I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2185 

To amend title 23, United States Code, to allocate transportation funds 

to metropolitan areas and increase planning funds to relieve metropolitan 

congestion, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 5, 2005 

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To amend title 23, United States Code, to allocate transportation funds to metropolitan areas and increase planning 

funds to relieve metropolitan congestion, 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 ‘‘Congestion Relief Act 

5 of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SURFACE TRANSPORTATION PROGRAM. 

7 (a) DIVISION OF FUNDS BETWEEN URBANIZED

8 AREAS OF OVER 200,000 POPULATION AND OTHER
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1 AREAS.—Section 133(d)(3)(A) of title 23, United States 

2 Code, is amended— 

3 (1) by striking ‘‘62.5 percent of’’; and 

4 (2) by striking ‘‘The remaining 37.5 percent 

5 may be obligated in any area of the State.’’. 

6 (b) OBLIGATION AUTHORITY.—Section 133(f)(1) of 

7 such title is amended by striking ‘‘the period of fiscal 

8 years 1998’’ and all that follows through ‘‘2003’’ and in9 serting ‘‘the period of fiscal years 2004 through 2006 and 

10 the period of fiscal years 2007 through 2009’’. 

11 SEC. 3. CONGESTION MITIGATION AND AIR QUALITY IM12 PROVEMENT PROGRAM. 

13 (a) ALLOCATIONS.—Section 149 of title 23, United 

14 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol15 lowing: 

16 ‘‘(f) ALLOCATIONS OF APPORTIONED FUNDS.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A State shall allocate the 

18 amounts apportioned to the State for a fiscal year 

19 under section 104(b)(2) and the amounts appor20 tioned for the congestion mitigation and air quality 

21 improvement program under section 110 among 

22 metropolitan planning organizations and other agen23 cies responsible for air quality conformity determina24 tions in federally designated air quality areas in the 

25 ratio that— 
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1 ‘‘(A) the total of all weighted nonattain2 ment and maintenance area populations (as de3 termined under section 104(b)(2)) represented 

4 by the metropolitan planning organization or 

5 other agency; bears to 

6 ‘‘(B) the total of all weighted nonattain7 ment and maintenance area populations (as de8 termined under section 104(b)(2)) in the State. 

9 ‘‘(2) NONAPPLICABILITY TO CERTAIN

10 AMOUNTS.—Amounts described in subsections (c)(1) 

11 and (c)(2) that may be used for any project eligible 

12 under the surface transportation program under sec13 tion 133 shall not be subject to the requirements of 

14 paragraph (1). 

15 ‘‘(3) AVAILABILITY OF AMOUNTS.—A State 

16 may reallocate amounts allocated under this sub17 section as necessary to prevent lapses of funds under 

18 section 118. 

19 ‘‘(4) OBLIGATION AUTHORITY.—A State shall 

20 make available to a metropolitan planning organiza21 tion or other agency to which amounts are allocated 

22 for a fiscal year under this section an amount of ob23 ligation authority distributed to the State for Fed24 eral-aid highways and highway safety construction 

25 programs for use in the area represented by the 
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1 metropolitan planning organization or other agency 

2 that is equal to the amount obtained by multi3 plying— 

4 ‘‘(A) the aggregate amount of funds that 

5 the State is required to obligate in the area 

6 under this subsection; and 

7 ‘‘(B) the ratio that— 

8 ‘‘(i) the aggregate amount of obliga9 tion authority distributed to the State for 

10 Federal-aid highways and highway safety 

11 construction programs for the fiscal year; 

12 bears to 

13 ‘‘(ii) the total of the sums apportioned 

14 to the State for Federal-aid highways and 

15 highway safety construction programs for 

16 the fiscal year. 

17 ‘‘(5) JOINT RESPONSIBILITY.—Each State, 

18 each affected metropolitan planning organization or 

19 other agency, and the Secretary shall jointly ensure 

20 compliance with paragraph (4).’’. 

21 SEC. 4. NATIONAL HIGHWAY SYSTEM. 

22 (a) SELECTION OF PROJECTS.—Section 103(a)(6) of 

23 title 23, United States Code, is amended by inserting ‘‘the 

24 project selection requirements of section 134(i)(4)(B) 

25 and’’ after ‘‘Subject to’’. 
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1 (b) ALLOCATION.—Section 103(b) of such title is 

2 amended by adding at the end the following: 

3 ‘‘(7) ALLOCATION TO URBANIZED AREAS OF

4 OVER 200,000 POPULATION.—The funds apportioned 

5 to a State under section 104(b)(1) for a fiscal year 

6 shall be allocated between urbanized areas with a 

7 population of over 200,000 in the State and other 

8 areas in the State— 

9 ‘‘(A) 75 percent in the ratio that— 

10 ‘‘(i) the total lane miles on the Na11 tional Highway System in such urbanized 

12 areas in the State; bears to 

13 ‘‘(ii) the total lane miles on the Na14 tional Highway System in all areas in the 

15 State; and 

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

17 ‘‘(i) the total vehicle miles traveled on 

18 the National Highway System in such ur19 banized areas in the State; bears to 

20 ‘‘(ii) the total vehicle miles traveled on 

21 the National Highway System in all areas 

22 in the State.’’. 
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1 SEC. 5. MINIMUM GUARANTEE. 

2 Section 105(c)(2) of title 23, United States Code, is 

3 amended by striking ‘‘paragraphs (1), (2), and (3)’’ and 

4 inserting ‘‘paragraphs (1) and (2)’’. 

5 SEC. 6. METROPOLITAN CONGESTION RELIEF PROGRAM. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter I of chapter I of title 

7 23, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end 

8 the following: 

9 ‘‘§ 165. Metropolitan congestion relief program 

10 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall estab11 lish a metropolitan congestion relief program in accord12 ance with this section. 

13 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE PROJECTS.—A project shall be eligi14 ble for assistance under this section if the project is eligi15 ble for assistance under the surface transportation pro16 gram established by section 133 and the project is devel17 oped in accordance with the planning requirements of sub18 section (c). 

19 ‘‘(c) PLANNING.—Programming and expenditure of 

20 funds for projects under this section shall be consistent 

21 with the requirements of sections 134 and 135. In addi22 tion, with respect to each project carried out under this 

23 section, the appropriate metropolitan planning organiza24 tion shall demonstrate, as part of its congestion manage25 ment system if applicable, that the project will improve 

26 congestion in its region. 
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1 ‘‘(d) APPORTIONMENT.— 

2 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE URBANIZED AREAS.—Amounts 

3 made available to carry out this section for a fiscal 

4 year shall be apportioned directly to a metropolitan 

5 planning organization designated for— 

6 ‘‘(A) an urbanized area that has a travel 

7 time index of 1.2 or more; and 

8 ‘‘(B) an urbanized area with a population 

9 of more than 1,000,000 that otherwise would 

10 not be eligible under subparagraph (A). 

11 ‘‘(2) FORMULA.—Amounts made available to 

12 carry out this section for a fiscal year shall be ap13 portioned among eligible urbanized areas under 

14 paragraph (1) as follows: 

15 ‘‘(A) 50 percent in the ratio that— 

16 ‘‘(i) the travel time index of the eligi17 ble urbanized area; bears to 

18 ‘‘(ii) the travel time index of all eligi19 ble urbanized areas. 

20 ‘‘(B) 50 percent in the ratio that— 

21 ‘‘(i) the passenger miles traveled in 

22 the eligible urbanized area; bears to 

23 ‘‘(ii) the passenger miles traveled in 

24 all eligible urbanized areas. 
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1 ‘‘(3) DETERMINATIONS.—Eligibility and appor2 tionment determinations under this subsection shall 

3 be made by the Secretary based on data from the 

4 most recent year for which data is available. 

5 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

6 is authorized to be appropriated out of the Highway Trust 

7 Fund (other than the Mass Transit Account) to carry out 

8 this section $2,000,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2004 

9 through 2009. 

10 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following 

11 definitions apply: 

12 ‘‘(1) TRAVEL TIME INDEX.—The term ‘travel 

13 time index’ means the travel time index developed by 

14 the Texas Transportation Institute and included in 

15 the performance plan of the Federal Highway Ad16 ministration. 

17 ‘‘(2) PASSENGER MILES TRAVELED.—The term 

18 ‘passenger miles traveled’ includes daily vehicle miles 

19 traveled and daily transit ridership as measured by 

20 Secretary.’’. 

21 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The analysis for 

22 chapter 1 of title 23, United States Code, is amended by 

23 inserting after the item relating section 164 the following: 

‘‘165. Metropolitan congestion relief program.’’. 
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1 SEC. 7. TRANSPORTATION OPERATIONAL IMPROVEMENT 

2 PROGRAM. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter I of chapter 1 of title 

4 23, United States Code, is further amended by adding at 

5 the end the following: 

6 ‘‘§ 166. Operational improvement program 

7 ‘‘(a) GENERAL AUTHORITY.—The Secretary shall es8 tablish and implement an operational improvement pro9 gram under which the Secretary shall make grants to 

10 States, metropolitan planning organizations, and local 

11 governments for projects to improve the operation of the 

12 Nation’s roadways. 

13 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE USES.—Grants to States, metropoli14 tan planning organizations, and local governments under 

15 this section may be used for the following purposes: 

16 ‘‘(1) Incident management projects, including 

17 the following: 

18 ‘‘(A) Development of a regionwide coordi19 nated plan to mitigate delays due to accidents 

20 and breakdowns. 

21 ‘‘(B) Purchase or lease of telecommuni22 cations equipment for first responders. 

23 ‘‘(C) Purchase or lease of towing and re24 covery equipment. 

25 ‘‘(D) Payments to contractors for towing 

26 and recovery services. 
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1 ‘‘(E) Rental of vehicle storage areas imme2 diately adjacent to roadways. 

3 ‘‘(F) Service patrols. 

4 ‘‘(G) Enhanced hazard materials incident 

5 response capacity. 

6 ‘‘(H) Incident detection equipment. 

7 ‘‘(I) Training. 

8 ‘‘(2) Deployment of intelligent transportation 

9 systems technology, including the deployment of the 

10 national 511 traveler information telephone number. 

11 ‘‘(3) Transportation demand management tech12 niques, including the following: 

13 ‘‘(A) Commuter benefit programs. 

14 ‘‘(B) Parking management programs. 

15 ‘‘(C) Carpool and vanpool projects. 

16 ‘‘(D) Geographic Information System 

17 based ride matching operations. 

18 ‘‘(E) Employer based, real-time traveler in19 formation programs. 

20 ‘‘(F) Telework programs. 

21 ‘‘(G) Bicycle and pedestrian programs. 

22 ‘‘(H) Access to transit investments. 

23 ‘‘(I) Design and implementation of com24 muter-friendly facilities. 
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1 ‘‘(J) Employer and employment-site based 

2 transit shuttle planning and operation. 

3 ‘‘(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

4 is authorized to be appropriated out of the Highway Trust 

5 Fund (other than the Mass Transit Account) to carry out 

6 this section $500,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2004 

7 through 2009. 

8 ‘‘(d) APPLICABILITY OF NHS REQUIREMENTS.—All 

9 provisions of this chapter that are applicable to National 

10 Highway System funds, other than provisions relating to 

11 the apportionment formula and provisions limiting the ex12 penditures of such funds to Federal-aid systems, shall 

13 apply to funds authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

14 this section, except as determined by the Secretary to be 

15 inconsistent with this section and except that sums au16 thorized by this section shall remain available until ex17 pended.’’. 

18 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The analysis for 

19 chapter 1 of title 23, United States Code, is amended by 

20 inserting after the item relating section 165 the following: 

‘‘166. Incident management program.’’. 

21 SEC. 8. METROPOLITAN PLANNING FUNDS. 

22 Section 104(f)(1) of title 23, United States Code, is 

23 amended by striking ‘‘1 percent’’ and inserting ‘‘2 per24 cent’’. 

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