II

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 182

To make available for obligation such sums as are necessary to pay the

Federal share of completion of construction of the Appalachian development highway system, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JANUARY 22, 1997

Mr. BYRD introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to

the Committee on Environment and Public Works

A BILL

To make available for obligation such sums as are necessary

to pay the Federal share of completion of construction

of the Appalachian development highway system, 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 ‘‘Appalachian Develop5 ment Highway System Completion Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds that—
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1 (1) the Appalachian Regional Development Act

2 of 1965 (40 U.S.C. App.) enacted into law a Federal

3 commitment to the completion of the Appalachian

4 development highway system for the purpose of ex5 panding highway access to the Appalachian region;

6 (2) economic prosperity within the Appalachian

7 region since that time has been brought about by,

8 and has centered around, the availability of adequate

9 highway access;

10 (3) the rationale behind the completion of the

11 Appalachian development highway system is as

12 sound today as it was in 1965, but while the Inter13 state System is nearly 100 percent complete, the Ap14 palachian development highway system is only 76

15 percent complete;

16 (4) those areas in which the Appalachian devel17 opment highway system is not yet complete suffer

18 from inadequate road systems characterized by low

19 travel speeds, long travel distances, and unsafe con20 ditions; and

21 (5) there are unfinished miles of the Appalach22 ian development highway system in all 13 of the

23 States with counties in the statutorily-designated

24 Appalachian region.
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1 SEC. 3. COMPLETION OF APPALACHIAN DEVELOPMENT

2 HIGHWAY SYSTEM.

3 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (d),

5 there are authorized to be appropriated out of the

6 Highway Trust Fund (other than the Mass Transit

7 Account) for the period of fiscal years 1998 through

8 2003 such sums as are necessary to fund the Fed9 eral share of the total estimated cost of completion

10 of construction of the Appalachian development

11 highway system authorized by section 201 of the Ap12 palachian Regional Development Act of 1965 (40

13 U.S.C. App.), as determined by the Secretary of

14 Transportation.

15 (2) TRANSFER AND ADMINISTRATION OF

16 FUNDS.—The Secretary shall transfer the funds

17 made available by paragraph (1) to the Appalachian

18 Regional Commission, which shall be responsible for

19 the administration of the funds.

20 (b) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share under this

21 section shall be 80 percent.

22 (c) APPORTIONMENT TO STATES.—In carrying out

23 subsection (a), the Secretary shall apportion the funds to

24 the 13 States in the Appalachian region in accordance

25 with each State’s portion of the total estimated cost of

26 completion.
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1 (d) ALLOCATION PERCENTAGES.—One-sixth of the

2 funds allocated by subsection (a) for the construction shall

3 be available for obligation in each of fiscal years 1998

4 through 2003.

5 (e) DELEGATION TO STATES.—Subject to title 23,

6 United States Code, the Secretary shall delegate respon7 sibility for completion of construction of each segment of

8 the Appalachian development highway system under this

9 section to the State in which the segment is located, upon

10 request of the State.

11 (f) ADVANCE CONSTRUCTION.—When a State that

12 has been delegated responsibility for construction of a seg13 ment under subsection (c)—

14 (1) has obligated all funds allocated under this

15 section for construction of the segment; and

16 (2) proceeds to construct the segment without

17 the aid of Federal funds in accordance with all pro18 cedures and all requirements applicable to the seg19 ment, except insofar as the procedures and require20 ments limit the State to the construction of seg21 ments with the aid of Federal funds previously allo22 cated to the State;

23 the Secretary, upon approval of the application of a State,

24 shall pay to the State the Federal share of the cost of
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1 construction of the segment at such time as additional

2 funds are allocated for the segment under subsection (d).

3 (g) CONTRACT AUTHORITY.—Funds authorized by

4 this section shall be available for obligation in the same

5 manner as if the funds were apportioned under chapter

6 1 of title 23, United States Code, except that—

7 (1) the Federal share of the cost of any con8 struction under this section shall be determined in

9 accordance with subsection (b); and

10 (2) the funds shall remain available until ex11 pended.

12 (h) INAPPLICABILITY OF OBLIGATION LIMITA13 TIONS.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any

14 obligation limitation enacted for any of fiscal years 1998

15 through 2003 shall not apply to obligations authorized

16 under this section.

17 (i) OTHER STATE FUNDS.—Funds made available to

18 a State under this section shall not be considered in deter19 mining the apportionments and allocations that any State

20 shall be entitled to receive, under title 23, United States

21 Code, and other law, of amounts in the Highway Trust

22 Fund.

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