II 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3485 

To amend title 23, United States Code, to improve highway mobility in 

rural States for the benefit of all States. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 15, 2010 

Mr. BARRASSO (for himself, Mr. CONRAD, Mr. CRAPO, Mr. RISCH, Mr. JOHNSON, Mr. THUNE, Ms. MURKOWSKI, Mr. BEGICH, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. 

TESTER, Mr. DORGAN, Mr. ENZI, and Mrs. SHAHEEN) 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 

mobility in rural States for the benefit of all States. 

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 ‘‘Rural Mobility and 

5 Access for America Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 

8 (1) Federal-aid highways in rural States— 


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1 (A) serve as a connection for truck and 

2 personal traffic between other States and be3 tween major metropolitan areas, advancing 

4 interstate commerce and mobility and benefit5 ting individuals in major metropolitan areas; 

6 (B) enable agricultural exports and serve 

7 the ethanol production and energy extraction 

8 industries of the United States, which are lo9 cated largely in rural areas; 

10 (C) are a lifeline for remotely located and 

11 economically challenged citizens, such as those 

12 living on Indian reservations; 

13 (D) enable people and business to traverse 

14 the large tracts of sparsely populated land that 

15 are a major characteristic of many rural States; 

16 and 

17 (E) provide access to scenic wonders and 

18 facilitate tourism; 

19 (2) Federal investment in highways in rural 

20 States enables enhanced investment to address safe21 ty needs on rural routes; and 

22 (3) rural States with low population density and 

23 extensive highway networks have fewer individuals to 

24 support each lane mile of Federal-aid highway than 

25 an average State. 


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1 SEC. 3. RURAL MOBILITY AND ACCESS FOR AMERICA PRO2 GRAM. 

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

4 23, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end 

5 the following: 

6 ‘‘§ 167. Rural Mobility and Access for America pro7 gram 

8 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION OF RURAL STATE.—In this section, 

9 the term ‘rural State’ means any of the 50 States that— 

10 ‘‘(1) has a population density of 45 or fewer in11 dividuals per square mile of land area; or 

12 ‘‘(2) does not include, within the borders of the 

13 State, a plurality of the population of a metropolitan 

14 planning area served by a metropolitan planning or15 ganization under section 134 that encompasses, in 

16 whole or part, an urbanized area with a population 

17 of more than 500,000 individuals. 

18 ‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall estab19 lish and implement a program to benefit the surface trans20 portation system in the United States by allocating funds 

21 to rural States. 

22 ‘‘(c) STATE ALLOCATIONS.— 

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Funds authorized to be ap24 propriated for the program established under sub25 section (b) shall be allocated for each fiscal year 

26 among rural States equally. 


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1 ‘‘(2) USE OF DECENNIAL CENSUS DATA.—In 

2 determining the population density of States or the 

3 population of urbanized areas for the purpose of this 

4 section, the Secretary shall use data contained in the 

5 latest decennial census. 

6 ‘‘(d) USE OF FUNDS.—Funds allocated to a State for 

7 the program established under subsection (b)— 

8 ‘‘(1) may be used for any type of project eligi9 ble under section 133(b); and 

10 ‘‘(2) are not subject to other provisions of sec11 tion 133. 

12 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be 

14 appropriated to carry out this section from the 

15 Highway Trust Fund (other than the Mass Transit 

16 Account), for fiscal year 2010 and each fiscal year 

17 thereafter, the amount determined under paragraph 

18 (2), which shall— 

19 ‘‘(A) be used to carry out the program 

20 under this section; 

21 ‘‘(B) remain available until expended; 

22 ‘‘(C) be available for obligation as if the 

23 funds were apportioned under this chapter; and 

24 ‘‘(D) not be subject to any limitation on 

25 obligations. 


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1 ‘‘(2) AMOUNT.—The amount referred to in 

paragraph (1) is, for a fiscal year, 331 2 ⁄3 percent of 

3 the amount of funds for that fiscal year authorized 

4 to be allocated to those metropolitan planning orga5 nizations that serve a metropolitan planning area 

6 that encompasses, in whole or part, an urbanized 

7 area with a population of more than 500,000 indi8 viduals.’’. 

9 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The analysis for 

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

11 adding at the end of the items relating to subchapter I 

12 the following: 

‘‘167. Rural Mobility and Access for America program.’’. 

Æ 


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