I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3112

To amend title 23, United States Code, to establish programs to facilitate 

international and interstate trade. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 17, 2003

Mr. EHLERS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL

To amend title 23, United States Code, to establish programs 

to facilitate international and interstate trade.

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 ‘‘National Highway Bor5 ders and Trade Act of 2003’’. 

6 SEC. 2. COORDINATED BORDER INFRASTRUCTURE PRO7 GRAM. 

8 Subchapter I of chapter 1 of title 23, United States 

9 Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: 
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1 ‘‘§ 165. Coordinated border infrastructure program 

2 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

3 ‘‘(1) BORDER REGION.—The term ‘border re4 gion’ means the portion of a border State that is lo5 cated within 100 kilometers of a land border cross6 ing with Canada or Mexico. 

7 ‘‘(2) BORDER STATE.—The term ‘border State’ 

8 means any State that has a boundary in common 

9 with Canada or Mexico. 

10 ‘‘(3) COMMERCIAL VEHICLE.—The term ‘com11 mercial vehicle’ means a vehicle that is used for the 

12 primary purpose of transporting cargo in inter13 national or interstate commercial trade. 

14 ‘‘(4) PASSENGER VEHICLE.—The term ‘pas15 senger vehicle’ means a vehicle that is used for the 

16 primary purpose of transporting individuals. 

17 ‘‘(b) PROGRAM.—The Secretary shall establish and 

18 implement a coordinated border infrastructure program 

19 under which the Secretary shall make allocations to border 

20 States for projects within a border region to improve the 

21 efficient and safe movement of people and goods at or 

22 across the border between the United States and Canada 

23 and the border between the United States and Mexico. 

24 ‘‘(c) ELIGIBLE USES.—Allocations to States under 

25 this section may only be used in a border region for—
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1 ‘‘(1) improvements to transportation and sup2 porting infrastructure that facilitate cross-border ve3 hicle and cargo movements; 

4 ‘‘(2) construction of highways and related safe5 ty and safety enforcement facilities that will facili6 tate vehicle and cargo movements relating to inter7 national trade, including cargo inspection facilities 

8 and equipment; 

9 ‘‘(3) operational improvements, including im10 provements relating to electronic data interchange 

11 and use of telecommunications, to expedite cross12 border vehicle and cargo movement; 

13 ‘‘(4) international coordination of planning, 

14 programming, and border operation with Canada 

15 and Mexico relating to expediting cross-border vehi16 cle and cargo movements; 

17 ‘‘(5) projects in Canada or Mexico proposed by 

18 1 or more border States that directly and predomi19 nantly facilitate cross-border vehicle and commercial 

20 cargo movements at the international gateways or 

21 ports of entry into a border region; and 

22 ‘‘(6) planning and environmental studies. 

23 ‘‘(d) MANDATORY PROGRAM.—

24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For each fiscal year, the 

25 Secretary shall allocate among border States, in ac-
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1 cordance with the formula described in paragraph 

2 (2), funds to be used in accordance with subsection 

3 (c). 

4 ‘‘(2) FORMULA.—Subject to paragraph (3), the 

5 amount allocated to a border State under this sub6 section shall be determined by the Secretary, as fol7 lows: 

8 ‘‘(A) 25 percent in the ratio that—

9 ‘‘(i) the average annual weight of all 

10 cargo entering the border State by com11 mercial vehicle across the international 

12 border with Canada or Mexico, as the case 

13 may be; bears to 

14 ‘‘(ii) the average annual weight of all 

15 cargo entering all border States by com16 mercial vehicle across the international 

17 borders with Canada and Mexico. 

18 ‘‘(B) 25 percent in the ratio that—

19 ‘‘(i) the average trade value of all 

20 cargo imported into the border State and 

21 all cargo exported from the border State 

22 by commercial vehicle across the inter23 national border with Canada or Mexico, as 

24 the case may be; bears to 
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1 ‘‘(ii) the average trade value of all 

2 cargo imported into all border States and 

3 all cargo exported from all border States 

4 by commercial vehicle across the inter5 national borders with Canada and Mexico. 

6 ‘‘(C) 25 percent in the ratio that—

7 ‘‘(i) the number of commercial vehi8 cles annually entering the border State 

9 across the international border with Can10 ada or Mexico, as the case may be; bears 

11 to 

12 ‘‘(ii) the number of all commercial ve13 hicles annually entering all border States 

14 across the international borders with Can15 ada and Mexico. 

16 ‘‘(D) 25 percent in the ratio that—

17 ‘‘(i) the number of passenger vehicles 

18 annually entering the border State across 

19 the international border with Canada or 

20 Mexico, as the case may be; bears to 

21 ‘‘(ii) the number of all commercial ve22 hicles annually entering all border States 

23 across the international borders with Can24 ada and Mexico. 

25 ‘‘(3) DATA SOURCE.—
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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The data used by the 

2 Secretary in making allocations under this sub3 section shall be based on the Bureau of Trans4 portation Statistics Transborder Surface 

5 Freight Dataset (or other similar database). 

6 ‘‘(B) BASIS OF CALCULATION.—All for7 mula calculations shall be made using the aver8 age values for the most recent 5-year period for 

9 which data are available. 

10 ‘‘(4) MINIMUM ALLOCATION.—Notwithstanding 

11 subparagraph (B), for each fiscal year, each border 

State shall receive at least 1 12 ⁄2 of 1 percent of the 

13 funds made available for allocation under this sub14 section for the fiscal year. 

15 ‘‘(e) COST SHARING.—The Federal share of the cost 

16 of a project carried out using funds allocated under this 

17 section shall not exceed 80 percent. 

18 ‘‘(f) TRANSFER OF FUNDS TO THE ADMINISTRATOR

19 OF GENERAL SERVICES.—

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—At the request of a State, 

21 funds allocated to the State under this section shall 

22 be transferred to the Administrator of General Serv23 ices for the purpose of funding a project under the 

24 administrative jurisdiction of the Administrator in a 

25 border State if the Secretary determines, after con-
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1 sultation with the State transportation department, 

2 as appropriate, that—

3 ‘‘(A) the Administrator should carry out 

4 the project; and 

5 ‘‘(B) the Administrator agrees to use the 

6 funds to carry out the project. 

7 ‘‘(2) NO AUGMENTATION OF APPROPRIA8 TIONS.—Funds transferred under paragraph (1) 

9 shall not be deemed to be an augmentation of the 

10 amount of appropriations made to the General Serv11 ices Administration. 

12 ‘‘(3) ADMINISTRATION.—Funds transferred 

13 under paragraph (1) shall be administered in accord14 ance with the procedures applicable to the General 

15 Services Administration, except that the funds shall 

16 be available for obligation in the same manner as 

17 other funds apportioned under this chapter. 

18 ‘‘(4) TRANSFER OF OBLIGATION AUTHORITY.—

19 Obligation authority shall be transferred to the Ad20 ministrator of General Services in the same manner 

21 and amount as funds are transferred for a project 

22 under paragraph (1). 

23 ‘‘(g) FUNDING.—

24 ‘‘(1) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—

25 There is authorized to be appropriated from the 
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1 Highway Trust Fund (other than the Mass Transit 

2 Account) to carry out this section $200,000,000 for 

3 each of fiscal years 2004 through 2009. 

4 ‘‘(2) OBLIGATION AUTHORITY.—Funds made 

5 available to carry out this section shall be available 

6 for obligation as if the funds were apportioned in ac7 cordance with section 104. 

8 ‘‘(3) EXCLUSION FROM CALCULATION OF MIN9 IMUM GUARANTEE.—The Secretary shall calculate 

10 the amounts to be allocated among the States under 

11 section 105 without regard to amounts made avail12 able to the States under this subsection.’’. 

13 SEC. 3. NATIONAL TRADE CORRIDOR PROGRAM. 

14 Subchapter I of chapter 1 of title 23, United States 

15 Code, is further amended by adding at the end the fol16 lowing: 

17 ‘‘§ 166. National trade corridor program 

18 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION OF INTERMODAL ROAD CON19 NECTOR.—In this section, the term ‘intermodal road con20 nector’ means a connector highway that provides motor 

21 vehicle access between a route on the National Highway 

22 System and 1 or more major intermodal water port facili23 ties at least 1 of which accepts at least 50,000 20-foot 

24 equivalent units of container traffic (or 200,000 tons of 

25 container or noncontainer traffic) per year of international 
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1 trade or trade between Alaska or Hawaii and the 48 con2 tiguous States. 

3 ‘‘(b) PROGRAM.—

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry 

5 out a program to allocate funds to States to be used 

6 for coordinated planning, design, and construction of 

7 corridors of national significance. 

8 ‘‘(2) APPLICATIONS.—A State that seeks to re9 ceive an allocation under this section shall submit to 

10 the Secretary an application in such form, and con11 taining such information, as the Secretary may re12 quest. 

13 ‘‘(c) ELIGIBILITY OF CORRIDORS.—The Secretary 

14 may make allocations under this section with respect to—

15 ‘‘(1) a high priority corridor in a State—

16 ‘‘(A) that is identified in section 1105(c) of 

17 the Intermodal Surface Transportation Effi18 ciency Act of 1991 (105 Stat. 2031); and 

19 ‘‘(B) any part of which is located in a bor20 der region (as defined in section 165(a)); and 

21 ‘‘(2) an intermodal road connector. 

22 ‘‘(d) ELIGIBLE USES OF FUNDS.—A State may use 

23 an allocation under this section to carry out, for an eligible 

24 corridor described in subsection (c)—

25 ‘‘(1) a feasibility study; 
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1 ‘‘(2) a comprehensive corridor planning and de2 sign activity; 

3 ‘‘(3) a location and routing study; 

4 ‘‘(4) multistate and intrastate coordination for 

5 each corridor; 

6 ‘‘(5) environmental review; and 

7 ‘‘(6) construction. 

8 ‘‘(e) ALLOCATION FORMULA.—

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 

10 the Secretary shall allocate funds among States 

11 under this section in accordance with a formula de12 termined by the Secretary after taking into consider13 ation, with respect to the applicable corridor in the 

14 State—

15 ‘‘(A) the average annual weight of freight 

16 transported on the corridor; 

17 ‘‘(B) the percentage by which freight traf18 fic increased, during the most recent 5-year pe19 riod for which data are available, on the cor20 ridor; and 

21 ‘‘(C) the annual average number of trac22 tor-trailer trucks that use the corridor to access 

23 other States. 

24 ‘‘(2) MAXIMUM ALLOCATION.—Not more than 

25 10 percent of the funds made available for a fiscal 
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1 year for allocation under this section may be allo2 cated to any State for the fiscal year. 

3 ‘‘(f) COORDINATION OF PLANNING.—Planning with 

4 respect to a corridor for which an allocation is made under 

5 this section shall be coordinated with—

6 ‘‘(1) transportation planning being carried out 

7 by the States and metropolitan planning organiza8 tions along the corridor; and 

9 ‘‘(2) to the extent appropriate, transportation 

10 planning being carried out by—

11 ‘‘(A) Federal land management agencies; 

12 ‘‘(B) tribal governments; and 

13 ‘‘(C) government agencies in Mexico or 

14 Canada. 

15 ‘‘(g) COST SHARING.—The Federal share of the cost 

16 of a project carried out using funds allocated under this 

17 section shall not exceed 80 percent. 

18 ‘‘(h) FUNDING.—

19 ‘‘(1) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—

20 There is authorized to be appropriated from the 

21 Highway Trust Fund (other than the Mass Transit 

22 Account) to carry out this section $200,000,000 for 

23 each of fiscal years 2004 through 2009. 

24 ‘‘(2) OBLIGATION AUTHORITY.—Funds made 

25 available to carry out this section shall be available 
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1 for obligation as if the funds were apportioned in ac2 cordance with section 104.’’. 

3 SEC. 4. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 

4 (a) Section 1101(a) of the Transportation Equity Act 

5 for the 21st Century (112 Stat. 111) is amended by strik6 ing paragraph (9) and inserting the following: 

7 ‘‘(9) COORDINATED BORDER INFRASTRUCTURE

8 PROGRAM AND NATIONAL TRADE CORRIDOR PRO9 GRAM.—For the coordinated border infrastructure 

10 program and national trade corridor program under 

11 sections 165 and 166, respectively, of title 23, 

12 United States Code, $400,000,000 for each of fiscal 

13 years 2004 through 2009.’’. 

14 (b) Sections 1118 and 1119 of the Transportation 

15 Equity Act for the 21st Century (112 Stat. 161) are re16 pealed. 

17 (c) The analysis for subchapter I of chapter 1 of title 

18 23, United States Code, is amended by inserting after the 

19 item relating to section 164 the following:

‘‘165. Coordinated border infrastructure program. 

‘‘166. National trade corridor program.’’.

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