23 U.S.C. § 512 — National ITS program plan

(a) In General.— (1) Updates: Not later than one year after the SAFETEA–LU was enacted, the Secretary, working with interested stakeholders (including state transportation departments), had to develop a 5-year National Intelligent Transportation System program plan — called the "National ITS program plan" in this section. (2) Scope: The National ITS program plan had to do four things. (A) Specify goals, objectives, and milestones for researching and deploying intelligent transportation systems (ITS) in three settings: major metropolitan areas; smaller metropolitan and rural areas; and commercial vehicle operations. (B) Specify how specific programs and projects would achieve those goals, objectives, and milestones, including considering a 5-year timeframe for them. (C) Identify activities that provide for the dynamic development, testing, and necessary revision of standards and protocols, to promote and ensure interoperability — meaning ITS technologies working together — including actions taken to establish those standards. (D) Establish a cooperative process with state and local governments to determine the surface transportation system performance levels those governments want, and to develop plans for accelerating the addition of specific ITS capabilities into surface transportation systems. (b) Reporting: The National ITS program plan had to be submitted, and then updated every two years (biennially).