Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act

Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991
Great Seal of the United States
Long titleAn 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
Acronyms (colloquial)ISTEA
NicknamesIce Tea
Enacted bythe 102nd United States Congress
Citations
Public lawPub. L. 102–240
Statutes at Large105 Stat. 1914
Codification
Titles amended
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
Major amendments
I-27 Numbering Act of 2023

The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA, /sˈti/) 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 was signed into law on December 18, 1991, by President George H. W. Bush and codified as Pub. L. 102–240 and 105 Stat. 1914. The bill was preceded by the Surface Transportation and Uniform Relocation Assistance Act in 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, the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) in 2012, the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST) in 2015, and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in 2021.