ARTBA seeks to overturn 102-year-old transportation law

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A 1916 federal regulation is harming transportation innovations that could improve safety and quality, the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) said in testimony submitted Wednesday to the House Highways and Transit Subcommittee.

The regulation, enacted by President Woodrow Wilson’s administration, prohibits state and local governments from using patented or proprietary products on highway and bridge projects that receive federal funding unless those products qualify for limited exceptions.

“The goal of federal highway policy should be to deliver the safest, most efficient, and fiscally responsible highway and bridge network possible,” ARTBA said. “Achieving that goal must include a thoughtful assessment of technological and other advances to ensure infrastructure development strategies are in fact delivering the best possible outcome as opposed to the widest achievable outcome. The practical effect of the existing proprietary and patented products rule, however, impedes that process and can potentially deny the traveling public a better service.”

Disallowing a patented or proprietary product could prevent a transformative solution to a serious problem from occurring in a timely manner, ARTBA said.

Many new technologies incorporate intellectual property protected by patents or proprietary processes, and the regulation impedes the development and deployment of innovations congressional and U.S. Department of Transportation initiatives want to foster, ARTBA said.