Commonwealth of Virginia Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program: Implementation Grant Application, 1986

About the report:

On January 6, 1983, Congress enacted the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982 (STAA) (Pub. L. 97-424). Sections 401-404 created a new categorical federal assistance program to be financed from the Highway Trust Fund and authorized five years of funding, beginning with $I0 million in fiscal year 1984 and increasing by $10 million per year to a maximum of $50 million in fiscal year 1988. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) established the "Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP)" by adding Part 350 to Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations. These regulations set the requirements that states must meet to qualify for grants to finance enforcement of motor carrier safety and highway hazardous materials regulations.

Virginia requested developmental funding under the MCSAP and received a $50,000 development grant on February 27, 1984. The grant was used to prepare an Implementation Grant Application and a State Enforcement Plan (SEP), and to perform other developmental activities. Working with Virginia's MCSAP committee and using information supplied primarily by the Virginia Department of State Police, the Virginia Highway and Transportation Research Council developed the various documents required by the FHWA, including Virginia's SEP, which was the heart of the application. The SEP explored the state's existing motor carrier safety problems, outlined Virginia's current enforcement activities, enumerated the objectives and goals of the program, listed the resources to be employed, explained the methodology to be followed, and developed a plan for program evaluation.

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