II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 846 

To direct the Secretary of Transportation to assist States to rehabilitate 

or replace certain bridges, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 5 (legislative day, APRIL 4), 2017 

Mrs. SHAHEEN (for herself, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Ms. HASSAN, Mr. KING, and 

Mr. CASEY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Transportation to assist States 

to rehabilitate or replace certain bridges, 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 ‘‘Strengthen And For5 tify Existing Bridges Act of 2017’’ or the ‘‘SAFE Bridges 

6 Act of 2017’’. 

7 SEC. 2. STRENGTHEN AND FORTIFY EXISTING BRIDGES. 

8 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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1 (1) BRIDGE.—The term ‘‘bridge’’ means a 

2 bridge on a public road, without regard to whether 

3 the bridge is on a Federal-aid highway. 

4 (2) ELIGIBLE BRIDGE.—The term ‘‘eligible 

5 bridge’’ means a bridge that is structurally deficient. 

6 (3) FEDERAL-AID HIGHWAY.—The term ‘‘Fed7 eral-aid highway’’ has the meaning given the term in 

8 section 101(a) of title 23, United States Code. 

9 (4) PUBLIC ROAD.—The term ‘‘public road’’ 

10 has the meaning given the term in section 101(a) of 

11 title 23, United States Code. 

12 (5) REHABILITATION.—The term ‘‘rehabilita13 tion’’ means, with respect to a bridge, the carrying 

14 out of major work necessary, as determined by the 

15 Secretary— 

16 (A) to restore the structural integrity of 

17 the bridge; or 

18 (B) to correct a major safety defect of the 

19 bridge. 

20 (6) REPLACEMENT.—The term ‘‘replacement’’ 

21 means, with respect to a bridge, the construction of 

22 a new facility that, as determined by the Secretary, 

23 is in the same general traffic corridor as the re24 placed bridge. 


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1 (7) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

2 the Secretary of Transportation. 

3 (8) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means— 

4 (A) a State; 

5 (B) the District of Columbia; and 

6 (C) the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. 

7 (9) STRUCTURALLY DEFICIENT.—The term 

8 ‘‘structurally deficient’’, with respect to a bridge, 

9 means a bridge that, as determined by the Sec10 retary— 

11 (A) has significant load-carrying elements 

12 that are in poor or worse condition due to dete13 rioration, damage, or both; 

14 (B) has a load capacity that is significantly 

15 below truckloads using the bridge and that re16 quires replacement; or 

17 (C) has a waterway opening causing fre18 quent flooding of the bridge deck and ap19 proaches resulting in significant traffic inter20 ruptions. 

21 (b) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 30 days after 

22 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall es23 tablish a program to assist States to rehabilitate or re24 place eligible bridges. 

25 (c) APPORTIONMENT OF FUNDS.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Amounts made available to 

2 carry out the program established under subsection 

3 (b) for a fiscal year shall be apportioned to each 

4 State according to the ratio that— 

5 (A) the total cost to rehabilitate or replace 

6 eligible bridges in that State; bears to 

7 (B) the total cost to rehabilitate or replace 

8 eligible bridges in all States. 

9 (2) CALCULATION OF TOTAL COST.— 

10 (A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of the 

11 calculation under paragraph (1), the Secretary 

12 shall multiply the deck area of eligible bridges 

13 by the unit price on a State-by-State basis, as 

14 determined by the Secretary, to determine the 

15 total cost to rehabilitate or replace eligible 

16 bridges in each State. 

17 (B) DATA USED IN MAKING DETERMINA18 TIONS.—The Secretary shall make determina19 tions under this subsection based on the latest 

20 available data, which shall be updated not less 

21 than annually. 

22 (C) USE OF EXISTING INVENTORIES.—To 

23 the extent practicable, the Secretary shall make 

24 determinations under this subsection using inVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Apr 11, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S846.IS S846

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1 ventories prepared under section 144 of title 

2 23, United States Code. 

3 (d) USE OF FUNDS.—Funds apportioned to a State 

4 under the program established under subsection (b) 

5 shall— 

6 (1) be used by that State for the rehabilitation 

7 and replacement of eligible bridges; 

8 (2) except as otherwise specified in this section, 

9 be administered as if apportioned under chapter 1 of 

10 title 23, United States Code, except that the funds 

11 shall not be transferable; 

12 (3) be subject to the requirements described in 

13 section 1101(b) of the FAST Act (23 U.S.C. 101 

14 note; 129 Stat. 1323) in the same manner as 

15 amounts made available for programs under titles I, 

16 II, and III of that Act; and 

17 (4) not be subject to any limitation on obliga18 tions for Federal-aid highways or highway safety 

19 construction programs set forth in any Act. 

20 (e) CONDITION AT PROJECT COMPLETION.—On com21 pletion of the rehabilitation or replacement, a bridge that 

22 is rehabilitated or replaced under the program established 

23 under subsection (b) may not be structurally deficient. 

24 (f) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share of the cost 

25 of a project carried out with funds apportioned to a State 


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1 under the program established under subsection (b) shall 

2 be 100 percent. 

3 (g) REAPPORTIONMENT OF UNOBLIGATED FUNDS.— 

4 Any funds apportioned to a State under the program es5 tablished under subsection (b) and not obligated by that 

6 State at the end of the third fiscal year beginning after 

7 the fiscal year during which the funds were apportioned 

8 shall be withdrawn from that State and reapportioned by 

9 the Secretary to States that have not had funds withdrawn 

10 under this subsection in accordance with the formula 

11 under subsection (c). 

12 (h) NONSUBSTITUTION.—In carrying out the pro13 gram established under subsection (b), the Secretary shall 

14 ensure that funding made available to a State under the 

15 program supplements, and does not supplant— 

16 (1) other Federal funding made available for 

17 the rehabilitation or replacement of eligible bridges; 

18 and 

19 (2) the planned obligations of that State with 

20 respect to eligible bridges. 

21 (i) PREVAILING RATE OF WAGE.—Section 113 of 

22 title 23, United States Code, shall apply to this section. 

23 (j) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

24 of enactment of this Act, and each year thereafter if 

25 States obligated funds apportioned under the program esVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Apr 11, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S846.IS S846

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1 tablished under subsection (b) during that year, the Sec2 retary shall submit to the Committee on Transportation 

3 and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives and 

4 the Committee on Environment and Public Works of the 

5 Senate a report that describes the amounts obligated by 

6 each State for projects under the program. 

7 (k) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

8 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry 

9 out this section $2,750,000,000 for each of fiscal years 

10 2017 through 2020, to remain available until expended. 

Æ 


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