I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1299 

To permit the Secretary of Transportation to approve Federal participation 

in the replacement or rehabilitation of certain bridges, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 24, 2021 

Mr. HIGGINS of Louisiana (for himself and Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation 

and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To permit the Secretary of Transportation to approve Federal participation in the replacement or rehabilitation 

of 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 ‘‘Fixing America’s 

5 Bridges Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. HIGHWAY BRIDGE REPLACEMENT AND REHABILI7 TATION PROGRAM. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 144 of title 23, United 

9 States Code, is amended— 


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1 (1) in the section heading by striking ‘‘Na2 tional bridge and tunnel inventory and 

3 inspection standards’’ and inserting ‘‘High4 way bridge replacement and rehabilita5 tion’’; and 

6 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(l) HIGHWAY BRIDGE REPLACEMENT AND REHA8 BILITATION PROGRAM.— 

9 ‘‘(1) PARTICIPATION.—On application by a 

10 State or States to the Secretary for assistance for 

11 one or more highway bridges that have been deter12 mined to be eligible for replacement or rehabilitation 

13 under subsection (b), the Secretary may approve 

14 Federal participation in— 

15 ‘‘(A) replacing a bridge with a comparable 

16 facility; or 

17 ‘‘(B) rehabilitating a bridge. 

18 ‘‘(2) TYPES OF ASSISTANCE.—On application 

19 by a State or States to the Secretary, the Secretary 

20 may approve Federal assistance for any of the fol21 lowing activities for a highway bridge that has been 

22 determined to be eligible for replacement or rehabili23 tation under subsection (b): 

24 ‘‘(A) Painting. 

25 ‘‘(B) Seismic retrofit. 


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1 ‘‘(C) Systematic preventive maintenance. 

2 ‘‘(D) Installation of scour countermea3 sures. 

4 ‘‘(E) Application of calcium magnesium ac5 etate, sodium acetate/formate, or other environ6 mentally acceptable, minimally corrosive anti7 icing and de-icing compositions. 

8 ‘‘(3) BASIS FOR DETERMINATION.—The Sec9 retary shall determine the eligibility of highway 

10 bridges for replacement or rehabilitation for each 

11 State based on highway bridges found to be in poor 

12 condition in the State. 

13 ‘‘(4) SPECIAL RULE FOR PREVENTIVE MAINTE14 NANCE.—Notwithstanding any other provision of 

15 this subsection, a State may carry out a project 

16 under paragraph (2)(B), (2)(C), or (2)(D) for a 

17 highway bridge without regard to whether the bridge 

18 is eligible for replacement or rehabilitation under 

19 this section. 

20 ‘‘(5) APPORTIONMENT.— 

21 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Funds authorized to 

22 carry out this section shall be apportioned 

23 among the several States on October 1 of the 

24 fiscal year for which authorized in accordance 

25 with this subsection. 


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1 ‘‘(B) CATEGORIES OF DEFICIENCY.—Each 

2 deficient bridge shall be placed into one of the 

3 following categories: 

4 ‘‘(i) Federal-aid system bridges eligi5 ble for replacement. 

6 ‘‘(ii) Federal-aid system bridges eligi7 ble for rehabilitation. 

8 ‘‘(iii) Off-system bridges eligible for 

9 replacement. 

10 ‘‘(iv) Off-system bridges eligible for 

11 rehabilitation. 

12 ‘‘(C) CALCULATION OF APPORTION13 MENT.— 

14 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The deck area of 

15 deficient bridges in each category shall be 

16 multiplied by the respective unit price on a 

17 State-by-State basis, as determined by the 

18 Secretary, and the total cost in each State 

19 divided by the total cost of the deficient 

20 bridges in all States shall determine the 

21 apportionment factors. 

22 ‘‘(ii) DETERMINATIONS.—The Sec23 retary shall make determinations under 

24 clause (i) using the latest available data, 

25 which shall be updated annually. 


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1 ‘‘(D) SPECIAL RULE FOR APPORTION2 MENT.—If a State transfers funds apportioned 

3 to the State under this section in a fiscal year 

4 beginning after September 30, 2019, to any 

5 other apportionment of funds to such State 

6 under this title, the total cost of deficient 

7 bridges in such State and in all States to be de8 termined for the succeeding fiscal year shall be 

9 reduced by the amount of such transferred 

10 funds. 

11 ‘‘(E) LIMITATION OF APPORTIONMENT.— 

12 No State shall receive more than 10 percent or 

13 less than 0.25 percent of the total apportion14 ment for any one fiscal year. 

15 ‘‘(F) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Funds 

16 apportioned under this section shall be available 

17 for expenditure for the period specified in sec18 tion 118(b). 

19 ‘‘(G) REAPPORTIONMENT OF FUNDS.—Any 

20 funds not obligated at the expiration of the pe21 riod described in subparagraph (F) shall be re22 apportioned by the Secretary to the other 

23 States in accordance with this subsection. 

24 ‘‘(H) SPECIAL RULE FOR USE OF

25 FUNDS.—The use of funds authorized under 


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1 this section to carry out a project for the seis2 mic retrofit of a bridge shall not affect the ap3 portionment of funds under this section. 

4 ‘‘(6) SET-ASIDE FOR OFF-SYSTEM BRIDGES.— 

5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not less than 20 per6 cent of the amount apportioned to each State in 

7 each fiscal year shall be expended for projects 

8 to replace, rehabilitate, paint, perform system9 atic preventive maintenance or seismic retrofit 

10 of, or apply calcium magnesium acetate, sodium 

11 acetate/formate, or other environmentally ac12 ceptable, minimally corrosive anti-icing and de13 icing compositions to, or install scour counter14 measures to, highway bridges located on public 

15 roads, other than those on a Federal-aid high16 way. 

17 ‘‘(B) REDUCTION OF EXPENDITURES.— 

18 The Secretary, after consultation with State 

19 and local officials, may reduce the requirement 

20 for expenditure for bridges not on a Federal-aid 

21 highway under subparagraph (A) with respect 

22 to the State if the Secretary determines that 

23 the State has inadequate needs to justify the 

24 expenditure. 


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1 ‘‘(7) INVENTORIES AND REPORTS.—The Sec2 retary shall— 

3 ‘‘(A) biennially report to the Committee on 

4 Environment and Public Works of the Senate 

5 and the Committee on Transportation and In6 frastructure of the House of Representatives on 

7 projects approved under this section; 

8 ‘‘(B) annually revise the current inven9 tories authorized by subsection (b) of this sec10 tion; 

11 ‘‘(C) biennially report to such committees 

12 on such inventories; and 

13 ‘‘(D) biennially report to such committees 

14 such recommendations as the Secretary may 

15 have for improvements of the program author16 ized by this section. 

17 ‘‘(8) FAIR AND EQUITABLE BASIS.—Sums ap18 portioned to a State under this section shall be made 

19 available for obligation throughout such State on a 

20 fair and equitable basis. 

21 ‘‘(9) PERIODIC REVIEW OF APPLICATION PRO22 CEDURES.— 

23 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 

24 months after the date of enactment of this sub25 section, and periodically thereafter, the SecVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 Mar 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1299.IH H1299

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1 retary shall review the procedure used in ap2 proving or disapproving applications submitted 

3 under this section to determine what changes, 

4 if any, may be made to expedite such proce5 dure. 

6 ‘‘(B) IMPLEMENTATION OF CHANGES.— 

7 The Secretary shall implement the changes de8 termined under subparagraph (A) as soon as 

9 possible. 

10 ‘‘(C) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later 

11 than 9 months after the date of enactment of 

12 this subsection, the Secretary shall submit a re13 port to Congress which describes such review 

14 and such changes, including any recommenda15 tions for legislative changes. 

16 ‘‘(10) CREDIT FOR BRIDGES NOT ON FEDERAL17 AID HIGHWAYS.— 

18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any 

19 other provision of law, with respect to any 

20 project not on a Federal-aid highway for the re21 placement of a bridge or rehabilitation of a 

22 bridge that is wholly funded from State and 

23 local sources, is eligible for Federal funds under 

24 this section, is noncontroversial, is certified by 

25 the State to have been carried out in accordVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 Mar 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1299.IH H1299

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1 ance with all standards applicable to such 

2 projects under this section, and is determined 

3 by the Secretary upon completion to be no 

4 longer a deficient bridge any amount expended 

5 after the date of enactment of this subsection 

6 from State and local sources for the project in 

7 excess of 20 percent of the cost of construction 

8 of the project may be credited to the non-Fed9 eral share of the cost of other bridge projects 

10 in the State that are eligible for Federal funds 

11 under this section. 

12 ‘‘(B) CREDITING.—Crediting described 

13 under subparagraph (A) shall be conducted in 

14 accordance with procedures established by the 

15 Secretary. 

16 ‘‘(11) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

17 ‘‘(A) The term ‘rehabilitate’ means per18 forming major work necessary to restore the 

19 structural integrity of a bridge as well as work 

20 necessary to correct a major safety defect. 

21 ‘‘(B) The term ‘rehabilitation’ means 

22 major work necessary to restore the structural 

23 integrity of a bridge as well as work necessary 

24 to correct a major safety defect. 


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1 ‘‘(12) FEDERAL SHARE.—Notwithstanding sec2 tion 120, the Federal share of the cost of a project 

3 carried out under this subsection shall be 90 per4 cent. 

5 ‘‘(13) TREATMENT OF OFF-SYSTEM BRIDGE

6 PROJECTS.—Notwithstanding any other provision of 

7 law, off-system bridge projects funded in whole, or 

8 in part, under paragraphs (5) or (6) shall be treated 

9 as projects on a Federal-aid highway under this 

10 chapter. 

11 ‘‘(14) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

12 There is authorized to be appropriated such sums as 

13 may be necessary to carry out this subsection.’’. 

14 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The analysis for chap15 ter 1 of title 23, United States Code, is amended by strik16 ing the item relating to section 144 and inserting the fol17 lowing: 

‘‘144. Highway bridge replacement and rehabilitation.’’. 

18 (c) SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BLOCK GRANT PRO19 GRAM.—Section 133(f) of title 23, United States Code, is 

20 repealed. 

Æ 


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