A partnership of four universities — Oregon State University, Portland State University, the University of Oregon and the Oregon Institute of Technology — will receive a $1.56 million grant to support transportation research and technology innovation.

The grant is part of last year’s federal transportation reauthorization bill, SAFETEA-LU, which designates the four Oregon universities as a National University Transportation Center.

“With Oregon’s mounting transportation problems, like record-high truck traffic on I-5 and a $4.7 billion bridge problem on the interstate system, the grant will be particularly beneficial locally,” U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio said in a news release.

This grant, provided by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration, represents the first installment of the five-year transportation center designation. Nine other American universities received similar designations.

The program was created in 1988 to meet the nation’s need for the safe, efficient and environmentally sound movement of people and goods through research, education and technology transfer.