II 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3319 

To amend title 23, United States Code, to require corrosion mitigation and 

prevention plans for bridges receiving Federal funding, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 23, 2008 

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

to the Committee on Environment and Public Works 

A BILL 

To amend title 23, United States Code, to require corrosion 

mitigation and prevention plans for bridges receiving 

Federal funding, 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 ‘‘Bridge Life Extension 

5 Act of 2008’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 

8 (1) corrosion of highway bridges costs the 

9 United States economy $8,300,000,000 each year, 

10 according to the Federal Highway Administration 


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1 report numbered FHWA–RD–01–157 that was sub2 mitted to Congress in 2002; 

3 (2) the ongoing cost of corrosion on United 

4 States highway bridges represents a needless waste 

5 of taxpayer dollars; 

(3) 1 6 ⁄3 of the ongoing cost of corrosion on 

7 United States highway bridges would be saved if ex8 isting, fully-developed corrosion prevention tech9 nologies were applied to bridge decks and bridge 

10 deck substructures; 

11 (4) the application of corrosion technologies to 

12 United States highway bridges is necessary, but cur13 rently underused; and 

14 (5) the application of corrosion prevention 

15 strategies should be required in the design and reha16 bilitation of bridge structures that use Federal fund17 ing and the development of new corrosion prevention 

18 technologies should be encouraged. 

19 SEC. 3. CORROSION MITIGATION AND PREVENTION PLANS 

20 FOR BRIDGES RECEIVING FEDERAL FUND21 ING. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 1 of title 23, United 

23 States Code, is amended by inserting after section 149 the 

24 following: 


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1 ‘‘§ 150. Corrosion mitigation and prevention plans 

2 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION OF CORROSION EXPERT.—In this 

3 section, the term ‘corrosion expert’ means an individual 

4 who is— 

5 ‘‘(1) accredited or certified as being qualified by 

6 an international technical society dedicated to the 

7 mitigation and prevention of corrosion; or 

8 ‘‘(2) a registered professional engineer who has 

9 certification or licensing that includes education and 

10 experience in corrosion prevention and control of 

11 bridges. 

12 ‘‘(b) SUBMISSION OF PLANS.—The Secretary may 

13 approve Federal assistance for a project for construction 

14 of a bridge using amounts apportioned under section 

15 104(b)(1) or 104(b)(3) or a project for replacement or re16 habilitation of a bridge under section 144 only if— 

17 ‘‘(1) the 1 or more States applying for the as18 sistance develop and submit to the Secretary a cor19 rosion mitigation and prevention plan for the bridge; 

20 and 

21 ‘‘(2) the Secretary approves the plan. 

22 ‘‘(c) PLAN REQUIREMENTS.—The Secretary may ap23 prove a corrosion mitigation and prevention plan for a 

24 bridge submitted under subsection (b) only if the plan con25 tains, at a minimum, the following: 


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1 ‘‘(1) An estimate of the expected useful life of 

2 the bridge. 

3 ‘‘(2) An estimate of the environmental exposure 

4 of the bridge, including marine, industrial, and rural 

5 exposure or location, deicer application, rainfall, 

6 temperature, freeze-thaw, and other factors that in7 fluence corrosion prevention and corrosion mitiga8 tion strategies. 

9 ‘‘(3) An identification of the functional classi10 fication of the bridge. 

11 ‘‘(4) Details of corrosion mitigation and preven12 tion methods that will be used with respect to the 

13 bridge, taking into account— 

14 ‘‘(A) material selection; 

15 ‘‘(B) coating considerations; 

16 ‘‘(C) cathodic protection considerations; 

17 ‘‘(D) design considerations for corrosion; 

18 and 

19 ‘‘(E) concrete requirements. 

20 ‘‘(5) Details of a project maintenance program 

21 for the life of the bridge. 

22 ‘‘(6) A certification that the plan was developed 

23 by the 1 or more States submitting the plan and ap24 proved by a corrosion expert. 


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1 ‘‘(7) A certification that each individual con2 ducting inspections of Federal-aid highway bridges 

3 in each State submitting the plan receives training 

4 from a corrosion expert. 

5 ‘‘(d) APPROVAL AND DISAPPROVAL.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall ap7 prove or disapprove each corrosion mitigation and 

8 prevention plan submitted under subsection (b). 

9 ‘‘(2) ACTION UPON DISAPPROVAL.—If the Sec10 retary disapproves a plan, the Secretary shall— 

11 ‘‘(A) inform each State that submitted the 

12 plan of the reasons for the disapproval; and 

13 ‘‘(B) permit each of those States to resub14 mit the plan with such modifications as the 

15 Secretary determines to be necessary. 

16 ‘‘(e) MODIFICATIONS FOLLOWING PLAN AP17 PROVAL.—The 1 or more States submitting a corrosion 

18 mitigation and prevention plan approved under subsection 

19 (d) may modify the plan to incorporate newly developed 

20 corrosion prevention techniques, methods, applications, 

21 and best practices if the 1 or more States provide advance 

22 written notice of the modification to the Secretary. 

23 ‘‘(f) APPLICABILITY.— 

24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—This section shall take ef25 fect beginning on the first day of the second fiscal 


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1 year beginning after the date of enactment of this 

2 section. 

3 ‘‘(2) WAIVERS.—Notwithstanding paragraph 

4 (1), the Secretary may waive the application of re5 quirements of this section with respect to a bridge 

6 for the 180-day period beginning on the first day re7 ferred to in paragraph (1) if— 

8 ‘‘(A) a corrosion mitigation and prevention 

9 plan has been submitted for the bridge before 

10 that first day; and 

11 ‘‘(B) the Secretary determines that such a 

12 waiver is appropriate. 

13 ‘‘(g) FUNDING.—Funds made available to a State 

14 under sections 104(b)(1), 104(b)(3), and 144 may be used 

15 by the State for activities to comply with this section.’’. 

16 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The analysis for chap17 ter 1 of title 23, United States Code, is amended by insert18 ing after the item relating to section 149 the following: 

‘‘150. Corrosion mitigation and prevention plans.’’. 

Æ 


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