Federal Highway Administration September 4, 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Section 5207 of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) established the Surface Transportation Environment and Planning Cooperative Research Program (STEP). The FHWA anticipates that resources for STEP or a similar program to carry out national research on issues related to planning, environment, and realty are likely to be included in future surface transportation legislation even though SAFETEA-LU expires at the end of this fiscal year. Legislation preceding SAFETEA- LUthe Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) and the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA- 21)provided resources for FHWA to carry out surface transportation research initiatives that included planning, environment, and realty research. SAFETEA-LU continued FHWA's research program funding and established STEP.