I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2428 

To direct the Secretary of Transportation to assist States to rehabilitate 

or replace certain bridges, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 19, 2013 

Mr. RAHALL (for himself, Mr. LARSEN of Washington, Mr. DEFAZIO, Ms. 

NORTON, Mr. NADLER, Ms. BROWN of Florida, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE

JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. CAPUANO, Mr. BISHOP of New 

York, Mr. MICHAUD, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. WALZ, Mr. 

COHEN, Mr. SIRES, Ms. EDWARDS, Mr. GARAMENDI, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, Ms. HAHN, Mr. NOLAN, Mrs. KIRKPATRICK, Ms. ESTY, Ms. 

FRANKEL of Florida, and Mrs. BUSTOS) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

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 2013’’ or the ‘‘SAFE Bridges 

6 Act of 2013’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ASSISTANCE TO STATES TO REHABILITATE OR RE2 PLACE CERTAIN BRIDGES. 

3 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 30 days after 

4 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Trans5 portation shall establish a program to assist States to re6 habilitate or replace eligible bridges. 

7 (b) APPORTIONMENT OF FUNDS.— 

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

9 carry out the program established under subsection 

10 (a) for a fiscal year shall be apportioned to each 

11 State according to the ratio that— 

12 (A) the total cost to rehabilitate or replace 

13 structurally deficient and functionally obsolete 

14 bridges in that State; bears to 

15 (B) the total cost to rehabilitate or replace 

16 structurally deficient and functionally obsolete 

17 bridges in all States. 

18 (2) CALCULATION OF TOTAL COST.— 

19 (A) CATEGORIES OF BRIDGES.—The Sec20 retary shall place each structurally deficient or 

21 functionally obsolete bridge into one of the fol22 lowing categories: 

23 (i) Federal-aid highway bridges eligi24 ble for rehabilitation. 

25 (ii) Federal-aid highway bridges eligi26 ble for replacement. 


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1 (iii) Bridges not on Federal-aid high2 ways eligible for rehabilitation. 

3 (iv) Bridges not on Federal-aid high4 ways eligible for replacement. 

5 (B) CALCULATION.—For purposes of the 

6 calculation required under paragraph (1), the 

7 Secretary shall multiply the deck area of struc8 turally deficient and functionally obsolete 

9 bridges in each category described in subpara10 graph (A) by the respective unit price on a 

11 State-by-State basis, as determined by the Sec12 retary, to determine the total cost to rehabili13 tate or replace bridges in each State. 

14 (C) DATA USED IN MAKING DETERMINA15 TIONS.—The Secretary shall make determina16 tions under this subsection based on the latest 

17 available data, which shall be updated not less 

18 than annually. 

19 (D) USE OF EXISTING INVENTORIES.—To 

20 the extent practicable, the Secretary shall make 

21 determinations under this subsection using in22 ventories prepared under section 144 of title 

23 23, United States Code. 


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1 (c) USE OF FUNDS.—Funds apportioned to a State 

2 under the program established under subsection (a) 

3 shall— 

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

5 and replacement of eligible bridges; 

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

7 be administered as if apportioned under chapter 1 of 

8 title 23, United States Code, except that such funds 

9 shall not be transferable; 

10 (3) be subject to the requirements described in 

11 section 1101(b) of MAP–21 in the same manner as 

12 amounts made available for programs under divi13 sions A and B of that Act; and 

14 (4) not be subject to any limitation on obliga15 tions for Federal-aid highways or highway safety 

16 construction programs set forth in any Act. 

17 (d) CONDITION AT PROJECT COMPLETION.—A 

18 bridge that is rehabilitated or replaced under the program 

19 established under subsection (a) may not be structurally 

20 deficient, functionally obsolete, or fracture critical upon 

21 the completion of such rehabilitation or replacement. 

22 (e) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share of the cost 

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

24 under the program established under subsection (a) shall 

25 be 100 percent. 


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1 (f) REAPPORTIONMENT OF UNOBLIGATED FUNDS.— 

2 Any funds apportioned to a State under the program es3 tablished under subsection (a) and not obligated by that 

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

5 the fiscal year during which the funds were apportioned 

6 shall be withdrawn from that State and reapportioned by 

7 the Secretary to States that have not had funds withdrawn 

8 under this subsection in accordance with the formula spec9 ified in subsection (b). 

10 (g) NONSUBSTITUTION.—In carrying out the pro11 gram established under subsection (a), the Secretary shall 

12 ensure that funding made available to a State under the 

13 program supplements, and does not supplant— 

14 (1) other Federal funding made available for 

15 the rehabilitation or replacement of eligible bridges; 

16 and 

17 (2) the planned obligations of that State with 

18 respect to eligible bridges. 

19 (h) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

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

21 States obligated funds apportioned under the program es22 tablished under subsection (a) during that year, the Sec23 retary shall submit to the Committee on Transportation 

24 and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives and 

25 the Committee on Environment and Public Works of the 


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1 Senate a report that describes the amounts obligated by 

2 each State for projects under such program. 

3 (i) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following defi4 nitions apply: 

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

6 bridge on a public road, without regard to whether 

7 the bridge is on a Federal-aid highway. 

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

9 bridge’’ means a bridge that is structurally deficient, 

10 functionally obsolete, or fracture critical. 

11 (3) FEDERAL-AID HIGHWAY.—The term ‘‘Fed12 eral-aid highway’’ has the meaning given that term 

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

14 (4) FRACTURE CRITICAL.—The term ‘‘fracture 

15 critical’’ means, with respect to a bridge, a bridge 

16 with a steel member in tension, or with a tension 

17 element, the failure of which would likely cause a 

18 portion of the bridge or the entire bridge to collapse. 

19 (5) FUNCTIONALLY OBSOLETE.—The term 

20 ‘‘functionally obsolete’’ means, with respect to a 

21 bridge, a bridge that, as determined by the Sec22 retary, no longer meets current design standards for 

23 the traffic demands on the bridge. 


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1 (6) PUBLIC ROAD.—The term ‘‘public road’’ 

2 has the meaning given that term in section 101(a) 

3 of title 23, United States Code. 

4 (7) REHABILITATION.—The term ‘‘rehabilita5 tion’’ means, with respect to a bridge, the carrying 

6 out of major work necessary, as determined by the 

7 Secretary— 

8 (A) to restore the structural integrity of 

9 the bridge; or 

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

11 bridge. 

12 (8) REPLACEMENT.—The term ‘‘replacement’’ 

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

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

15 is in the same general traffic corridor as the re16 placed bridge. 

17 (9) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any of 

18 the 50 States and the District of Columbia. 

19 (10) STRUCTURALLY DEFICIENT.—The term 

20 ‘‘structurally deficient’’ means, with respect to a 

21 bridge, a bridge that, as determined by the Sec22 retary— 

23 (A) has significant load-carrying elements 

24 that are in poor or worse condition due to dete25 rioration, damage, or both; 


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1 (B) has a load capacity that is significantly 

2 below current truckloads and that requires re3 placement; or 

4 (C) has a waterway opening causing fre5 quent flooding of the bridge deck and ap6 proaches resulting in significant traffic inter7 ruptions. 

8 (j) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

9 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry 

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

11 2013 and 2014. Such sums shall remain available until 

12 expended. 

Æ 


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