I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3805 

To amend title 23, United States Code, to provide for the inclusion of 

broadband conduit installation in certain highway construction projects, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 22, 2015 

Ms. ESHOO (for herself, Mr. WALDEN, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mr. 

BUTTERFIELD, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. COLLINS of New York, 

Mr. CRAMER, Ms. DELBENE, Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania, 

Mrs. ELLMERS of North Carolina, Mr. EMMER of Minnesota, Mr. 

GARAMENDI, Mr. GUTHRIE, Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio, Mr. 

KINZINGER of Illinois, Mr. LANCE, Mr. LOEBSACK, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. 

LONG, Mr. BEN RAY LUJA ́N of New Mexico, Ms. MATSUI, Mr. MCNERNEY, Mr. OLSON, Mr. RUSH, Mr. SHIMKUS, and Mr. YARMUTH) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To amend title 23, United States Code, to provide for the 

inclusion of broadband conduit installation in certain 

highway construction projects, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Broadband Conduit 

5 Deployment Act of 2015’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. INCLUSION OF BROADBAND CONDUIT INSTALLA2 TION IN CERTAIN HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION 

3 PROJECTS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 3 of title 23, United 

5 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol6 lowing: 

7 ‘‘§ 330. Inclusion of broadband conduit installation in 

8 certain highway construction projects 

9 ‘‘(a) REQUIREMENT.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall require 

11 States to evaluate the need for broadband conduit in 

12 accordance with this section as part of any covered 

13 highway construction project. 

14 ‘‘(2) CONSULTATION.—This evaluation shall be 

15 done in consultation with local and national tele16 communications providers, including telecommuni17 cations service and equipment providers. 

18 ‘‘(3) RESULTS OF EVALUATION.—If the evalua19 tion reveals an anticipated need in the next 15 years 

20 for broadband conduit beneath hard surfaces to be 

21 constructed by the project, the conduit shall be in22 stalled under the hard surfaces as part of the cov23 ered highway construction project. 

24 ‘‘(b) INSTALLATION REQUIREMENTS.—In carrying 

25 out subsection (a), the Secretary shall ensure with respect 

26 to a covered highway construction project that— 


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1 ‘‘(1) an appropriate number of broadband con2 duits, as determined by the Administrator of the Na3 tional Telecommunications and Information Admin4 istration, are installed along such highway to accom5 modate multiple broadband providers, with consider6 ation given to the availability of existing conduits; 

7 ‘‘(2) the size of each such conduit is consistent 

8 with industry best practices and is sufficient to ac9 commodate potential demand, as determined by the 

10 Administrator; and 

11 ‘‘(3) hand holes and manholes for fiber access 

12 and pulling with respect to each such conduit are 

13 placed at intervals consistent with industry best 

14 practices, as determined by the Administrator. 

15 ‘‘(c) STANDARDS.—The Secretary, in consultation 

16 with the Administrator, shall establish standards, con17 sistent with applicable requirements in section 156 of this 

18 title, section 1.23, part 645, and part 710 of title 23, Code 

19 of Federal Regulations, and the Approved Utility Accom20 modation Manual, to carry out subsection (b) that con21 sider— 

22 ‘‘(1) the ability to accommodate broadband in23 stallation without impacting the safety, operations, 

24 and maintenance of the highway facility, its users, 

25 or others; 


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1 ‘‘(2) population density in the area of a covered 

2 highway construction project; 

3 ‘‘(3) the type of highway involved in such 

4 project; and 

5 ‘‘(4) existing broadband access in the area of 

6 such project. 

7 ‘‘(d) PULL TAPE.—The Secretary shall ensure that 

8 each broadband conduit installed pursuant to this section 

9 includes a pull tape and is capable of supporting fiber 

10 optic cable placement techniques consistent with industry 

11 best practices, as determined by the Secretary. 

12 ‘‘(e) DEPTH OF INSTALLATION.—The Secretary shall 

13 ensure that each broadband conduit installed pursuant to 

14 this section is placed at a depth consistent with industry 

15 best practices, as determined by the Secretary, and that, 

16 in determining the depth of placement, consideration is 

17 given to the location of existing utilities and the cable sep18 aration requirements of State and local electrical codes. 

19 ‘‘(f) ACCESS.—The Secretary shall ensure that any 

20 requesting broadband provider has access to each 

21 broadband conduit installed pursuant to this section, on 

22 a competitively neutral and nondiscriminatory basis, for 

23 a charge not to exceed a cost-based rate. 

24 ‘‘(g) WAIVER AUTHORITY.—The Secretary may 

25 waive the application of this section if the Secretary deterVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:09 Oct 23, 2015 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3805.IH H3805

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1 mines that the waiver is appropriate with respect to a cov2 ered highway construction project based upon— 

3 ‘‘(1) a showing of undue burden; 

4 ‘‘(2) a determination that the installation of 

5 broadband conduit beneath hard surfaces to be con6 structed as part of a covered highway construction 

7 project is not necessary based on the availability of 

8 existing broadband infrastructure; 

9 ‘‘(3) a cost-benefit analysis; or 

10 ‘‘(4) the consideration of other relevant factors. 

11 ‘‘(h) COORDINATION WITH FCC.—In carrying out 

12 this section, the Secretary and the Administrator shall co13 ordinate with the Federal Communications Commission, 

14 including in making determinations with respect to an ap15 propriate number of broadband conduits under subsection 

16 (b)(1), potential demand under subsection (b)(2), and ex17 isting broadband access under subsection (c). 

18 ‘‘(i) PUBLICATION OF CONDUIT AVAILABILITY.—Not 

19 later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this sec20 tion, the Secretary shall provide information to the Fed21 eral Communications Commission and the Administrator 

22 for inclusion within the National Broadband Map. 

23 ‘‘(j) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following 

24 definitions apply: 


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1 ‘‘(1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘Adminis2 trator’ means the Administrator of the National 

3 Telecommunications and Information Administra4 tion. 

5 ‘‘(2) BROADBAND.—The term ‘broadband’ 

6 means an Internet Protocol-based transmission serv7 ice that enables users to send and receive voice, 

8 video, data, graphics, or a combination thereof. 

9 ‘‘(3) BROADBAND CONDUIT.—The term 

10 ‘broadband conduit’ means a conduit for fiber optic 

11 cables that support broadband or, where appro12 priate, wireless facilities for broadband service. 

13 ‘‘(4) COVERED HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION

14 PROJECT.—The term ‘covered highway construction 

15 project’ means a project to construct a new highway 

16 or to construct an additional lane or paved shoulder 

17 for an existing highway that is commenced after the 

18 date of enactment of this section and that receives 

19 funding under this title. 

20 ‘‘(5) HARD SURFACES.—The term ‘hard sur21 faces’ means asphalt and concrete pavement, curb 

22 and gutter, and sidewalk.’’. 

23 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The analysis for chap24 ter 3 of title 23, United States Code, is amended by add25 ing at the end the following: 


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‘‘330. Inclusion of broadband conduit installation in certain highway construction projects.’’. 

Æ 


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