I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1299 
To permit the Secretary of Transportation to approve Federal participation 
in the replacement or rehabilitation of certain bridges, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 24, 2021 
Mr. HIGGINS of Louisiana (for himself and Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI) introduced 
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation 
and Infrastructure 
A BILL 
To permit the Secretary of Transportation to approve Fed-
eral participation in the replacement or rehabilitation 
of certain bridges, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fixing America’s 
Bridges Act’’. 
SEC. 2. HIGHWAY BRIDGE REPLACEMENT AND REHABILI-
TATION PROGRAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 144 of title 23, United 
States Code, is amended— 
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(1) in the section heading by striking ‘‘Na-
tional bridge and tunnel inventory and 
inspection standards’’ and inserting ‘‘High-
way bridge replacement and rehabilita-
tion’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(l) HIGHWAY BRIDGE REPLACEMENT AND REHA-
BILITATION PROGRAM.— 
‘‘(1) PARTICIPATION.—On application by a 
State or States to the Secretary for assistance for 
one or more highway bridges that have been deter-
mined to be eligible for replacement or rehabilitation 
under subsection (b), the Secretary may approve 
Federal participation in— 
‘‘(A) replacing a bridge with a comparable 
facility; or 
‘‘(B) rehabilitating a bridge. 
‘‘(2) TYPES
OF
ASSISTANCE.—On application 
by a State or States to the Secretary, the Secretary 
may approve Federal assistance for any of the fol-
lowing activities for a highway bridge that has been 
determined to be eligible for replacement or rehabili-
tation under subsection (b): 
‘‘(A) Painting. 
‘‘(B) Seismic retrofit. 
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‘‘(C) Systematic preventive maintenance. 
‘‘(D) Installation of scour countermea-
sures. 
‘‘(E) Application of calcium magnesium ac-
etate, sodium acetate/formate, or other environ-
mentally acceptable, minimally corrosive anti- 
icing and de-icing compositions. 
‘‘(3) BASIS
FOR
DETERMINATION.—The Sec-
retary shall determine the eligibility of highway 
bridges for replacement or rehabilitation for each 
State based on highway bridges found to be in poor 
condition in the State. 
‘‘(4) SPECIAL RULE FOR PREVENTIVE MAINTE-
NANCE.—Notwithstanding any other provision of 
this subsection, a State may carry out a project 
under paragraph (2)(B), (2)(C), or (2)(D) for a 
highway bridge without regard to whether the bridge 
is eligible for replacement or rehabilitation under 
this section. 
‘‘(5) APPORTIONMENT.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Funds authorized to 
carry out this section shall be apportioned 
among the several States on October 1 of the 
fiscal year for which authorized in accordance 
with this subsection. 
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‘‘(B) CATEGORIES OF DEFICIENCY.—Each 
deficient bridge shall be placed into one of the 
following categories: 
‘‘(i) Federal-aid system bridges eligi-
ble for replacement. 
‘‘(ii) Federal-aid system bridges eligi-
ble for rehabilitation. 
‘‘(iii) Off-system bridges eligible for 
replacement. 
‘‘(iv) Off-system bridges eligible for 
rehabilitation. 
‘‘(C) 
CALCULATION
OF
APPORTION-
MENT.— 
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The deck area of 
deficient bridges in each category shall be 
multiplied by the respective unit price on a 
State-by-State basis, as determined by the 
Secretary, and the total cost in each State 
divided by the total cost of the deficient 
bridges in all States shall determine the 
apportionment factors. 
‘‘(ii) 
DETERMINATIONS.—The 
Sec-
retary shall make determinations under 
clause (i) using the latest available data, 
which shall be updated annually. 
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‘‘(D) SPECIAL
RULE
FOR
APPORTION-
MENT.—If a State transfers funds apportioned 
to the State under this section in a fiscal year 
beginning after September 30, 2019, to any 
other apportionment of funds to such State 
under this title, the total cost of deficient 
bridges in such State and in all States to be de-
termined for the succeeding fiscal year shall be 
reduced by the amount of such transferred 
funds. 
‘‘(E) LIMITATION OF APPORTIONMENT.— 
No State shall receive more than 10 percent or 
less than 0.25 percent of the total apportion-
ment for any one fiscal year. 
‘‘(F) AVAILABILITY
OF
FUNDS.—Funds 
apportioned under this section shall be available 
for expenditure for the period specified in sec-
tion 118(b). 
‘‘(G) REAPPORTIONMENT OF FUNDS.—Any 
funds not obligated at the expiration of the pe-
riod described in subparagraph (F) shall be re-
apportioned by the Secretary to the other 
States in accordance with this subsection. 
‘‘(H) 
SPECIAL
RULE
FOR
USE
OF 
FUNDS.—The use of funds authorized under 
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