II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 309 

To amend title 23, United States Code, to improve highway transportation 

in the United States, including rural and metropolitan areas. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 22, 2009 

Mr. BAUCUS (for himself, Mr. TESTER, Mr. THUNE, Mr. CRAPO, and Mr. 

CONRAD) 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 improve highway 

transportation in the United States, including rural and 

metropolitan areas. 

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 ‘‘Nationwide Freight 

5 and Personal Mobility Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 

8 (1) the safe and efficient movement of individ9 uals and freight in interstate commerce, including 


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1 the movement of individuals and freight on highways 

2 over long distances, is essential to the economic 

3 growth and prosperity of the United States, includ4 ing both rural and metropolitan areas; 

5 (2) the highway movement of freight will be, for 

6 the foreseeable future, on roads that serve both 

7 freight and passenger traffic, requiring effective and 

8 unified planning and funding for the preservation 

9 and improvement of highways in the interest of ef10 fective transportation of both individuals and freight 

11 in rural and metropolitan areas; 

12 (3) it is essential and appropriate that Federal 

13 programs to preserve and improve highway transpor14 tation infrastructure ensure consideration of the 

15 needs of freight as part of an overall, unified, and 

16 multimodal approach to meeting the national inter17 est in the safe and efficient transportation of both 

18 individuals and freight; 

19 (4) vehicle miles traveled on the National High20 way System, including the Interstate System, rep21 resent nearly 45 percent of all vehicle miles traveled 

22 in the United States, even as National Highway Sys23 tem routes comprise only 4 percent of public road 

24 mileage in the United States; and 


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1 (5) a well-preserved and improved system of 

2 National Highway System routes, including Inter3 state System routes, is essential to the effective 

4 movement of individuals and freight in the United 

5 States in both rural and metropolitan areas. 

6 SEC. 3. GUARANTEED FUNDING FOR NATIONAL HIGHWAY 

7 SYSTEM. 

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

9 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol10 lowing: 

11 ‘‘§ 167. Guaranteed funding for National Highway 

12 System 

13 ‘‘(a) APPLICABILITY.—This section applies to author14 izations of appropriations from the Highway Trust Fund 

15 (other than the Mass Transit Account) for fiscal year 

16 2010 and each fiscal year thereafter. 

17 ‘‘(b) DETERMINATION OF APPORTIONMENTS.—For 

18 each fiscal year, the Secretary shall determine the total 

19 amounts apportioned among the States pursuant to au20 thorizations of appropriations from the Highway Trust 

21 Fund (other than the Mass Transit Account), other than 

22 authorizations of appropriations pursuant to— 

23 ‘‘(1) this section; 

24 ‘‘(2) section 105; and 


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1 ‘‘(3) other provisions of this title administered 

2 by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administra3 tion or the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Adminis4 tration. 

5 ‘‘(c) ADDITIONAL AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA6 TIONS.— 

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If the total amount of ap8 portionments for a fiscal year for the Interstate 

9 maintenance program under section 119 and the 

10 National Highway System program under section 

11 103, exclusive of apportionments pursuant to au12 thorizations of appropriations under this section, 

13 equals less than 45 percent of the total amount ap14 portioned for the fiscal year as determined under 

15 subsection (b), an additional amount determined 

16 pursuant to paragraph (2) is authorized to be appro17 priated from the Highway Trust Fund (other than 

18 the Mass Transit Account) for the fiscal year for the 

19 National Highway System program under section 

20 103. 

21 ‘‘(2) AMOUNT.—The amount of the additional 

22 authorization of appropriations described in para23 graph (1) for a fiscal year for the National Highway 

24 System program under section 103 shall be deter25 mined by the Secretary— 


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1 ‘‘(A) by subtracting from the total amount 

2 described by subsection (b) the amounts in3 cluded in that total for apportionments for the 

4 National Highway System program under sec5 tion 103 and the Interstate maintenance pro6 gram under section 119 for the fiscal year; 

7 ‘‘(B) by dividing the difference calculated 

8 under subparagraph (A) by 0.55; 

9 ‘‘(C) by multiplying the quotient calculated 

10 under subparagraph (B) by 0.45; and 

11 ‘‘(D) by subtracting from the product cal12 culated under subparagraph (C) the amount in13 cluded in subsection (b) for apportionments for 

14 the National Highway System program under 

15 section 103 and the Interstate maintenance 

16 program under section 119 for the fiscal year.’’. 

17 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The analysis for 

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

19 inserting at the end of the items relating to subchapter 

20 I the following: 

‘‘167. Guaranteed funding for National Highway System.’’. 

21 SEC. 4. FEDERAL SHARE. 

22 Section 120(b) of title 23, United States Code, is 

23 amended by striking ‘‘80 percent of the cost thereof’’ each 

24 place it appears and inserting ‘‘80 percent of the cost of 

25 the project (if the project is not on the National Highway 


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1 System), or 85 percent of the cost of the project (if the 

2 project is on the National Highway System and not on 

3 the Interstate System)’’. 

Æ 


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