I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3461 

To amend title 23, United States Code, to provide grants and technical 

assistance to restore orphan highways. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 31, 2009 

Mr. BLUMENAUER (for himself, Mr. MORAN of Kansas, Mr. ISRAEL, and Mr. 

HEINRICH) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To amend title 23, United States Code, to provide grants 

and technical assistance to restore orphan highways. 

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 ‘‘Orphan Highway Res5 toration Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. NATIONAL ORPHAN HIGHWAYS PROGRAM. 

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

8 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol9 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘§ 167. National orphan highways program 

2 ‘‘(a) GRANTS AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.— 

3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall make 

4 grants and provide technical assistance to States 

5 and units of local government to— 

6 ‘‘(A) perform preventive maintenance on or 

7 carry out projects for resurfacing, restoration, 

8 reconstruction, and rehabilitation of an orphan 

9 highway; and 

10 ‘‘(B) rehabilitate, repair, or construct side11 walks, medians, bike lanes, traffic-calming de12 vices, signaling, or signs to enhance community 

13 livability on or adjacent to an orphan highway. 

14 ‘‘(2) PRIORITY.—In making grants under this 

15 section, the Secretary shall give priority to projects 

16 that— 

17 ‘‘(A) include rehabilitation measures that 

18 focus on pedestrian safety; 

19 ‘‘(B) are coordinated with State and local 

20 adopted preservation or development plans; 

21 ‘‘(C) promote cost-effective and strategic 

22 investments in transportation infrastructure fa23 cilities that minimize adverse impacts on the 

24 environment; 

25 ‘‘(D) promote innovative private sector 

26 strategies; 


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1 ‘‘(E) foster public-private partnerships; 

2 ‘‘(F) include a higher percentage of State 

3 or locally matched funds; 

4 ‘‘(G) have zoning designations that support 

5 more intensive, mixed-use development along 

6 part or all of the route; or 

7 ‘‘(H) upon completion, will result in the 

8 transfer of ongoing management and adminis9 trative responsibilities from the State to the 

10 local jurisdiction. 

11 ‘‘(3) DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS.—The Secretary 

12 shall allocate funds made available for this section 

13 for fiscal years 2010 through 2015 among the grant 

14 recipients, using the latest available census data, as 

15 follows: 

16 ‘‘(A) Not less than 20 percent of the funds 

17 shall used for making grants to units of local 

18 government with a population between 50,000 

19 and 250,000 residents. 

20 ‘‘(B) Not less than 50 percent of the funds 

21 shall be used for making grants to units of local 

22 government with a population of less than 

23 50,000. 

24 ‘‘(b) SAVINGS CLAUSE.—The Secretary shall not 

25 withhold any grant or impose any requirement on a grant 


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1 recipient as a condition of providing a grant or technical 

2 assistance for any orphan highway unless the requirement 

3 is consistent with the authority provided in this chapter. 

4 ‘‘(c) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share of the 

5 cost of carrying out a project under this section shall be 

6 determined in accordance with section 120, except that, 

7 in the case of an orphan highway that provides access to 

8 or within Federal or Indian land, the head of a Federal 

9 land management agency may use funds authorized for 

10 such agency for the non-Federal share. 

11 ‘‘(d) ADMINISTRATIVE OVERSIGHT.—A grant recipi12 ent may use not more than 2 percent of funds received 

13 under this section for administrative costs. 

14 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following 

15 definitions apply: 

16 ‘‘(1) ORPHAN HIGHWAY.—The term ‘orphan 

17 highway’ means a highway that— 

18 ‘‘(A) is or was formerly a United States 

19 numbered highway; 

20 ‘‘(B) is located within the boundaries of a 

21 unit of local government; 

22 ‘‘(C) is no longer a principal route for traf23 fic passing through the State after construction 

24 of a bypass or Interstate System route; 


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1 ‘‘(D) currently functions as a county, par2 ish, or city arterial or collector route, or pro3 vides access to or within Federal or tribal lands; 

4 and 

5 ‘‘(E) because of decreased importance to 

6 statewide transportation, has received only rou7 tine maintenance but needs significant resur8 facing, restoration, reconstruction, or rehabilita9 tion. 

10 ‘‘(2) UNIT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT.—The term 

11 ‘unit of local government’ means— 

12 ‘‘(A) any city, county, township, town, bor13 ough, parish, village, or other general purpose 

14 political subdivision of a State; 

15 ‘‘(B) any law enforcement district or judi16 cial enforcement district that— 

17 ‘‘(i) is established under applicable 

18 State law; and 

19 ‘‘(ii) has the authority to, in a manner 

20 independent of other State entities, estab21 lish a budget and impose taxes; 

22 ‘‘(C) an Indian tribe, as that term is de23 fined in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determina24 tion and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 

25 450b); or 


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1 ‘‘(D) for the purposes of assistance eligi2 bility, any agency of the government of the Dis3 trict of Columbia or the Federal Government 

4 that performs law enforcement functions in and 

5 for— 

6 ‘‘(i) the District of Columbia; or 

7 ‘‘(ii) any Trust Territory of the 

8 United States. 

9 ‘‘(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

10 is authorized to be appropriated out of the Highway Trust 

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

12 this section $600,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2010 

13 through 2015.’’. 

14 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The analysis for 

15 such chapter is amended by adding at the end the fol16 lowing: 

‘‘167. National orphan highways program.’’. 

Æ 


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