IV 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 848 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress should 
support repairing and rehabilitating United States national transpor-
tation infrastructure, including bridges not located on a Federal-aid 
highway. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 20, 2009 
Mr. GRAVES (for himself, Mr. LUETKEMEYER, Mr. CLEAVER, Mrs. EMERSON, 
Mr. SCHOCK, and Mr. BLUNT) submitted the following resolution; which 
was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 
Congress should support repairing and rehabilitating 
United States national transportation infrastructure, in-
cluding bridges not located on a Federal-aid highway. 
Whereas 
the 
Highway 
Bridge 
Program 
(HBP) 
in 
SAFETEA–LU [Public Law 109–59] requires States to 
expend at a minimum 15 percent of their annual appor-
tioned amount on bridges not located on a Federal-aid 
highway (off-system); 
Whereas off-system bridges are public bridges owned and 
maintained by local governments and in many parts of 
the United States they are often times the sole transpor-
tation route for school buses, emergency responders, 
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•HRES 848 IH 
farmers, veterans, senior citizens, small businesses, fami-
lies, and the traveling public; 
Whereas off-system bridges support our Nation’s food and 
energy supply by providing a vital link for commodities 
such as corn, soybeans, livestock, ethanol, and coal; 
Whereas in 2008, the U.S. Department of Transportation es-
timated there was more than 285,000 off-system bridges 
nationwide of which more than 33,000 were functionally 
obsolete and 46,000 were structurally deficient; 
Whereas in a single State, using Missouri as an example, 
there are more than 13,000 off-system bridges of which 
more than 1,700 are functionally obsolete and 2,500 are 
structurally deficient; 
Whereas according to the Federal Highway Administration 
(FHWA), functionally obsolete bridges are unable to 
properly accommodate traffic due to poor roadway align-
ment, insufficient width, waterway problems, low struc-
tural evaluation, or inadequate clearances; 
Whereas according to the FHWA, structurally deficient 
bridges are in relatively poor condition or have poor load- 
carrying capacity for modern design loadings; 
Whereas the off-system bridge program efficiently repairs and 
maintains functionally obsolete and structurally deficient 
bridges not located on a Federal-aid highway; and 
Whereas according to a Government Accountability Office re-
port on the HBP released in September 2008, ‘‘Improve-
ments were most notable in bridges owned by local agen-
cies on rural routes, which may be attributable to the 
Federal bridge program requirement—under HBP and 
some of its predecessor programs—that states spend a 
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minimum amount of their apportionment on non-Federal- 
aid highway bridges.’’: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) understands the importance of off-system 
bridges to communities across the United States; 
(2) recognizes that continued Federal invest-
ment is necessary to repair and rehabilitate off-sys-
tem bridges to provide safe bridge access for all 
users; and 
(3) supports program eligibility and a specific 
funding stream for off-system bridges in the High-
way Bridge Program or a Federal highway critical 
asset investment program. 
Æ 
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