends such requirements with respect to New Hampshire (requiring a belt use rate of at least 50 percent in FY 1997 through 2000).

(Sec. 1125) Expresses the sense of the Senate that each agency authorized to expend funds from this Act or any other Federal assistance grantee under this Act: (1) should rely on private entities to provide goods and services through ordinary business channels; and (2) shall not duplicate or compete with private sector entities.

(Sec. 1126) Directs the Secretary to study and report to the Congress on the extent and effectiveness of use by States of uniformed police officers on Federal-aid highway construction projects.

(Sec. 1127) Directs that all requirements for architectural, engineering, and related services at any phase of a Federal-aid highway funded project be performed by a contract negotiated under provisions of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949. Prohibits State restrictions on such contracts. Requires compliance with Federal Acquisition Regulations requirements, including its qualifications-based selection process. Requires an alternative State process to be certified by the Secretary.

(Sec. 1128) Specifies a formula for the allocation of additional funds to be available from the HTF for FY 1998 through 2003, including for the Interstate maintenance, Interstate bridge, and NHS components of the Interstate and NHS program, the congestion mitigation and air quality improvement program, the surface transportation program, metropolitan planning, the minimum guarantee, and ISTEA transition.

Establishes a high density transportation program to provide funding to States with a higher-than-average population density. Makes sums available from the HTF for FY 1999 through 2003.

Directs the Secretary, after making other apportionments and allocations, to allocate specified bonuses to Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin in FY 1998 through 2003.

Makes specified additional sums available from the HTF for Indian reservation roads, for parkways and park roads, and for public lands highways for FY 1999 through 2003.

Sets forth preferences in interstate reconstruction, rehabilitation, resurfacing, and restoration, and bridge discretionary program allocations.

Makes certain additional allocations to Arizona, Indiana, Michigan, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, and Wisconsin.

(Sec. 1129) Makes improvements to access roads and construction of access roads, approaches, and related facilities necessary to connect the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit, Michigan, to the IS eligible for apportioned funds. Bars the use of such funds for any improvement to, or construction of, the bridge itself.

(Sec. 1130) Authorizes the Secretary to: (1) give priority to funding for a transportation project relating to an international quadrennial Olympic or Paralympic event if the project meets the extraordinary needs associated with such an event and the project is otherwise eligible for assistance; (2) participate in planning activities of States and MPOs and transportation projects relating to such an event and developing intermodal transportation plans necessary for the projects in coordination with State and local transportation agencies; and (3) provide assistance to States and local governments in carrying out transportation projects relating to such an event.

Sets an 80 percent Federal cost share for such a project. Authorizes appropriations from the HTF for FY 1998 through 2003.

(Sec. 1131) Authorizes the Secretary to carry out a project for reconstruction of a highway located outside the United States if it is determined to be important to the national defense. Makes sums available for FY 1998 through 2003.

(Sec. 1132) Directs the Secretary to: (1) develop and maintain a list of historic covered bridges; (2) collect and disseminate information, foster educational programs, and sponsor or conduct research, relating to such bridges; (3) sponsor or conduct research, and study techniques, on protecting such bridges from rot, fire, natural disasters, or weight-related damage; and (4) make grants to States submitting applications demonstrating a need for assistance to rehabilitate or repair, preserve, or conduct a field test on or evaluate a component of, a historic covered bridge (authorizes appropriations).

Subtitle B: Program Streamlining and Flexibility - Chapter 1: General Provisions - Replaces ISTEA provisions directing the Secretary to deduct up to three and three quarters per cent of specified apportionments for administrative expenses with a requirement that the Secretary deduct up to one and one half percent of certain Federal-aid highway apportionments to administer the Federal-aid highway program.

(Sec. 1202) Amends Federal highway provisions to: (1) authorize advance acquisition of real property for transportation improvements (currently limited to highway projects); and (2) provide a credit for acquired lands based on the value of publicly owned lands incorporated within a federally funded project if such land is not park land and does not influence the environmental assessment of the project.

Provides that a contribution by a unit of local government of real property, funds, material, or a service in connection with a project eligible for assistance under this section shall be credited against the State share of the project at the fair market value of the real property, funds, material, or service.

(Sec. 1203) Permits obligations incurred in prior fiscal years and released in a current fiscal year to be made available for reobligation.

(Sec. 1204) Repeals a restriction that applies the Federal-non-Federal matching share requirement to each payment a State receives for construction. Makes the requirement applicable to total project costs rather than to individual voucher payments.

(Sec. 1205) Replaces provisions regarding income from airspace rights-of-way with provisions regarding proceeds from the sale or lease of real property acquired with assistance from the HTF.

(Sec. 1206) Amends the National Highway System Designation Act of 1995 to provide that the Secretary shall not require States to use or plan the use of the metric system (currently, the Secretary may not require such action before September 30, 2000).

(Sec. 1207) Requires the Secretary to submit to the Congress an annual (currently, monthly) report on States' obligations for Federal-aid highways, highway safety construction programs, and unobligated balances.

(Sec. 1208) Terminates the right-of-way revolving fund (provides for a 20-year close-out period), a pilot toll collection program, and a congressional bridge commission. Directs the Secretary to terminate the National Recreational Trails Advisory Committee.

(Sec. 1209) Revises: (1) the eligible uses of funds apportioned for IM; and (2) the rules regarding the ability to transfer such funds to other Federal-aid highway programs.

(Sec. 1210) Directs the State to pay an amount equal to the amount of Federal funds made available for preliminary engineering of a highway project if on-site construction of, or acquisition of right-of-way for, such project is not commenced within ten years after the date on which Federal funds are first made available out of the HTF (current law), unless, before the end of such ten-year period, the State requests a longer period and the Secretary determines that the request is reasonable.

Chapter 2: Project Approval - Provides for the program-wide, rather than project-by-project, transfer and administration of transit funds made available for highway projects and highway funds made available for transit projects. Requires the Secretary to administer specified funds made available and transferred to Amtrak.

(Sec. 1222) Eliminates provisions regarding State plans, specifications, and estimates for highway projects, including a provision limiting construction engineering costs to 15 percent of the total estimated costs of projects financed by Federal highway funds within a State in a fiscal year.

Directs: (1) the Secretary to act upon plans, specifications, and estimates submitted by the State transportation department as soon as practicable and to enter into an agreement formalizing the conditions of project approval; and (2) the project agreement to make provision for State funds required for the State's pro rata share of project construction and maintenance costs.

Authorizes the Secretary to discharge to the States with their approval the Secretary's responsibilities for the design, plans, specifications, estimates, contract awards, and inspection of projects on the NHS.

(Sec. 1223) Requires States to set aside eight (currently, ten) percent of the STP funds for transportation enhancement activities. Reduces the current quarterly, project-by-project State certification and notification requirements to annual, program-wide approval of each State's project agreement.

Defines "transportation enhancement activities" to include the provision of tourist and welcome center facilities.

(Sec. 1224) Authorizes States to use design-build contracting for Federal-aid highway projects meeting specified minimum criteria. Authorizes the Secretary to approve for State use only procedures that consist of: (1) formal design-build contracting procedures specified in a State statute; or (2) in the case of a State without such a statute, design build selection procedures authorized under the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949.

(Sec. 1225) Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish an integrated decision making process for surface transportation projects that designates major decision points likely to have significant environmental effects and conflicts; and (2) integrate the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) for surface transportation projects at the earliest possible time, including (as appropriate) at the planning stage, with the agreement of the State transportation agencies and the cooperating agencies. Outlines requirements for: (1) integrated decision making goals; (2) decision making streamlining and integration; (3) the establishment of a concurrent transportation and environmental coordination process to reduce paperwork, combine review documents, and eliminate duplicative reviews; (4) interagency cooperation; (5) an enhanced surface transportation project scoping process; (6) the use of this Act's funds to establish such process; (7) roles of States in establishing and integrating such process; (8) conflict resolution concerning obstacles associated with alternative transportation projects; and (9) process timetables and a required implementation report to the Congress.

Specifies that it shall not be considered a conflict of interest for a State to procure, under a single contract, the services of a consultant to prepare any environmental assessments or analyses required, including environmental impact statements (EIS), as well as subsequent engineering and design work on the same project, provided that the State has conducted an independent multi-disciplined review that assesses the objectivity of any analysis, environmental assessment, or EIS prior to its submission to the agency that approves the project.

Chapter 3: Eligibility and Flexibility - Redefines "operational improvement" to include the installation, operation, or maintenance of certain intelligent transportation systems (ITS) infrastructure projects.

(Sec. 1232) Specifies that the construction of ferry boats and ferry terminal facilities are eligible uses of NHS, STP, and CMAQ funds.

(Sec. 1233) Requires each State to set aside two percent of its STP apportionment for railway-highway crossings, two percent for hazard elimination activities, and six percent for railway highway crossings or hazard elimination activities.

(Sec. 1234) Expands eligibility of projects on the NHS and under the STP. Grants preference, regarding participation in a natural habitat or wetland mitigation effort related to a project funded under this title that has an impact that occurs within the service area of a mitigation bank, to the use of the mitigation bank if the bank contains sufficient available credits to offset the impact and the bank is approved in accordance with applicable Federal law.

Includes among STP eligible projects environmental restoration and pollution abatement projects to address water pollution or environmental degradation caused or contributed to by transportation facilities, which shall be carried out when the facilities are undergoing reconstruction, rehabilitation, resurfacing, or restoration. Limits the expenditure of funds for such restoration or abatement to 20 percent of the total cost of the project.

(Sec. 1236) Eliminates a requirement that a State highway project plan accommodate future traffic demands. Requires the Secretary to ensure the consideration of planned future traffic needs.

Subtitle C: Finance - Chapter 1: General Provisions - Authorizes the Secretary to enter into cooperative agreements with States for the establishment of State infrastructure banks and multistate infrastructure banks for making loans and providing other assistance to public and private entities carrying out or proposing to carry out projects eligible for assistance, subject to specified requirements.

Requires each State establishing such a bank to meet specified requirements, including a requirement to contribute to the bank from non-Federal sources, at a minimum, an amount equal to 25 percent of the amount of each capitalization grant made to the State and contributed to the bank under this section, with an exception.

Chapter 2: Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation - Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act of 1998 - Establishes a transportation Federal credit assistance pilot program to provide alternative financing for eligible surface transportation projects. Sets forth eligibility and project selection criteria, including (with respect to the latter) the extent to which the project helps the environment and the extent to which such assistance would reduce the contribution of Federal grant assistance to the project.

Authorizes the Secretary to: (1) enter into agreements with one or more obligors to make secured and direct loans to finance eligible project costs (including the refinancing of interim construction financing of such project costs for a limited time period); and (2) sell to another entity or reoffer into the capital markets, as soon as practicable after substantial completion of a project and after notifying the obligor, a secured loan for the project if the Secretary determines that the sale or reoffering can be made on favorable terms (but the Secretary may not change the original terms and conditions of the secured loan without the obligor's written consent).

Sets forth provisions regarding lines of credit, project servicing, and State and local permits. Makes specified sums available from the HTF for FY 1998 through 2003, subject to stated limits on credit amounts. Imposes on any recipient of a Federal credit instrument an annual fee. Sets forth reporting requirements.

Amends Federal transportation law to revise the duties of the Secretary to include, among other things, to develop and coordinate Federal policy on financing transportation infrastructure, including the provision of direct Federal credit assistance and other techniques used to leverage Federal transportation funds.

Directs the Secretary to establish within the Office of the Secretary an Office of Infrastructure Finance, headed by a Director responsible for: (1) carrying out certain responsibilities of the Secretary, and research on financing transportation infrastructure; and (2) providing technical assistance to Federal, State, and local government agencies and officials to facilitate the development and use of alternative techniques for financing transportation infrastructure.

Subtitle D: Safety - Directs the Secretary to set aside for each of FY 1998 through 2003 from STP funds: (1) $500,000 to carry out a public information and education program to help prevent and reduce motor vehicle accidents, injuries, and fatalities, and to improve driver performance at railway-highway crossings; and (2) $5 million for elimination of hazards of such crossings. Includes among eligible corridors (for hazard elimination) a Gulf Coast high speed railway corridor. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1998 through 2003, but provides that such funds shall not be available in advance of an annual appropriation.

(Sec. 1403) Expands the list of projects eligible for railway-highway funds to include trespassing countermeasures in the immediate vicinity of a public railway-highway grade crossing, safety education, enforcement of traffic laws, and publicly sponsored projects at privately owned railway-highway crossings. Requires States to report to DOT on certain completed projects. Repeals a requirement that half of such funds be available for installation of protective devices at such crossings.

(Sec. 1404) Expands list of projects eligible for hazard elimination program funds to include projects that would remove road hazards to public bicycle or pedestrian pathways or trails or other appropriate facilities or projects constituting traffic calming measures. Repeals a prohibition on States using such funds to correct hazards on IS routes.

(Sec. 1405) Requires the Secretary, if a State has not enacted or is not enforcing a repeat intoxicated driver law, to transfer one and one-half percent of a State's NHS and STP funds to the apportionment to be used for alcohol-impaired driving countermeasures, or to be directed to State and local law enforcement agencies for enforcement of laws prohibiting driving while intoxicated or driving under the influence and other related laws. Increases such percentage to three percent in FY 2002 and thereafter.

Defines a "repeat intoxicated driver law" as one that requires, at a minimum, drivers convicted of a second or subsequent offense for driving while intoxicated or driving under the influence after a previous conviction for that offense, to: (1) receive a driver's license suspension for at least one year; (2) be subject to the impoundment or immobilization of each of the individual's motor vehicles or the installation of an ignition interlock system on each of the motor vehicles; (3) receive an assessment of the degree of alcohol abuse and treatment, as appropriate; and (4) receive a specified community service assignment or term of imprisonment for a second, or third or subsequent, offense.

(Sec. 1406) Provides incentive grants to States that either obtain a State seat belt use rate above the national average or increase the State seat belt usage. Makes funding available from the HTF for FY 1998 through 2003. Directs that to the extent that such sums exceed the total amounts to be allocated for the fiscal year, the excess amounts shall be allocated as specified, with half allocated through cooperative agreements with States to carry out innovative programs to promote increased seat belt use rates.

(Sec. 1407) Deems a manufacturer or distributor of a motor vehicle to be in compliance with applicable motor vehicle safety performance standards for occupant crash protection if the vehicle meets the applicable requirements for testing with the simultaneous use of both an automatic restraint system and a manual seat belt.

(Sec. 1408) Amends Federal highway provisions to require the Secretary to withhold five percent of the amount required to be apportioned to a State for FY 2002, and ten percent for subsequent fiscal years, if the State has not enacted and is not enforcing a law providing that an individual with an alcohol concentration of .08 percent or greater while operating a motor vehicle in the State is guilty of driving while intoxicated or an equivalent offense that carries the greatest penalty under the law of the State for operating a motor vehicle after having consumed alcohol.

(Sec. 1409) Sets forth analogous provisions regarding States not having in effect a law that prohibits the possession of any open alcoholic beverage container, or the consumption of any alcoholic beverage, in the passenger area of any motor vehicle located on a public highway or right-of-way in the State.

(Sec. 1410) Requires the Secretary to report to the Congress on the effects of allowing operation of heavier weight vehicles on Interstate Route 95 in Maine and New Hampshire, but places a moratorium on the withholding of funds from apportionment to such States.

Subtitle E: Environment - Directs the Secretary to carry out a National Scenic Byways program, and to make grants and provide technical assistance to States to implement National Scenic Byways, State scenic byways, and All-American Roads projects and plan, design, and develop a State scenic byway program. Sets the Federal share at 80 percent, with exceptions. Makes funds available from the HTF for FY 1998 through 2003.

(Sec. 1502) Allows an MPO, State transportation department, or other project sponsor to enter into an agreement with any public, private, or nonprofit entity to cooperatively implement any project carried out under CMAQ. Provides that activities eligible for funding in the case of projects for the use of alternative fuels by privately owned vehicles or vehicle fleets: (1) may include costs of vehicle refueling infrastructure and other capital investments associated with the project; and (2) shall include only the incremental cost of an alternative fueled vehicle compared to a conventional vehicle that would otherwise be borne by a private party and apply other governmental financial purchase contributions in the calculation of net incremental cost. Prohibits a Federal participation payment from being made regarding any activity that is required under the Clean Air Act or any other Federal law.

(Sec. 1503) Directs the Secretary to establish a national wetland restoration pilot program to fund specified mitigation projects to offset the degradation of wetlands, or the loss of functions and values of the aquatic resource, resulting from highway projects carried out before December 27, 1977, for which mitigation has not been performed.

Sets forth provisions regarding selection of projects and the formation of an interagency advisory council, selection criteria for priority projects, and reporting requirements. Makes specified funds available from the HTF for FY 1998 through 2003.

Subtitle F: Planning - Revises provisions regarding metropolitan transportation planning.

Directs that an MPO be redesignated upon request of a unit or units general purpose local government representing at least 25 percent of the affected population in any urbanized area whose population is between 5 million and 10 million, and which is an extreme nonattainment area for ozone or carbon monoxide. Specifies that an MPO designation shall remain in effect until the MPO is redesignated.

Sets forth specified boundary requirements for urbanized areas designated after this Act's enactment as ozone or carbon monoxide nonattainment areas, including that the boundaries of the metropolitan planning area be established by agreement between the local government and the Governor and encompass at least the urbanized and contiguous areas expected to become urbanized in a 20-year forecast period.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish with the Federal land management agencies that have jurisdiction over land in the Lake Tahoe region a transportation planning process for the region; and (2) coordinate the transportation planning process with the planning process required for State and local governments. Grants congressional consent to California and Nevada and specified local governmental units to designate an MPO for the Lake Tahoe Region, subject to specified requirements.

Revises factors to be considered in the metropolitan transportation planning process. Requires such factors and State or local goals to be addressed in long-range transportation plans as they relate to a 20-year forecast and other forecast periods determined by planning process participants.

Requires financial plans included in transportation management programs to indicate available resources and innovative financing techniques without requirements for indicating project-specific funding sources.

Lists parties responsible for selection of federally funded projects to be implemented in metropolitan areas from approved transportation improvement programs.

Sets forth certification requirements, including that the public has been given adequate opportunity during the certification process to comment on the public participation process conducted by the MPO and the extent to which the transportation improvement program for the metropolitan area takes into account the needs of the entire metropolitan area.

Authorizes the Secretary to withhold up to 20 percent of Federal highway and mass transportation funds attributable to a transportation management area if a metropolitan planning process is not certified. (Currently, all or part of STP funds may be withheld for failures to certify.)

(Sec. 1602) Makes amendments to statewide planning provisions similar to those made to metropolitan planning provisions with respect to: (1) factors considered in the planning process; (2) elimination of requirements for project-specific funding sources; and (3) a 20- year forecast period for long-range transportation plans.

Directs that: (1) transportation improvement programs for nonmetropolitan areas be developed in cooperation with the State and elected officials of affected local governments and subdivisions with jurisdiction over transportation planning through a process developed by the State that ensures participation by the elected officials; and (2) the Secretary review the planning process every two years and approve such process upon finding the planning process consistent with specified requirements.

Directs the Secretary to streamline the Federal transportation planning and NEPA decision process requirements for all transportation improvements supported with Federal surface transportation funds or requiring Federal approvals.

(Sec. 1603) Directs the Secretary to establish: (1) an advanced travel forecasting procedures program; and (2) a comprehensive initiative to investigate and address the relationships between transportation and community and system preservation. Makes funds available from the HTF for FY 1998 through 2003.

Subtitle G: Technical Corrections - Makes technical and conforming changes to Federal highway law. Increases the maximum allowable mileage on the NHS to 178,250 miles.

Describes the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways and limits maximum mileage on the IS to 43,000 miles, exclusive of additional designations authorized by the Secretary.

Subtitle H: Miscellaneous Provisions - Designates as Interstate Route 86 a specified portion of State Route 17 between Harriman, New York, and Erie, Pennsylvania. Requires such road to be upgraded to meet IS requirements.

(Sec. 1802) Amends ISTEA to include specified high priority corridors on the NHS in Louisiana, Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois (sec. 1814 for the latter three).

(Sec. 1803) Expresses the sense of the Senate that certain restrictions on the operation of longer combination vehicles should not be amended so as to result in any less restrictive prohibition or restriction.

(Sec. 1804) Permits the International Bridge Authority or its successor organization to continue collecting tolls for maintenance and operation of, and capital improvements and future expansions to, the International Bridge, Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and its approaches, plaza areas, and associated structures.

(Sec. 1805) Amends the National Trails System Act to direct the Surface Transportation Board to approve a proposal for interim trail use of a railroad right-of-way unless at least half of the local governments within the rail corridor pass a resolution opposing such use and submit it to the Board within time requirements for rail line abandonment proceedings. Provides that such limitation shall not apply if a State has assumed responsibility for the management of the right-of-way.

(Sec. 1806) Authorizes the use of agriculturally derived, environmentally acceptable, minimally corrosive anti-icing and de-icing compositions in the highway bridge replacement and rehabilitation program.

(Sec. 1807) Prohibits the use of funds authorized in this title for any activity to build support for or against, or to influence the formulation or adoption of, State or local legislation unless such activity is consistent with previously-existing Federal mandates or incentive programs. Permits testifying before a State or local legislative body at such body's invitation.

(Sec. 1808) Amends the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 to redefine "qualified expenses," for purposes of a non-Amtrak State, to include expenses incurred for specified purposes, such as for capital expenditures related to State-owned rail operations and the upgrading and maintenance of intercity primary and rural air service facilities.

(Sec. 1809) Directs the Secretary to allow the continuance of commercial operations at the service plazas on the John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway on Interstate Route 95 at the request of the Maryland Transportation Authority.

(Sec. 1810) Amends ISTEA to authorize the Secretary, the Federal Railroad Administrator, and their designees to serve as ex officio members of the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania Station Redevelopment Corporation; and (2) Federal law to authorize such individuals to serve as ex officio members of the Board of Directors of the Union Station Redevelopment Corporation.

(Sec. 1812) Amends the Appalachian Regional Development Act of 1965 to include within the Appalachian Region specified cities in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and Virginia.

(Sec. 1813) Directs the Secretary to conduct and report to the Congress on a comprehensive assessment of the state of transportation infrastructure on the southwest border between the United States and Mexico.

(Sec. 1815) Designates specified corridors in Mississippi and Alabama as routes on the IS.

(Sec. 1816) Reauthorizes the ferry and ferry terminal program under ISTEA.

(Sec. 1817) Directs the Secretary to: (1) study ferry transportation in the United States and its possessions to identify existing ferry operations and potential domestic ferry routes and develop information on those routes; (2) report to specified congressional committees; and (3) meet with relevant State and municipal planning organizations to discuss the results of the study and the availability of Federal and State resources for providing marine ferry service.

Title II: Research and Technology - Subtitle A: Research and Training - Amends Federal transportation law to direct the Secretary to establish a strategic planning process to: (1) determine national transportation research, development, and technology (RD&T) deployment priorities, strategies, and milestones over the next five years; (2) coordinate Federal transportation RD&T deployment activities; and (3) measure the impact of specified RD&T investments on the performance of the U.S. transportation system.

Sets forth provisions regarding transactional authority of the Secretary (including the authority to make grants to, or enter into contracts with, specified entities, such as Federal laboratories), implementation of such process, and reporting requirements. Authorizes funds from the HTF for FY 1998 through 2003.

(Sec. 2002) Directs the Secretary to establish a Multimodal Transportation Research and Development Program. Makes funds available from the HTF for FY 1998 through 2003.

(Sec. 2003) Directs the Secretary to make grants to, or enter into contracts with, selected nonprofit institutions of higher learning to: (1) operate one university transportation center in each of the ten Federal administrative regions that comprise the Standard Federal Regional Boundary System; and (2) continue operation of specified transportation centers and institutes. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to such institutions to establish and operate up to four additional centers to address specified transportation issues.

Sets forth provisions regarding selection criteria, the Federal cost share, program coordination, and review and evaluation. Makes funds available from the HTF for each of FY 1998 through 2003.

(Sec. 2004) Expands the list of topics to be covered by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), including transportation-related variables influencing global competitiveness.

Requires the Director of BTS to: (1) establish and maintain a transportation data base for all modes of transportation, and a National Transportation Library; and (2) develop and maintain geospatial data bases that depict transportation networks, flows of people, goods, vehicles, and craft over the networks, and social, economic, and environmental conditions that affect or are affected by the networks.

Authorizes the Secretary to make specified research and development grants, including for development of electronic clearinghouses of transportation data and related information, as part of the National Transportation Library.

Requires the Director to conduct a study measuring and evaluating various aspects of international trade traffic carried by State highways for apportionment purposes.

Sets forth provisions regarding prohibited disclosures, a study regarding international trade traffic, and disposition of proceeds of data product sales. Makes funds available from the HTF for FY 1998 through 2003.

(Sec. 2005) Directs the Secretary to: (1) carry out certain transportation-related RD&T transfer activities (authorizes the Secretary to test, develop, or assist in testing and developing any material, invention, patented article, or process); and (2) develop and carry out programs to facilitate the application of such products of research and technical innovations as will improve the safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of the transportation system.

Authorizes the Secretary to carry out certain collaborative research and development activities with non-Federal entities and multipurpose Federal laboratories. Sets forth mandatory elements of surface transportation RD&T transfer programs, including research on telecommuting, research on linkages between transportation, information technology, and community development, and research on the impacts of technological change and economic restructuring on travel demand.

(Sec. 2006) Directs the Secretary to establish an advanced research program within the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to address longer-term, higher-risk research that shows potential benefits for improving the durability, mobility, efficiency, environmental impact, productivity, and safety of transportation systems. Makes funds available from the HTF for FY 1998 through 2003.

(Sec. 2007) Directs the Secretary to complete long-term pavement performance program tests through the midpoint of a planned 20-year life of the program. Makes HTF funds available for FY 1998 through 2003.

(Sec. 2008) Makes two percent of certain categories of transportation funds available to the States for each fiscal year to fund planning and research.

(Sec. 2009) Directs the Secretary to carry out a transportation assistance program to provide access to modern highway technology to: (1) certain low-population and rural highway and transportation agencies; and (2) contractors who work for such agencies. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants and enter into cooperative agreements and contracts to: (1) assist rural local transportation agencies, tribal governments, and consultants; (2) deliver transportation technology and traffic safety information to local jurisdictions; (3) operate local technical assistance program centers; and (4) allow local transportation agencies and tribal governments to enhance new technology implementation. Makes funds available from the HTF for FY 1998 through 2003.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish and operate in FHWA a National Highway Institute; and (2) carry out a Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship Program to attract qualified students to the field of transportation. Makes funds available from the HTF for FY 1998 through 2003.

(Sec. 2010) Provides authorized uses of international highway transportation outreach program funds. Enables States to use their State Planning and Research Program Funds for program activities.

(Sec. 2011) Directs the Secretary to develop and administer a national technology deployment initiatives and partnerships program. Sets forth reporting requirements. Makes HTF funds available for FY 1998 through 2003, including specified funds for a study of future strategic highway research program.

(Sec. 2012) Directs the Secretary to: (1) report every two years on estimates of the future highway and bridge needs of the United States and on the backlog of current highway and bridge needs; (2) establish and carry out a program to demonstrate the application of innovative material technology in the construction of bridges and other structures (makes HTF funds available for FY 1998 through 2003); (3) make a grant to, or enter into a cooperative agreement or contract with, the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a study to determine the goals, purposes, research agenda and projects, administrative structure, and fiscal needs for a new strategic highway research program (sets forth reporting requirements); (4) encourage and promote the research, development, and deployment of transportation technologies that will use technological advances in multimodal vehicles, vehicle components, environmental technologies, and related infrastructure (sets forth reporting requirements and authorizes appropriations, but provides that such funds shall not be available in advance of an annual appropriation); (5) establish and carry out a transportation and environment cooperative research program (requiring the establishment of an advisory board and authorizing appropriations for FY 1998 through 2003, subject to such limitation); (6) establish, and periodically review and evaluate, at the University of New Hampshire a research program to be known as the Recycled Materials Resource Center; and (7) establish and carry out a program to validate remote sensing and spatial information technologies for application to national transportation infrastructure development and construction (authorizes appropriations for FY 1999 through 2004).

Subtitle B: Intelligent Transportation Systems - Intelligent Transportation Systems Act of 1998 - Directs the Secretary to carry out a comprehensive program of intelligent transportation systems (ITS) research, development, operational testing, technical assistance and training, national architecture activities, standards development and implementation, and other similar activities, including a program to conduct research, development, and engineering designed to stimulate and advance deployment of an integrated intelligent vehicle program and an integrated intelligent infrastructure program.

Sets forth provisions regarding priorities (such as maximizing safety benefits of the simultaneous use of an automatic restraint system and seat belts), cost sharing, a six-year plan, reporting and evaluation requirements, and funding.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) maintain a repository for technical and safety data collected as a result of federally sponsored projects and, upon request, make such information (except for proprietary information and data) readily available to all users of the repository at an appropriate cost; (2) carry out a program to advance traffic incident management and response technologies, strategies, and partnerships that are fully integrated with ITS; (3) conduct a comprehensive program to accelerate the integration and interoperability of ITS; (4) continue through to completion public-private partnership agreements previously executed to promote the integration of surface transportation management systems; (5) conduct a comprehensive program to accelerate the integration or deployment of ITS in rural areas; (6) carry out a comprehensive program to promote the safety and productivity of commercial vehicles and drivers and to reduce costs associated with commercial vehicle operations and State and Federal commercial vehicle regulatory requirements; and (7) encourage multistate cooperative agreements, coalitions, or other arrangements intended to promote regional cooperation, planning, and shared project implementation for ITS projects. Makes HTF funds available for such activities.

Requires the Secretary to develop, implement, and maintain a national architecture and supporting standards to promote the widespread use and evaluation of ITS technology as a component of U.S. surface transportation systems. Sets forth provisions regarding reporting requirements, waivers, funding limitations, and advisory committees.

Repeals the Intelligent Transportation Systems Act of 1991.

Subtitle C: Funding - Makes funds available from the HTF for research, technology, and training for FY 1998 through 2003. Limits total obligations for each such year.

Title III: Intermodal Transportation Safety and Related Matters - Intermodal Transportation Safety Act of 1998 - Subtitle A: Highway Safety - Amends Federal transportation law to require the Secretary of Transportation to make grants to States that take specified actions to advance highway safety with respect to: (1) alcohol-impaired driving countermeasures (including a graduated licensing system for drivers under age 21, young adult drinking programs, and a law deeming intoxication a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08); (2) State highway safety data improvements; and (3) motor vehicle occupant protection (including safety belts and child passenger protection devices). Authorizes the Secretary, subject to appropriations, to make grants to States to carry out child occupant protection education programs. Authorizes appropriations.

(Sec. 3101) Changes from discretionary to mandatory the Secretary's authority to carry out safety research with respect to drugged driving, including deterrent measures.

(Sec. 3102) Authorizes the Secretary to enter into an agreement with an organization representing the interests of the States to manage, administer, and operate the National Driver Register's computer timeshare and user assistance functions.

Authorizes the head of a Federal agency that issues motor vehicle operator's licenses to request information about an individual applicant from the chief driver licensing official of a State.

(Sec. 3103) Authorizes appropriations for FY 1998 through 2003 for consolidated State highway safety programs and for the National Driver Register.

(Sec. 3104) Directs the Secretary to carry out safety research on programs to train law enforcement officers on motor vehicle pursuits. Earmarks specified amounts of highway safety research and development (R&D) funds for such programs.

(Sec. 3105) Requires State highway safety programs to include the enforcement of light transmission standards of glazing for passenger motor vehicles and light trucks as necessary to improve highway safety.

(Sec. 3106) Suspends Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 208, Occupant crash protection, 49 CFR 571.208, that requires air bag-equipped vehicles to be crashed into a barrier using unbelted adult male dummies, until the following rule goes into effect, or the Secretary determines that test restoration is necessary to accomplish the purposes of such a rule. Directs the Secretary to promulgate a rule to improve the occupant protection for all occupants provided by such standard while minimizing the risk to infants, children, and other occupants from injuries and deaths caused by air bags, by means that include advanced air bags. Requires a report to the Congress on the development of technology to improve the air bag protection and reduce the associated risks.

(Sec. 3107) Directs the Secretary to issue a guidance regarding the benefits and safety performance of redirective and nonredirective crash cushions in different road applications. Directs States to use such guidance in evaluating the safety and cost-effectiveness of using different crash cushion designs and determining whether redirective or nonredirective crash cushions or other safety appurtenances should be installed at specific highway locations.

Subtitle B: Hazardous Materials Transportation Reauthorization - Repeals the Secretary's authority to prescribe criteria for handling hazardous material.

(Sec. 3206) Repeals the mandate of the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to distribute the hazardous materials training curriculum for the public sector.

(Sec. 3207) Directs the Secretary to: (1) monitor public sector emergency response planning and training for an accident or incident involving hazardous material; and (2) provide technical assistance to a State, local government, or Indian tribe for carrying out such training and planning.

Permits the Secretary to authorize a State or Indian tribe receiving a planning and training grant to use up to 25 percent of it to assist small businesses in complying with regulations.

(Sec. 3208) Authorizes the Secretary to carry out pilot programs to examine innovative alternatives to Federal regulations issued for private motor carriage in intrastate transportation of agricultural production material from a source of supply to a farm, from a farm to another farm, from a field to another field on a farm, or from a farm back to the source of supply.

(Sec. 3211) Authorizes DOT officers, employees, or agents, during an inspection, to: (1) open, examine, sample, and analyze the contents of a package marked or otherwise represented as containing a hazardous material, or about which there is an objectively reasonable and articulable belief that the package may contain such material; and (2) prevent the further transportation of any material when there is an objectively reasonable and articulable belief that an imminent hazard may exist, until the material's hazardous qualities have been determined.

Requires inspectors to mark a package found to contain hazardous materials, and notify the shipper before the package may continue in transportation.

Directs the Secretary to issue or impose immediate restrictions, prohibitions, recalls, or out-of-service orders, without notice or the opportunity for a hearing, that may be necessary to abate an emergency situation.

(Sec. 3212) Prescribes criminal penalties for knowing violations of law or regulations governing the transportation of hazardous materials.

(Sec. 3214) Provides for judicial review of final orders and civil or criminal penalties.

(Sec. 3215) Directs the Secretary to study the feasibility and desirability of a Federal permit program for high risk hazardous material carriers and hazardous waste carriers, including alternative regulatory methods and procedures that may improve the safety of such carriers and shippers.

(Sec. 3216) Authorizes appropriations for FY 1998 through 2003.

Subtitle C: Comprehensive One-Call Notification - Provides for the establishment of a State one-call notification program to protect underground facilities from excavation damage. Outlines required elements of the program, including minimum standards and provisions for implementation and enforcement. Authorizes a State to maintain an alternate one-call notification program if it provides protection for public safety, the environment, or excavators that is equivalent to, or greater than, protection under a program that meets the minimum standards of this Act.

(Sec. 3302) Directs the Secretary to study damage prevention practices associated with existing one-call notification systems in order to determine which systems practices appear to be the most effective in preventing damage to underground facilities and public service disruption and in protecting the public, the environment, and excavators.

Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to assist qualifying States in improving their one-call notification programs.

Authorizes appropriations.

Subtitle D: Motor Carrier Safety - Provides for performance-based grants to States for: (1) improving motor carrier safety; and (2) enforcing regulations for hazardous materials transportation safety. Requires State plans under such grants to implement performance-based activities by FY 2000.

(Sec. 3403) Makes 100 percent the Federal share of public education activities with respect to commercial motor vehicle safety programs and enforcement.

(Sec. 3404) Authorizes appropriations for commercial motor vehicle safety programs for FY 1998 through 2003.

(Sec. 3405) Authorizes the Secretary to establish motor carrier information systems and data analysis programs to support motor carrier regulatory and enforcement activities. Requires such information systems, in cooperation with the States, to be coordinated into a network providing identification of motor carriers and drivers, registration and licensing tracking, and motor carrier and driver safety performance. Requires the Secretary to develop and maintain data analysis capacity and programs to provide the means to: (1) develop strategies to address safety problems and to use data analysis to measure the effectiveness of these strategies and related programs; (2) determine the cost effectiveness of State and Federal safety compliance, enforcement programs, and other countermeasures; (3) evaluate the safety fitness of motor carriers and drivers; (4) identify and collect necessary data; and (5) adapt, improve, and incorporate other information and information systems as deemed appropriate by the Secretary.

Requires the Secretary to include, as part of the DOT motor carrier safety information network system, a Performance and Registration Information Systems Management information system to serve as a clearinghouse and repository of information related to State registration and licensing of commercial motor vehicles and the safety system of the commercial motor vehicle registrants or the motor carriers operating the vehicles.

Authorizes the Secretary to establish a program focusing on improving commercial motor vehicle driver safety.

(Sec. 3406) Directs the Secretary to carry out a pilot program in cooperation with one or more States to: (1) improve upon the timely exchange of pertinent driver performance and safety records data to motor carriers; and (2) determine to what extent such data, including relevant fines, penalties, and failures to appear for a hearing or trial, should be included as part of any information systems under DOT oversight.

(Sec. 3407) Requires specified allocations of appropriations for each of FY 1998 through 2003 for activities designed to advance commercial motor vehicle and driver safety, with any obligation, contract, cooperative agreement, or support granted in excess of $250,000 to be awarded on a competitive basis.

(Sec. 3408) Authorizes FY 1998 through 2003 appropriations for information systems and strategic safety initiatives. Repeals the existing truck and bus accident grant program.

(Sec. 3411) Repeals the requirement for State submission of commercial motor vehicle safety laws and regulations to the Secretary for review, including the mandate for the Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Regulatory Review Panel.

Prohibits motor carriers, including passenger and hazardous material carriers, which fail to meet safety fitness requirements from operating in interstate commerce.

(Sec. 3412) Repeals grant programs for: (1) testing and ensuring the fitness of operators of commercial motor vehicles; and (2) issuing commercial drivers' licenses and complying with State participation requirements.

Declares that no action or proceeding for defamation, invasion of privacy, or interference with a contract that is based on the furnishing or use of safety performance records in accordance with regulations issued by the Secretary may be brought against: (1) a motor carrier requesting the safety performance records of an individual under consideration for employment as a commercial motor vehicle driver as required by and in accordance with regulations issued by the Secretary; (2) a person who has complied with such a request; or (3) the agents or insurers of such persons.

(Sec. 3413) Revises civil penalties for violations of Federal law with respect to commercial motor vehicle safety.

(Sec. 3414) Repeals the mandate for a working group of State and local government officials with respect to the International Registration Plan and International Fuel Tax Agreement. Repeals the authority for grants to States and appropriate persons to facilitate participation in such Plan and Agreement, as well as the authorization of appropriations for the program.

(Sec. 3415) Directs the Secretary to conduct studies to determine the location and quantity of parking facilities at commercial truck stops and travel plazas and public rest areas that could be used by motor carriers to comply with Federal hours-of-service rules.

(Sec. 3417) Revises the Secretary's authority with respect to charter bus transportation.

(Sec. 3418) Requires the DOT to maintain the level of Federal motor carrier safety investigators for international border commercial vehicle inspections as in effect on September 30, 1997, or provide for alternative resources and mechanisms to ensure an equivalent level of commercial motor vehicle safety inspections.

(Sec. 3419) Directs the Secretary to determine the willingness and ability of any foreign motor carrier that applied to operate in the United States but whose application has not been processed due to the moratorium on the granting of authority to operate here, to meet the safety fitness and other regulatory requirements under this title. Requires a related report to specified congressional committees.

(Sec. 3420) Authorizes the Secretary to establish a Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Advisory Committee to give advice on commercial motor vehicle safety regulations and safety review procedures and findings, and assistance in negotiated rulemaking procedures.

(Sec. 3421) Directs the Secretary to establish procedures for initiating waivers of and exemptions from Federal commercial motor vehicle and motor carrier safety regulations, as well as related pilot programs. Limits waivers, in scope and circumstances, to: (1) a period of three months; (2) nonemergency and unique events; and (3) any conditions the Secretary may impose. Authorizes the Secretary to grant a waiver or an exemption to such safety regulations if it is determined that it is in the public interest and it is likely to achieve a level of safety that is equivalent to, or greater than, the level of safety that would be obtained in its absence.

Authorizes the Secretary to carry out pilot programs to examine innovative approaches or alternatives to existing commercial motor vehicle safety regulations.

(Sec. 3422) Directs the Secretary to study and report to the Congress on the impact on safety and infrastructure of tandem axle commercial motor vehicle operations in States that permit their operation in excess of Federal weight limits.

(Sec. 3423) Directs the Secretary to allocate the full amount of Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP) funds for FY 1998 through 2003 to any State which did not receive its full MCSAP allocation for FY 1996 through 1997 that agrees to enter into a cooperative agreement with the Secretary to evaluate the safety impact, costs, and benefits of allowing the State to continue to participate fully in the MCSAP. Prohibits a State from implementing motor carrier safety regulations less strict than those in effect as of September 30, 1997.

(Sec. 3424) Exempts drivers of utility service vehicles during emergency periods from certain maximum driving and on-duty times and recordkeeping regulations, together with installation of related equipment. Declares that certain Federal commercial motor vehicle safety, maintenance, and driver license renewal requirements shall continue to apply.

(Sec. 3425) Directs the Secretary to enter into an agreement with the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences to study and report to specified congressional committees on the safety issues attendant to the transportation of school children to and from school and school-related activities by various transportation modes. Authorizes appropriations.

Subtitle E: Rail and Mass Transportation Anti-Terrorism; Safety - Amends the Federal criminal code to prohibit the use of firearms, dangerous weapons, and propelling objects against railroad trains and mass transportation.

(Sec. 3504) Requires the Federal Bureau of Investigation to lead the investigation of all such offenses (including existing offenses under the "Wrecking Trains" statute).

(Sec. 3505) Requires the Federal Transit Administrator to consult with the Federal Railroad Administrator concerning relevant safety issues in making a mass transportation grant or loan that concerns a railroad subject to the Secretary's railroad safety jurisdiction.

(Sec. 3506) Changes the frequency with which rail carriers must file accident and incident reports with the Secretary from monthly to periodically.

(Sec. 3507) Amends the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 to extend through January 1, 2003, the temporary exemption from certain axle weight limitations of intrastate public agency transit passenger buses.

Subtitle F: Sportfishing and Boating Safety - Amends the Act popularly known as the Federal Aid in Fish Restoration Act to earmark for FY 1999 through 2003 specified amounts of fish restoration and management project funds for the National Outreach and Communications Program. Increases: (1) the regional average that States must allocate from project funds for certain recreational boating purposes; and (2) the State allocation for aquatic resource education, outreach, and communications (currently, for aquatic resource education and outreach) programs.

(Sec. 3602) Directs the Secretary of the Interior to develop and implement a national plan for outreach and communications. Requires States to develop State plans.

(Sec. 3603) Requires that specified funds remaining after the initial annual distribution of fish restoration and management project funds be used for: (1) grants to coastal States for pumpout stations and waste reception facilities under the Clean Vessel Act of 1992; (2) matching grants to States for the cost of facilities for transient nontrailerable recreational vessels; and (3) State recreational boating safety programs.

(Sec. 3604) Directs the Secretary to adopt a national framework for a public boat access needs assessment. Requires each participating State to conduct the assessment unless the Secretary certifies that it is implementing a plan that ensures adequate access. Allows States to fund the assessments from amounts dedicated to access to recreational waters under existing provisions.

Authorizes a State, after submitting a survey to the Secretary, to develop and submit a plan for construction, renovation, and maintenance of public facilities for transient nontrailerable recreational vessels.

Mandates matching grants to States for up to 75 percent of the cost of such facilities.

(Sec. 3605) Amends Federal boating safety law to revise requirements for Federal funding of State recreational boating safety programs. Earmarks funds for the payment of expenses of the Coast Guard for personnel and activities directly related to carrying out the national recreational boating safety program. Reduces the period of availability of State allocations of recreational boating safety funds from three years to two years after the date of allocation.

Subtitle G: Miscellaneous - Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to States that have State rail plans to fund light density rail line pilot projects. Directs the Secretary to study and report to the Congress on the pilot projects to determine the public interest benefits associated with the light density railroad networks in the States and their contribution to a multimodal transportation system.

(Sec. 3701) Authorizes appropriations.

(Sec. 3703) Designates a New Mexico Commercial Zone, consisting of Dona Ana and Luna Counties, which shall be exempt from the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Transportation and the Surface Transportation Board with respect to motor carrier transportation.

Title IV: Ozone and Particulate Matter Standards - Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to fund through grants to States under the Clean Air Act 100 percent of the cost of the establishment, by December 31, 1999, of a particulate matter monitoring network to implement the PM2.5 ozone national ambient air quality standards established in July, 1997. Requires State Governors to designate areas of attainment or nonattainment with respect to such air standards within one year after receipt of three years of air quality monitoring data.

Title V: Mass Transit - Federal Transit Act of 1998 - Amends Federal mass transportation law to extend through FY 2003 the authorization of appropriations for various mass transit programs, including: (1) urban and rural area formula grants; (2) New Starts for fixed guideway systems; (3) fixed guideway modernization (including ferry boats and terminal facilities); (4) bus programs; (5) elderly and handicapped transit services; and (6) planning. Sets aside certain amounts for various purposes, including planning, programming, and research, and workplace safety.

(Sec. 5002) Authorizes appropriations, in order to provide proportional increases in funding for national mass transit programs commensurate with increases in national highway programs, for various capital projects related to the aforementioned mass transit programs.

(Sec. 5003) Revises the definition of capital project to include intelligent transportation systems and preventive maintenance, as well as leasing of equipment and facilities and introduction of new technology. Sets forth eligible costs of capital projects that enhance economic development or incorporate private investment, including safety elements and community services facilities.

Authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to make capital project grants to finance the operating cost of equipment and facilities for use in mass transportation in an urbanized area with a population of less than 200,000 (small area flexibility).

(Sec. 5004) Revises metropolitan planning requirements, including those relating to development, process scope, goals, metropolitan planning organizations' duties, metropolitan transportation improvement program, information publication, and transportation management areas.

Sets forth statewide planning requirements, including development requirements, planning process scope, coordination with metropolitan planning, State air quality implementation plan, long-range transportation plan, information publication, and State transportation improvement program.

(Sec. 5005) Requires metropolitan planning organizations to include representatives of the users of public transit.

(Sec. 5006) Allows State and local mass transit entities to use proceeds from issuance of farebox revenue bonds in meeting the required local share of funding for capital projects; but requires State maintenance of effort with respect to non-Federal transportation capital expenditures.

(Sec. 5007) Establishes a clean fuels formula grant program for vehicles powered by compressed natural gas, liquefied natural gas, biodiesel fuels, batteries, alcohol-based fuels, or hybrid electric, fuel cell, or other zero emissions technology. Provides for assistance to eligible mass transit entities for projects to: (1) purchase or lease such vehicles; (2) construct or lease clean fuel vehicle fueling or electrical recharging facilities and equipment; (3) improve existing transit facilities to accommodate clean fuel vehicles; and (4) cover incremental costs of biodiesel fuel. Provides for apportionment of funds to eligible entities in specified types of areas with certain conditions. Requires the use of a specified portion of funds for: (1) purchase or construction of hybrid electric or battery-powered buses; or (2) facilities specifically designed to service those buses. Authorizes appropriations.

(Sec. 5008) Renames specified discretionary grants and loans as capital investment grants and loans.

(Sec. 5009) Requires the Secretary, in deciding whether to approve a grant or loan for a capital project for a new or extended fixed guideway system, to recognize reductions in local infrastructure costs achieved through compact land use development.

(Sec. 5010) Limits to not more than eight percent for any fiscal year the amount of funding under the New Starts program that may be used for fixed guideway system activities other than final design and construction.

(Sec. 5011) Establishes a joint partnership program for deployment of innovation. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants, contracts, and cooperative and other agreements with selected consortia to promote the early deployment of innovation in mass transportation technology, services, management, or operational practices. Requires such program to be carried out by competitively selected public-private partnerships that will share costs, risks, and rewards of early deployment of innovation with broad applicability. Requires assisted consortia to provide at least 50 percent of the costs of any joint partnership project.

(Sec. 5012) Authorizes National Mass Transportation Institute programs to include courses in workplace safety.

(Sec. 5013) Restores current law designating and funding University Research Institutes and Regional and National University Transportation Centers, by repealing their repeal by title II of this Act.

Directs the Secretary to make grants to the University of Alabama Transportation Research Center to establish a university Transportation Center.

(Sec. 5014) Establishes a job access and reverse commute grants program. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to qualified entities for up to 50 percent of the costs of projects to develop transportation services to transport welfare recipients and eligible low-income individuals, and residents of urban areas, urbanized areas, and areas other than urbanized areas, to and from jobs and employment-related activities (including suburban employment opportunities). Authorizes appropriations, allocated: (1) 60 percent for projects in urbanized areas with populations of not less than 200,000; (2) 20 percent for projects in urbanized areas with populations of less than 200,000; and (3) 20 percent for projects in areas other than urbanized areas.

(Sec. 5015) Makes specified formula and discretionary grant requirements apply to any project that receives any assistance from an infrastructure bank or through other financing under subtitle C of title I of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1997.

(Sec. 5016) Requires that governmental agencies and nonprofit organizations that receive assistance from Government sources (other than the Department of Transportation) for nonemergency transportation services: (1) participate and coordinate with recipients of assistance under Federal mass transit law in the design and delivery of transportation services; and (2) be included in the planning for those services.

(Sec. 5017) Allows recipients of specified Federal transportation assistance to sell any asset (including real property) acquired with such assistance, with no further obligation to the Government, if they: (1) determine that it is no longer needed for the purpose for which it was acquired; and (2) use the proceeds of the sale for the provision of mass transportation services.

(Sec. 5018) Requires the Secretary, in distributing operating assistance to urbanized areas with a population of one million or more under the most recent census, to direct each such area to give priority consideration to the impact of reductions on operating assistance on smaller transit authorities operating within the area, and to consider their needs and resources.

(Sec. 5019) Revises distribution formulas for apportionment of appropriations under the fixed guideway modernization program. Requires route segments to be included in specified apportionment formulas.

(Sec. 5020) Directs the Secretary to study and report to specified congressional committees on: (1) whether the formula for apportioning specified funds to urbanized areas accurately reflects the transit needs of such areas; and, if not, (2) whether any changes should be made either to the formula or through some other mechanism to reflect the fact that some urbanized areas with a population between 50,000 and 200,000 have transit systems that carry more passengers per mile or hour than the average of those transit systems in urbanized areas with a population over 200,000.

(Sec. 5021) Authorizes States that do not have Amtrak service to use funds from the Mass Transit Account of the Highway Trust Fund for capital improvements to, and operating support for, intercity passenger rail service (intercity rail infrastructure investment).

(Sec. 5022) Revises the criteria for grants and loans for fixed guideway systems. Revises requirements for letters of intent and full funding agreements.

Directs the Secretary of Transportation to report annually to: (1) specified congressional committees on proposed allocation of amounts to be made available to finance grants and loans for capital projects for new fixed guideway systems and extensions to existing systems; and (2) the Congress on the Secretary's evaluation and rating of each project that has completed alternatives analysis or preliminary engineering since the date of the last report (new starts).

Directs the Comptroller General to review and report annually to the Congress on the processes and procedures for evaluating, rating, and recommending projects, and including their implementation.

Title VI: Revenue - Intermodal Surface Transportation Revenue Act of 1998 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code, concerning highway-related taxes and the Highway Trust Fund, to extend, for up to seven years, current taxes and exemptions. Allows expenditures from such Fund only if permitted under provisions of the Trust Fund Code of 1981, with an exception for obligations entered into prior to October 1, 2003.

Reduces the credit for ethanol blenders.

Eliminates the National Recreational Trails Trust Fund.

Extends, for six years, provisions permitting certain expenditures from the Boat Safety Account. Allows expenditures from the Aquatics Resources Trust Fund only if permitted under provisions of the Trust Fund Code of 1981, with an exception for obligations entered into prior to April 1, 2004.

(Sec. 6003) Extends, for five years, provisions permitting certain expenditures from the Mass Transit Account.

(Sec. 6004) Treats qualified highway infrastructure project bonds, including up to 15 highway infrastructure pilot projects, as tax-exempt facilities bonds. Sets forth reporting requirements.

(Sec. 6005) Revises the tax rate on rail diesel fuel to set such rate at 4.3 cents per gallon after February 28, 1999 (currently, after September 30, 1999).

(Sec. 6006) Allows an employee to choose to receive taxable cash compensation in lieu of nontaxable qualified transportation fringe benefits. Increases, and provides an inflation adjustment for, the maximum exclusion for qualified employer provided transportation fringe benefits.

(Sec. 6007) Revises provisions concerning: (1) the tax treatment of certain Federal participation payments; (2) the effective date of a requirement concerning diesel or kerosene terminals; and (3) a limitation on expenditures from the Highway Trust Fund.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Title I: Federal-Aid Highways

Title II: Highway Safety

Title III: Federal Transit Administration Programs

Title IV: Motor Carrier Safety

Title V: Programmatic Reforms and Streamlining

Title VI: Transportation Research

Subtitle A: Surface Transportation Research,

Technology, and Education

Subtitle B: Intelligent Transportation Systems

Title VII: Truth in Budgeting

Building Efficient Surface Transportation and Equity Act of 1997 - Title I: Federal-Aid Highways - Authorizes appropriations out of the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) for the following: (1) the Interstate Maintenance Program (IM); (2) the National Highway System (NHS); (3) the Bridge Program; (4) the Surface Transportation Program (STP); (5) the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program (CMAQ); (6) a new High Risk Road Safety Improvement Program (high risk program); (7) the High Cost Interstate System Reconstruction and Improvement Program (high cost program); (8) Discretionary Programs; (9) the Appalachian Development Highway System Program; (10) the Recreational Trails Program; (11) the Federal Lands Highways Program (FLHP); and (12) Highway Use Tax Evasion Projects.

(Sec. 103) Sets forth specified obligation ceilings, and formulas for distribution of (and redistribution of unused) obligation authority for Federal-aid highway programs.

(Sec. 104) Revises apportionment provisions to require the Secretary of Transportation (the Secretary): (1) whenever an apportionment is made of the sums authorized to be appropriated for expenditure on IM, NHS, the bridge program, STP, CMAQ, the high risk program, the high cost program, the national corridor planning and development program, the border infrastructure and safety program, and FLHP, to deduct a sum not to exceed one and a half percent of all sums so authorized as necessary for administering legal provisions to be financed from appropriations for the Federal-aid highway program; and (2) on October 1 of each fiscal year, after making a specified deduction and set aside, to apportion the remainder of the sums authorized to be appropriated for expenditure on IM, NHS, STP, CMAQ, and the high risk program according to specified formulas.

Modifies the recreational trails program to direct the Secretary to: (1) deduct from apportionments of sums for the program an amount not to exceed three percent to cover administrative, research, and technical assistance costs; and (2) apportion half of the remainder equally among eligible States and half to such States in amounts proportionate to the degree of non-highway recreational fuel use in each of those States during the preceding year.

Sets forth a new list of State percentages for NHS apportionments. Requires the Secretary to use the most up-to-date data available for the latest fiscal year in making apportionments.

(Sec. 105) Revises the IM to authorize the Secretary to approve reconstruction of roads on the Interstate System (IS).

(Sec. 106) Repeals certain requirements: (1) on States, local officials, and the Secretary regarding NHS components; and (2) regarding approval of designations and an interim system.

Designates specified NHS modifications that consist of highway connections to major ports, airports, international border crossings, public transportation and transit facilities, interstate bus terminals, and rail and other intermodal transportation facilities as NHS components.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) review the condition of and improvements made to NHS connectors approved by this Act that serve seaports, airports, and other intermodal freight transportation facilities since the designation of the NHS and report to the Congress; and (2) conduct a national children's competition to design a national logo sign for the routes comprising the NHS, appoint a panel to evaluate all designs and select a winning design, and report to specified congressional committees.

(Sec. 107) Amends provisions regarding the highway bridge program to provide that if a State transfers funds apportioned to it in a fiscal year beginning after September 30, 1997, to any other apportionment of funds to such State, the total cost of deficient bridges in such State and in all States to be determined for the succeeding fiscal year shall be reduced by the amount of such transferred funds.

Grants the Secretary discretion regarding the amounts authorized for FY 1998 through 2000 for bridges under this Act.

Authorizes the use of agriculturally derived, environmentally acceptable, minimally corrosive anti- and de-icing compositions or installation of scour countermeasures for bridges other than those on a Federal-aid highway.

(Sec. 108) Authorizes the application of anti- and de-icing compositions to bridges under the STP.

Includes among eligible STP projects environmental restoration and pollution abatement projects, including the retrofit or construction of storm water treatment systems, to address water pollution or environmental degradation caused or contributed to by existing transportation facilities at the time such facilities are undergoing reconstruction, rehabilitation, resurfacing, or restoration. Limits the expenditure of funds to 20 percent of the total cost of such activity.

Replaces certification requirements by the Governor of each State with a requirement that each State submit a project agreement for each fiscal year, certifying that the State will meet specified requirements and notifying the Secretary of the amount of obligations needed to administer the STP. Deems the Secretary's approval a contractual obligation of the United States for the payment of STP funds.

(Sec. 109) Modifies CMAQ to authorize a State to obligate CMAQ funds if the program or project would have been eligible for funding on or before September 30, 1997, under guidance issued by the Secretary, subject to specified requirements. Authorizes: (1) funds for a project which will result in the construction of new capacity available to single occupant vehicles and to high occupancy vehicles if the project is otherwise eligible for assistance; and (2) appropriations for "minimum allocations" to States through FY 1997.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) request the National Academy of Sciences to study the impact of CMAQ on the air quality of nonattainment areas and to report to specified congressional committees; (2) establish and implement a high risk program for construction and operational improvement projects only where the primary purpose of the project is to improve highway safety on a high risk road; and (3) allocate to States, in FY 1998 and beyond, amounts sufficient to ensure that a State's percentage of the total apportionments in each such FY for IM, NHS, the bridge program, STP, CMAQ, the high risk program, the recreational trails program, the Appalachian Development Highway System program, and metropolitan planning be at least 95 percent of the percentage of estimated tax payments attributable to highway users in the State paid into the HTF, other than the Mass Transit Account, in the latest fiscal year for which data are available.

Sets forth a formula regarding calculation of a minimum allocation adjustment.

(Sec. 112) Directs the Secretary to apportion specified funds for FY 1998 through 2000 among the States based on the latest available cost to complete estimate for the Appalachian Development Highway System prepared by the Appalachian Regional Commission, unless the Commission adopts an alternative method for distribution. Specifies that, in general, no State containing System routes shall receive less than $1 million. Increases the Federal share for pre-financed projects.

(Sec. 113) Replaces provisions regarding reimbursement for segments of the IS constructed without Federal assistance with a high cost interstate system reconstruction and improvement program. Makes funds available for a fiscal year for any major reconstruction or improvement project to a highway designated as part of the IS and open to traffic before this Act's enactment, subject to specified requirements.

(Sec. 114) Directs the Secretary to: (1) administer a national program to provide and maintain recreational trails (and terminates the National Recreational Trails Advisory Committee on September 30, 2000); and (2) establish and implement a program to make allocations to States for coordinated planning and design of corridors of national significance, economic growth, and international or interregional trade, and a coordinated border infrastructure and safety program to improve the safe movement of people and goods at or across the U.S.- Canadian and U.S.-Mexican borders.

(Sec. 117) Increases the Federal share payable for IS projects. Permits the use of funds appropriated to a Federal land managing agency, and for the FLHP, as the non-Federal share for specified purposes.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) allocate 50 percent of sums authorized to be appropriated for forest highways according to a specified formula; (2) conduct a study of methods to improve pedestrian and vehicular access to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; (3) allocate funds for specified transportation-related historical research activities of the Smithsonian Institution; (4) allocate specified funds for the planning, design, and construction of a visitors center to facilitate visitor understanding and enjoyment of resources accessible by the New River Parkway in West Virginia; (5) carry out a national scenic byways program that recognizes roads having outstanding scenic, historic, cultural, natural, recreational, and archeological qualities by designating them as National Scenic Byways or All-American Roads; (6) allocate funds to establish a center for national scenic byways in Duluth, Minnesota; and (7) establish and implement a variable pricing pilot program (repeals a congestion pricing program under the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA)), and report to the Congress.

(Sec. 120) Allows States to use as credit toward the non-Federal matching share requirement for certain funds made available, toll revenues that are generated and used by public, quasi-public, and private agencies to build, improve, or maintain highways, bridges, or tunnels that serve the public purpose of interstate commerce which were not built, improved, or maintained with Federal funds.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish and implement an IS reconstruction and rehabilitation pilot program under which the Secretary may permit a State to collect tolls on a highway, bridge, or tunnel on the IS for the purpose of constructing and rehabilitating Interstate highway corridors that could not otherwise be adequately maintained or functionally improved without the collection of tolls; and (2) develop performance-based criteria for the distribution of up to five percent of the funds from each of the IM, bridge, high risk, STP, and CMAQ programs, and report to the Congress.

(Sec. 121) Amends ISTEA to: (1) allow, at the Secretary's discretion, the obligation from the HTF funds for the construction of ferry boat and ferry terminal facilities; and (2) authorize the use of funds to establish and operate an automated fuel reporting system.

(Sec. 124) Modifies Federal highway provisions regarding: (1) metropolitan planning to include that it is in the national interest to foster economic growth and development; and (2) statewide planning to authorize a State to consider specified goals and objectives in the transportation planning process.

Directs the Secretary to conduct a study on the effectiveness of the participation of local elected officials in transportation planning and programming, and report to the Congress.

(Sec. 126) Requires the Secretary to initiate and: (1) issue a guidance regarding the benefits and performance of various types of crash cushions in different road configurations; and (2) complete a rulemaking proceeding to determine the appropriate use by States of movable barrier technologies to enhance safety and improve the capacity and geometric design of highways.

(Sec. 127) Authorizes appropriations for specified executive and legislative branch discretionary programs.

(Sec. 128) Amends the National Highway System Designation Act of 1995 to direct the Secretary to convey to Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia all U.S. interest in and to the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge, which shall subsequently convey to the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge Authority their respective interests in and to the Bridge.

(Sec. 129) Authorizes a State, in implementing Federal-aid highway projects, to reserve training positions for persons who receive welfare assistance from such State.

Authorizes: (1) the Secretary to develop, conduct, and administer highway technology training, and to develop and fund summer transportation institutes; (2) give priority to funding for a transportation project related to an Olympic event under specified conditions; (3) provide assistance to State and local governments in carrying out transportation projects related to an international quadrennial Olympic event; (4) carry out a project for the reconstruction of a highway, or portion of a highway, located outside the United States that is important to the national defense; and (5) fund the production of a documentary about infrastructure.

Directs the Secretary to conduct a study to determine the location and quantity of parking facilities at commercial truck stops and travel plazas and public rest areas that could be used by motor carriers to comply with Federal hours of service rules, and report to the Congress.

(Sec. 133) Sets forth provisions regarding various projects in California, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, and Minnesota.

(Sec. 134) Repeals a law regarding Federal approval of membership of bridge commissions.

Directs the Secretary to conduct a study to examine the impact of truck weight standards on specialized hauling vehicles, and to report to the Congress.

(Sec. 135) Bars States from restricting motorcycle access to any highway or portion thereof for which Federal-aid highway funds have been utilized for planning, design, construction, or maintenance.

(Sec. 136) Amends ISTEA to include specified corridors, such as the Capital Gateway Corridor, as high priority corridors.

(Sec. 137) Revises provisions regarding: (1) bicycle transportation and pedestrian walkways to authorize the use of NHS funds for pedestrian walkways; and (2) standards for Federal-aid highways to prohibit the Secretary from approving any project or taking any regulatory action that will result in the severance of an existing major route or have significant adverse impact on the safety for non-motorized transportation traffic and light motorcycles, unless such project or action provides for a reasonably alternate route or such a route exists.

Directs the Secretary to initiate a study to consider proposals to amend the policies of such association relating to highway and street design standards to accommodate bicyclists and pedestrians. Authorizes the Secretary to develop a national bicycle safety education curricula that may include courses relating to on-road training. Sets forth reporting requirements.

(Sec. 138) Amends Federal highway provisions regarding the hazard elimination program to consider conditions that may constitute a danger to bicyclists.

(Sec. 139) Authorizes the Secretary to approve substitute highway, bus transit, and light rail transit projects, in lieu of construction of the Barney Circle Freeway project in the District of Columbia.

(Sec. 140) Requires: (1) the Secretary to conduct life-cycle cost analyses of each usable project segment on the NHS (currently, with a cost of $25 million or more); and (2) the Comptroller General to conduct a study to assess the impact that a utility company's failure to relocate its facilities in a timely manner has on the delivery and cost of Federal-aid highway and bridge projects, and report to the Congress.

Title II: Highway Safety - Amends Federal highway provisions to: (1) provide that uniform guidelines for highway safety programs take into account accident prevention; (2) direct that the apportionment to the Secretary of the Interior for highway safety programs not be less than three-fourths of one percent of the total apportionment; (3) make provisions regarding access for physically handicapped across curbs at pedestrian crosswalks applicable to Indian tribes, with exceptions; and (4) replace a mandatory rulemaking process with one authorizing the Secretary to periodically identify highway safety programs that are highly effective in reducing motor vehicle crashes, injuries, and deaths.

(Sec. 203) Revises highway safety research and development provisions to authorize the use of safety research funds for training in work zone safety management.

(Sec. 204) Directs the Secretary to make grants to States that adopt and implement effective programs to reduce highway deaths and injuries resulting from individuals riding unrestrained or improperly restrained in motor vehicles.

(Sec. 205) Replaces provisions regarding: (1) school bus driver training with provisions directing the Secretary to make grants to States that adopt and implement effective programs to improve the timeliness, accuracy, completeness, uniformity, and accessibility of the State's data needed to identify priorities for State and local highway and traffic safety programs, evaluate the effectiveness of efforts to make such improvements, and link these State data systems, including traffic records, together and with other data systems within the State; and (2) drunk driving prevention programs with an alcohol-impaired driving countermeasures program (which provides for grants to States that adopt and implement effective programs to reduce traffic safety problems resulting from individuals driving while under the influence of alcohol).

(Sec. 207) Authorizes the Secretary to enter into an agreement with an organization that represents the interests of the States to manage, administer, and operate the National Driver Register's (NDR) computer timeshare and user assistance functions. Directs that any transfer of such functions to an organization that represents the interests of the States begin only after a determination is made by the Secretary that all States are participating in NDR's "Problem Driver Pointer System" and that the system is functioning properly.

(Sec. 208) Directs: (1) the Secretary to conduct a study on the benefit to public safety of the use of blowout resistant tires on commercial motor vehicles and the potential to decrease the incidence of accidents and fatalities from accidents occurring as a result of blown out tires, and to report to the Congress; (2) the Comptroller General to conduct a study to evaluate the effectiveness of State laws that deem any individual with a blood alcohol concentration of .08 percent or greater, and .02 percent or greater for persons under age 21, while operating a motor vehicle to be driving while intoxicated, in reducing the number and severity of alcohol-involved crashes, and report to the Congress; and (3) the Secretary to make grants to establish and maintain a center for transportation injury research at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

(Sec. 210) Authorizes appropriations out of the HTF for: (1) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration highway safety programs, and highway safety research and development (R&D); (2) Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) highway safety programs and highway safety R&D; (3) occupant protection incentive grants; (4) State highway safety data grants; (5) State highway safety data grants; (6) the alcohol traffic safety incentive grant program; and (7) NDR.

Title III: Federal Transit Administration Programs - Amends Federal transportation law with respect to the metropolitan transportation planning process to replace the current mandatory factors for consideration in developing plans and programs with specified discretionary considerations whose translation into goals and objectives the metropolitan planning organization (MPO) shall determine cooperatively with the State and mass transportation operators.

(Sec. 304) Requires the transportation improvement program to be updated at least once every three years (currently, every two years). Allows the program financial plan to include, for illustrative purposes, additional projects that would be included in the adopted transportation plan if reasonable additional resources beyond those identified in the financial plan were available.

(Sec. 305) Changes from mandatory to discretionary the inclusion of a congestion management system in the transportation planning process in a transportation management area (TMA).

Requires the State, instead of the TMA MPO, to select high risk road safety projects.

(Sec. 306) Changes the capital project block grant program into an urbanized area formula grant program. Repeals authority to finance operating costs generally under the program. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to finance the operating cost of equipment and facilities for use in mass transportation only in an urbanized area with a population of less than 200,000.

Changes the interest allowance under the covered cost of advance construction projects from a specified formula to the most favorable financing terms reasonably available, given the applicant's reasonable diligence in seeking them.

Declares that two percent of the block grant funds apportioned to urbanized areas of at least 200,000 population shall only be available for transit enhancement activities.

(Sec. 307) Repeals the Secretary's current authority to make capital project block grants from the Mass Transit Account.

(Sec. 308) Authorizes the Secretary to make grants and loans to assist State and local authorities in financing: (1) capital projects to modernize existing fixed guideway systems; and (2) capital projects to replace, rehabilitate, and purchase buses and related equipment and to construct bus-related facilities. Repeals authority to make such grants and loans for transportation projects that enhance urban economic development or incorporate private investment.

Repeals the requirement that the Secretary consider the adverse effect of decreased commuter rail transportation when deciding whether to approve a grant or loan under this section to acquire a rail line and all related facilities: (1) owned by a rail carrier subject to reorganization under the bankruptcy code; and (2) used to provide commuter rail transportation.

Revises the criteria for grants and loans for fixed guideway systems. Revises requirements for: (1) letters of intent and full funding agreements; and (2) grant and loan allocations, including bus and bus facility grants.

Directs the Secretary to establish a pilot program for the testing and deployment of new bus technology, including clean fuel and alternative fuel technology.

(Sec. 309) Directs the Secretary to make grants and enter into 50 percent cost-sharing contracts, cooperative agreements, and other agreements with specified consortia selected competitively from among public and private partnerships to promote the early deployment of innovation in mass transportation technology, services, management, or operational practices.

Authorizes the Secretary to inform the U.S. domestic mass transportation community about technological innovations available in the international marketplace and activities that may afford domestic businesses the opportunity to become globally competitive in the export of mass transportation products and services.

Directs the Secretary to make grants for 80 percent of the cost of developing low speed magnetic levitation technology for public transportation in urban areas to demonstrate energy efficiency, congestion mitigation, and safety benefits.

(Sec. 313) Repeals the mandate to make grants to specified university research institutes and for regional transportation centers.

(Sec. 316) Increases from 90 percent to 95 percent the Federal share of a project providing bicycle access to mass transportation.

Requires capital project grants and loans to require that any person agreeing to occupy space in a federally funded facility pay a reasonable share of facility costs through rental payments or other means.

Declares that, to the extent feasible, governmental agencies and nonprofit organizations that receive assistance from Government sources (other than the Department of Transportation) for nonemergency transportation services shall participate and coordinate with assistance recipients in the planning, design, and delivery of transportation services.

(Sec. 318) Authorizes a grant recipient to award a procurement contract to other than the lowest bidder when the award furthers an objective consistent with the purposes of the grant, including improved long-term operating efficiency and lower long-term costs.

(Sec. 319) Authorizes an urbanized area formula grant recipient procuring an associated capital maintenance item to contract directly with the original manufacturer or supplier of the item to be replaced, without the Secretary's prior approval, if the recipient first certifies in writing to the Secretary that: (1) the manufacturer or supplier is the only source for the item; and (2) the item's price is no more than what similar customers pay for it.

(Sec. 321) Directs the Secretary to study and report to the Congress on how the alcohol and controlled substances random testing rate for mass transportation employees should be calculated.

(Sec. 322) Authorizes the Secretary to collect fees to cover the costs of training or conferences, including costs of promotional materials, sponsored by the Federal Transit Administration to promote mass transportation.

Directs the Secretary to seek public comment on ways to simplify and streamline the administration of the formula program for urbanized areas with populations of less than 200,000, and make every effort to ease any administrative burdens identified.

(Sec. 324) Limits the total amount of funds available for any fiscal year for operating assistance and preventive maintenance activities for urbanized areas.

(Sec. 325) Revises the apportionment of appropriations for fixed guideway modernization. Requires inclusion of route segments in apportionment formulas.

(Sec. 326) Authorizes appropriations, and sets the obligation ceilings, for FY 1998 through 2000.

(Sec. 328) Authorizes the Secretary to make competitive grants to assist States, local authorities, and nonprofit organizations in financing transportation services designed to transport welfare recipients to and from jobs and activities related to their employment. Sets the Federal share of costs at 50 percent.

(Sec. 329) Declares that it is the sense of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure that the Secretary of the Treasury should estimate the mass transit portion of net highway receipts every 24 months instead of every 12 months.

(Sec. 330) Directs the Comptroller General to study and report to specified congressional committees on the Secretary of Transportation's implementation of project management oversight.

(Sec. 331) Directs the Secretary to enter into an agreement with the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences to study and report to specified congressional committees on: (1) the effect of privatization or contracting out of mass transportation operation and administrative functions on cost, availability and level of service, efficiency, safety, quality of services provided to transit-dependent populations, and employer-employee relations; and (2) the safety issues attendant to transportation of school children to and from school and school-related activities by various transportation modes.

(Sec. 333) Directs the Secretary to study and report to specified congressional committees on whether the current formula for apportioning funds to urbanized areas accurately reflects their transit needs, and, if not, whether any changes should be made either to the formula or through some other mechanism to reflect the fact that some urbanized areas with a population between 50,000 and 200,000 have transit systems that carry more passengers per mile or hour than the average of those transit systems in urbanized areas with a population over 200,000.

(Sec. 334) Directs the Comptroller General to study and report to specified congressional committees on Federal departments and agencies (other than the Department of Transportation) that receive Federal financial assistance for non-emergency transportation services.

Title IV: Motor Carrier Safety - Amends Federal transportation law to specify that discretionary grants to States to develop commercial motor vehicle regulatory programs include performance-based grants to improve motor carrier safety, and in particular hazardous materials transportation safety.

(Sec. 402) Authorizes appropriations for such grants for FY 1998 through 2000.

Authorizes the Secretary, in allocating funds for State grants, to designate up to five percent of them to reimburse: (1) States for carrying out high priority (including national) activities and projects that improve commercial motor vehicle safety and compliance with commercial motor vehicle safety regulations, including any that increase public awareness and education or demonstrate new technologies; and (2) local governments and other persons that use trained and qualified officers and employees, for carrying out such activities and projects in coordination with State motor vehicle safety agencies.

(Sec. 403) Converts the current discretionary commercial motor vehicle information system program into mandatory motor carrier, commercial motor vehicle, and driver information systems and data analysis programs to support required safety activities. Requires coordination of such systems into a network providing identification of motor carriers and drivers, commercial motor vehicle registration and license tracking, and motor carrier, commercial motor vehicle, and driver safety performance data.

Requires the Secretary to develop data analysis capacity and programs providing the means to perform specified functions.

Provides funding for the existing performance and registration information clearinghouse.

Authorizes the Secretary to establish a program to improve commercial motor vehicle driver safety.

Requires the Secretary to make data collected in such systems and programs available to the public to the maximum extent permissible under the Privacy Act of 1974 and the Freedom of Information Act. Grants access to such data to State and local safety and enforcement officials to the same extent as Federal safety and enforcement officials.

Authorizes appropriations for FY 1998 through 2000.

(Sec. 405) Authorizes the Secretary to make contracts for inspections and investigations.

(Sec. 406) Authorizes the Secretary to grant a person or class of persons up to a two-year, renewable exemption from a commercial motor vehicle safety or operators regulation if it would likely achieve a level of safety equal to or greater than the level that would be achieved without such exemption.

Authorizes the Secretary to conduct pilot programs to evaluate innovative approaches to motor carrier, vehicle, and driver safety. Allows such a program containing specified elements to include an exemption under this section.

(Sec. 407) Repeals the mandate for (thus abolishing) the Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Regulatory Review Panel.

Requires the Secretary to review State laws and regulations on commercial motor vehicle safety. Requires any State that enacts a State law or issues a regulation on commercial motor vehicle safety to submit a copy of it to the Secretary for review immediately after enactment or issuance. Allows enforcement of such law or regulation if the Secretary decides it has the same effect as a regulation prescribed by the Secretary. Prohibits enforcement if the law or regulation is less stringent than a regulation prescribed by the Secretary.

(Sec. 408) Repeals certain requirements for: (1) procedures to ensure timely correction of safety violations; and (2) compliance review priority.

(Sec. 409) Declares that an individual may operate a commercial motor vehicle only with a valid commercial driver's license (CDL).

Requires each CDL issued after January 1, 2000, to include unique identifiers to minimize fraud and duplication.

Repeals the Secretary's discretionary authority to make an agreement for the operation of a CDL information system. Requires the Secretary to maintain the system. Requires the system to include information on all fines, penalties, convictions, and failure to appear for a hearing or trial incurred by the operator with respect to operation of a motor vehicle for a period of at least three years beginning on the date of the imposition of such a fine or penalty, or the date of such a conviction or failure to appear.

Requires the Secretary to make data collected in such systems and programs available to the public to the maximum extent permissible under the Privacy Act of 1974 and the Freedom of Information Act. Grants access to such data to State and local safety and enforcement officials to the same extent as Federal safety and enforcement officials.

Repeals current authority (superseded by this title) for grants to States for: (1) testing and ensuring the fitness of operators of commercial motor vehicles; and (2) issuing CDLs and complying with State participation requirements.

(Sec. 410) Directs the Secretary to make grants to border States, local governments, organizations, and other persons for specified activities designed to improve commercial motor vehicle safety in the vicinity of borders between the United States and Canada and the United States and Mexico. Sets the Federal share of costs for such activities at 80 percent (but only 50 percent for the third year of a grant used to employ additional personnel to enforce commercial motor vehicle safety regulations).

(Sec. 411) Directs the Secretary to study and report to Congress on State laws and regulations pertaining to penalties for violation of State commercial motor vehicle weight laws.

(Sec. 412) Repeals the mandate and authorization of appropriations to participate in the International Registration Plan and International Fuel Tax Agreement.

(Sec. 413) Directs the Secretary to establish a nationwide toll-free telephone system for drivers of commercial motor vehicles and others to report potential violations of Federal motor carrier safety regulations and any laws or regulations relating to the safe operation of commercial motor vehicles.

(Sec. 414) Directs the Secretary to determine whether a practicable and cost-effective screening, operating, and monitoring protocol could likely be developed for insulin-treated diabetes mellitus individuals who want to operate commercial motor vehicles in interstate commerce that would ensure a level of safety equal to or greater than that achieved with the current prohibition against operation of such vehicles by such individuals.

Requires the Secretary to compile, evaluate, and report to Congress on research and other information on the effects of insulin treated diabetes mellitus on driving performance.

(Sec. 415) Requires the Secretary to: (1) review State procedures to determine if the current system for testing is an accurate measure and reflection of an individual's knowledge and skills as an operator of a commercial motor vehicle; and (2) identify methods to improve testing and licensing standards, including identifying the benefits and costs of a graduated licensing system. Requires issuance of regulations reflecting the results of such review.

(Sec. 416) Requires the Secretary to study and report to Congress on the feasibility of using emergency responders and law enforcement officers to conduct post-accident alcohol testing of commercial motor vehicle operators as a method of obtaining more timely information and reducing the burdens that employers may encounter in meeting current testing requirements.

(Sec. 417) Requires the Secretary to encourage the research, development, and demonstration of technologies, identified taking into account specified considerations, that may aid in reducing the fatigue of commercial motor vehicle operators.

(Sec. 418) Requires the Secretary to: (1) determine whether an owner or operator is fit to operate safely commercial motor vehicles; (2) periodically update such safety fitness determinations; (3) make such determinations readily available to the public; and (4) prescribe by regulation penalties for violations.

Requires the Secretary to maintain by regulation a procedure with specified elements for determining whether an owner or operator is fit to operate safely commercial motor vehicles.

Prohibits an owner or operator determined unfit from operating commercial motor vehicles in interstate commerce until the Secretary determines such owner or operator is fit.

Requires the Secretary to review, upon request, an unfit owner's or operator's compliance with those requirements with which the owner or operator failed to comply, resulting in the unfitness determination.

Prohibits any Federal department, agency, or instrumentality from using an unfit owner or operator to provide any transportation service until the Secretary determines such owner or operator is fit.

(Sec. 419) Declares that Federal law governing the transportation of hazardous material does not prohibit a State from providing an exception from requirements relating to placarding, shipping papers, and emergency telephone numbers for the private motor carriage in intrastate transportation of an agricultural production material from a source of supply to a farm, from a farm to another farm, from a field to another field on a farm, or from the farm back to the source of supply.

Defines agricultural production material as: (1) under 16,094 pounds of ammonium nitrate fertilizer; (2) under 502 gallons (liquid) or 5,070 pounds (solids) of a pesticide; and (3) under 3,500 gallons of a diluted solution of water and pesticides or fertilizer.

Title V: Programmatic Reforms and Streamlining - Modifies provisions regarding plans, specifications, and estimates to direct the Secretary to enter into a formal project agreement with each State highway department formalizing the conditions of project approval. Requires such agreement to make provision for State funds required for the State's pro rata share of the cost of construction of the project and for the maintenance of the project after completion of construction.

Authorizes the Secretary to discharge to the State any of the Secretary's responsibilities for design, plans, specifications, estimates, contract awards, and inspection of projects on the NHS, with exceptions. Directs: (1) the State to assume such responsibilities for projects that are not on the NHS; and (2) the Secretary and the State to reach agreement as to the extent the State may assume the Secretary's responsibilities for NHS projects, subject to a limitation.

(Sec. 502) Directs the Secretary to develop and implement a coordinated environmental review process for highway construction projects that require: (1) the preparation of an environmental impact statement or environmental assessment under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), with an exception; or (2) the conduct of any other environmental review, analysis, opinion, or issuance of an environmental permit, license, or approval by operation of Federal law.

Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) a memorandum of understanding between the Department of Transportation (DOT) and all other Federal (and, where appropriate, State) agencies; (2) elements of the coordinated process; (3) dispute resolution; (4) acceptance of project purpose and need; (4) State agency participation; (5) assistance to affected Federal agencies; and (6) judicial review.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish and implement a State environmental review pilot demonstration program; (2) eliminate the major investment study as a separate requirement and promulgate regulations to integrate such requirement as part of each analysis undertaken pursuant to NEPA for a project receiving assistance with funds made available under this Act; and (3) require each recipient of Federal financial assistance for a highway or transit project with an estimated total cost of $1 billion or more to submit to the Secretary an annual financial plan.

(Sec. 505) Provides that if at least 50 percent of a State's apportionment under specified Federal-aid highway, and highway bridge replacement and rehabilitation program, funds for a fiscal year, or at least 50 percent of specified allocations of apportioned funds from the State's apportionment may not be transferred to any other apportionment of the State for such fiscal year, then the State may transfer up to 50 percent of such apportionment or set aside to any other State apportionment for that fiscal year. Sets forth provisions regarding the application of this general rule to certain STP set- asides and CMAQ funds.

(Sec. 506) Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish criteria for all discretionary programs funded from the HTF which, to the extent practicable, conform to a specified executive order relating to infrastructure investment; and (2) eliminate any required programmatic responsibility for any regional office of DOT carrying out responsibilities of the FHWA regarding any funds made available by this Act. Authorizes the Secretary to retain regional DOT offices carrying out responsibilities of the FHWA for the purpose of providing technical support to States, metropolitan areas, and transit authorities upon request.

Title VI: Transportation Research - Subtitle A: Surface Transportation Research, Technology, and Education - Part I: Highway Research - Modifies research and planning provisions. Directs the Secretary to make grants and enter into cooperative agreements and contracts to: (1) continue the monitoring, material-testing, and evaluation of the highway test sections established under the long-term pavement performance program; (2) carry out analyses of the data collected under the program; and (3) prepare the products required to fulfill the original objectives of the program and meet future pavement technology needs.

(Sec. 611) Replaces provisions regarding short haul passenger transportation systems with provision for an advanced research program that addresses longer-term, higher-risk research that shows potential benefits for improving the durability, efficiency, environmental impact, productivity, and safety (including bicycle and pedestrian safety) of highway and intermodal transportation systems. Directs the Secretary to strive to develop partnerships with the public and private sectors.

Repeals the strategic highway research program and the applied research and technology program.

Modifies: (1) the seismic research program to direct the Secretary to establish a program to study the vulnerability of the Federal-aid highway and other surface transportation systems to seismic activity and to develop and implement cost-effective methods to reduce such vulnerability; and (2) the international highway transportation outreach program to authorize the Secretary to engage in activities to promote U.S highway transportation goods and services internationally, and to gather and disseminate information on foreign transportation markets and industries.

Part II: Transportation Education, Professional Training, and Technology Deployment - Directs the Secretary to: (1) develop and implement a national technology deployment initiative to expand adoption by the surface transportation community of innovative technologies to improve the safety, efficiency, reliability, service life, and sustainability of transportation systems and to reduce environmental impact; (2) integrate activities undertaken with DOT efforts to disseminate the results of research sponsored by DOT and to facilitate technology transfer; and (3) give preference to projects that leverage Federal funds with other significant public or private resources.

(Sec. 624) Directs the Secretary to make grants to: (1) nonprofit institutions of higher learning to establish and operate one university transportation center in each of the ten U.S. Government regions that comprise the Standard Federal Regional Boundary System, and ten such additional centers to address transportation management and R&D; (2) Marshall University, West Virginia, to establish and operate an Appalachian Transportation Institute; and (3) the University of Minnesota to continue to operate and expand the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Institute.

Part III: Bureau of Transportation Statistics and Miscellaneous Programs - Amends Federal transportation provisions to provide for compilation of statistics on transportation-related variables influencing global competitiveness. Directs the Bureau of Transportation Statistics to review and report to the Secretary on the sources and reliability of the statistics proposed by the heads of the operating administrations of DOT to measure outputs and outcomes, and to undertake such other reviews as may be requested by the Secretary.

(Sec. 631) Requires the Director of the Bureau to: (1) ensure that statistics compiled are relevant for transportation decisions by Federal, State, and local governments, transportation-related associations, private businesses, and consumers; (2) establish and maintain an intermodal transportation database and a national transportation library; and (3) develop and maintain geographic databases depicting transportation networks; flows of people, goods, vehicles, and craft over those networks; and social, economic, and environmental conditions affecting or affected by those networks.

Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to, or enter into cooperative agreements or contracts with, public and nonprofit private entities to support the programs and activities of the Bureau.

Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) a prohibition of certain disclosures regarding information obtained under the long-term data collection program; and (2) collection of data for non-statistical purposes.

Allows funds received by the Bureau from the sale of data products to be credited to the HTF and made available for the purpose of reimbursing the Bureau for such expenses.

Authorizes appropriations.

(Sec. 632) Directs the Secretary to carry out a transportation technology innovation and demonstration program, as part of which the Secretary shall: (1) conduct research on improved methods of using concrete and asphalt pavement in the construction, reconstruction, and repair of Federal-aid highways, on improved methods of deploying and integrating existing ITS projects to include hazardous materials monitoring systems across various modes of transportation, on the deployment of a system of advanced sensors and signal processors in trucks and tractor trailers, and on the use of composite materials for guardrails and bridge decking; (2) expand and continue the study relating to the development of a motor vehicle safety warning system and conduct tests of such system; (3) make grants for research and construction to improve and demonstrate the use of steel bridge construction; (4) continue to support the Urban Consortium's ITS outreach and technology transfer activities; (5) continue development and deployment to metropolitan planning organizations of the Transportation Economic and Land Use System; (6) make grants to Wisconsin to continue specified ITS activities; and (7) carry out a program to advance the deployment of an operational intelligent transportation infrastructure system for the measurement of various transportation system activities to aid in the transportation planning and analysis while making a significant contribution to the ITS program, to be located in the two largest metropolitan areas in Pennsylvania.

Subtitle B: Intelligent Transportation Systems - Directs the Secretary to conduct an ongoing ITS program to research, develop, and operationally test intelligent transportation systems and advance nationwide deployment of such systems as a component of the Nation's surface transportation systems. Lists ITS program goals.

(Sec. 653) Directs the Secretary to: (1) carry out the ITS program in cooperation with governmental, private, and educational entities, and in consultation with Federal officials; (2) develop, implement, and maintain a national ITS architecture and standards and protocols to promote the widespread use and evaluation of ITS technology as a component of the Nation's surface transportation systems; (3) issue guidelines and requirements for the evaluation of field and related operational tests; (4) establish and maintain a repository for technical and safety data collected as a result of federally sponsored projects and make, upon request, such information (except for proprietary information and data) readily available to all users of the repository at an appropriate cost; (5) ensure that ITS projects carried out using funds made available from the HTF conform to the national ITS architecture and standards and protocols, with an exception; (6) require an analysis of the life-cycle costs of specified projects where the total initial capital costs of ITS operations and maintenance elements exceeds $3 million; and (7) develop appropriate technical assistance and guidance to assist State and local agencies in evaluating and selecting appropriate methods of procurement for its projects carried out using funds made available from the HTF.

(Sec. 654) Directs the Secretary to maintain and update, as necessary, the National ITS Program Plan developed by DOT and the Intelligent Transportation Society of America, and report to the Congress.

(Sec. 655) Authorizes the Secretary to: (1) provide technical assistance, training, and information to State and local governments seeking to implement, operate, maintain, and evaluate ITS technologies and services; funding to support adequate consideration of transportation system management and operations, including ITS, within metropolitan and statewide transportation planning processes; and funding for research and operational tests relating to ITS; and (2) conduct R&D activities for the purpose of demonstrating integrated intelligent vehicle highway, and roadway safety, systems, including state-of-the-art systems and integrating collision avoidance, in-vehicle information, and other safety-related systems.

(Sec. 656) Directs the Secretary to conduct a program to promote the deployment of regionally integrated, intermodal intelligent transportation systems and, through financial and technical assistance, assist in the development and implementation of such systems. Lists goals, funding limitations, and priorities for ITS deployment.

(Sec. 657) Sets forth provisions regarding funding allocations (for the intelligent transportation infrastructure deployment incentives program, and for ITS research and program support activities), and the Federal share for specified programs.

(Sec. 658) Repeals the Intelligent Vehicle-Highway Systems Act of 1991 (Title VI, Part B, of ISTEA).

Title VII: Truth in Budgeting - Declares that the receipts and disbursements of the Highway Trust Fund, the Airport and Airway Trust Fund, the Inland Waterways Trust Fund, and the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund shall: (1) not be counted as new budget authority, outlays, receipts, or deficit or surplus for purposes of the President's budget, the congressional budget, or the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985; and (2) be exempt from any general budget limitation imposed by statute on expenditures and net lending (budget outlays) of the U.S. Government.

(Sec. 701) Amends the Internal Revenue Code to state that the amount of interest credited to any of such trust funds for any fiscal year shall not exceed the amount of interest which would be credited to the fund if it were determined at the average interest rate on 52-week Treasury securities sold to the public during such fiscal year.

(Sec. 702) Amends Federal transportation law to require the Secretary of Transportation to estimate annually the net aviation receipts and the unfunded aviation authorizations at the close of the following fiscal year. Requires adjustments to the amount authorized to be appropriated from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund for such fiscal year so that the estimated unfunded aviation authorization will neither exceed nor be less than the estimated net aviation receipts.

(Sec. 703) Requires the Secretary of the Army to estimate annually the net inland waterways and net harbor maintenance receipts, and the unfunded inland waterways and unfunded harbor maintenance authorizations at the close of the following fiscal year. Requires adjustments to the amounts authorized to be appropriated from the Inland Waterways Trust Fund and the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund for such fiscal year so that the estimated unfunded authorizations will neither exceed nor be less than the estimated net receipts.