Congressional High Priority Corridor

Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991

Long title	An Act to develop a national intermodal surface transportation system, to authorize funds for construction of highways, for highway safety programs, and for mass transit programs, and for other purposes
Nicknames	ISTEA
Enacted by	the 102nd United States Congress
Citations
Public law	Pub.L. 102–240
Statutes at Large	105 Stat. 1914
Codification
Titles amended	15 U.S.C.: Commerce and Trade, 23 U.S.C.: Highways, 26 U.S.C.: Internal Revenue Code, 33 U.S.C.: Navigation and Navigable Waters, 49 U.S.C.: Transportation
Legislative history
Introduced in the House as H.R. 2950 by Norman Mineta (D-CA) on July 18, 1991 Passed the House on October 23, 1991 (343-83) Passed the Senate on October 31, 1991 (unanimous consent, in lieu of S. 1204 passed June 19, 1991 91-7) Reported by the joint conference committee on November 27, 1991; agreed to by the House on November 27, 1991 (372-47) and by the Senate on November 27, 1991 (79-8) Signed into law by President George H.W. Bush on December 18, 1991

The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (Public Law 102-240; ISTEA, pronounced Ice-Tea) is a United States federal law that posed a major change to transportation planning and policy, as the first U.S. federal legislation on the subject in the post-Interstate Highway System era.

The Act presented an overall intermodal approach to highway and transit funding with collaborative planning requirements, giving significant additional powers to metropolitan planning organizations. Signed into law on December 18, 1991 by President George H. W. Bush, it expired in 1997. It was preceded by the Surface Transportation and Uniform Relocation Assistance Act of 1987 and followed by the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) in 1998, the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) in 2005, and the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) in 2012. ISTEA also provided funds for non-motorized commuter trails; the first trail to be so funded was the Cedar Lake Regional trail that was built in 1995 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

ISTEA defined a number of High Priority Corridors, to be part of the National Highway System. After various amendments from other laws, this is a list of the Corridors:

The legislation also called for the designation of up to five high-speed rail corridors. The options were studied for several months, and announced in October 1992. The first four were announced by United States Secretary of Transportation Andrew Card, while the last was announced by Federal Railroad Administration head Gil Carmichael.

...
Wikipedia