I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3611
To amend title 23, United States Code, to allocate transportation funds 
to metropolitan areas and increase planning funds to relieve metropolitan 
congestion, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 21, 2003
Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 
A BILL 
To amend title 23, United States Code, to allocate transpor-
tation funds to metropolitan areas and increase planning 
funds to relieve metropolitan congestion, 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 ‘‘Metropolitan Conges-
tion Relief Act of 2003’’. 
SEC. 2. SURFACE TRANSPORTATION PROGRAM. 
(a) DIVISION
OF FUNDS BETWEEN URBANIZED 
AREAS
OF OVER 200,000 POPULATION
AND OTHER
AREAS.—Section 133(d)(3)(A) of title 23, United States 
Code, is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘62.5 percent of’’; and 
(2) by striking ‘‘The remaining 37.5 percent 
may be obligated in any area of the State.’’. 
(b) OBLIGATION AUTHORITY.—Section 133(f)(1) of 
such title is amended by striking ‘‘the period of fiscal 
years 1998’’ and all that follows through ‘‘2003’’ and in-
serting ‘‘the period of fiscal years 2004 through 2006 and 
the period of fiscal years 2007 through 2009’’. 
SEC. 3. CONGESTION MITIGATION AND AIR QUALITY IM-
PROVEMENT PROGRAM. 
(a) ALLOCATIONS.—Section 149 of title 23, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(f) ALLOCATIONS OF APPORTIONED FUNDS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A State shall allocate the 
amounts apportioned to the State for a fiscal year 
under section 104(b)(2) and the amounts appor-
tioned for the congestion mitigation and air quality 
improvement program under section 110 among 
metropolitan planning organizations and other agen-
cies responsible air quality conformity determina-
tions in federally designated air quality areas in the 
ratio that—
‘‘(A) the total of all weighted nonattain-
ment and maintenance area populations (as de-
termined under section 104(b)(2)) represented 
by the metropolitan planning organization or 
other agency; bears to 
‘‘(B) the total of all weighted nonattain-
ment and maintenance area populations (as de-
termined under section 104(b)(2)) in the State. 
‘‘(2) 
NONAPPLICABILITY
TO
CERTAIN 
AMOUNTS.—Amounts described in subsections (c)(1) 
and (c)(2) that may be used for any project eligible 
under the surface transportation program under sec-
tion 133 shall not be subject to the requirements of 
paragraph (1). 
‘‘(3) AVAILABILITY
OF
AMOUNTS.—A State 
may reallocate amounts allocated under this sub-
section as necessary to prevent lapses of funds under 
section 118. 
‘‘(4) OBLIGATION AUTHORITY.—A State shall 
make available available to a metropolitan planning 
organization or other agency to which amounts are 
allocated for a fiscal year under this section an 
amount of obligation authority distributed to the 
State for Federal-aid highways and highway safety 
construction programs for use in the area rep-
resented by the metropolitan planning organization 
or other agency that is equal to the amount obtained 
by multiplying—
‘‘(A) the aggregate amount of funds that 
the State is required to obligate in the area 
under this subsection; and 
‘‘(B) the ratio that—
‘‘(i) the aggregate amount of obliga-
tion authority distributed to the State for 
Federal-aid highways and highway safety 
construction programs for the fiscal year; 
bears to 
‘‘(ii) the total of the sums apportioned 
to the State for Federal-aid highways and 
highway safety construction programs for 
the fiscal year. 
‘‘(5) JOINT
RESPONSIBILITY.—Each State, 
each affected metropolitan planning organization or 
other agency, and the Secretary shall jointly ensure 
compliance with paragraph (4).’’. 
SEC. 4. NATIONAL HIGHWAY SYSTEM. 
(a) SELECTION OF PROJECTS.—Section 103(a)(6) of 
title 23, United States Code, is amended by inserting ‘‘the 
project selection requirements of section 134(i)(4)(B) 
and’’ after ‘‘Subject to’’.
(b) ALLOCATION.—Section 103(b) of such title is 
amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(7) ALLOCATION
TO
URBANIZED
AREAS
OF 
OVER 200,000 POPULATION.—The funds apportioned 
to a State under section 104(b)(1) for a fiscal year 
shall be allocated between urbanized areas with a 
population of over 200,000 in the State and other 
areas in the State—
‘‘(A) 75 percent in the ratio that—
‘‘(i) the total lane miles on the Na-
tional Highway System in such urbanized 
areas in the State; bears to 
‘‘(ii) the total lane miles on the Na-
tional Highway System in all areas in the 
State; and 
‘‘(B) 25 percent in the ratio that—
‘‘(i) the total vehicle miles traveled on 
the National Highway System in such ur-
banized areas in the State; bears to 
‘‘(ii) the total vehicle miles traveled on 
the National Highway System in all areas 
in the State.’’.
SEC. 5. MINIMUM GUARANTEE. 
Section 105(c)(2) of title 23, United States Code, is 
amended by striking ‘‘paragraphs (1), (2), and (3)’’ and 
inserting ‘‘paragraphs (1) and (2)’’. 
SEC. 6. METROPOLITAN CONGESTION RELIEF PROGRAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter I of chapter I of title 
23, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end 
the following: 
‘‘§ 165. Metropolitan congestion relief program 
‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall estab-
lish a metropolitan congestion relief program in accord-
ance with this section. 
‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE PROJECTS.—A project shall be eligi-
ble for assistance under this section if the project is eligi-
ble for assistance under the surface transportation pro-
gram established by section 133 and the project is devel-
oped in accordance with the planning requirements of sub-
section (c). 
‘‘(c) PLANNING.—Programming and expenditure of 
funds for projects under this section shall be consistent 
with the requirements of sections 134 and 135. In addi-
tion, with respect to each project carried out under this 
section, the appropriate metropolitan planning organiza-
tion shall demonstrate, as part of its congestion manage-
ment system if applicable, that the project will improve 
congestion in its region.
‘‘(d) APPORTIONMENT.—
‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE
URBANIZED
AREAS.—Amounts 
made available to carry out this section for a fiscal 
year shall be apportioned directly to a metropolitan 
planning organization designated for—
‘‘(A) an urbanized area that has a travel 
time index of 1.2 or more; and 
‘‘(B) an urbanized area with a population 
of more than 1,000,000 that otherwise would 
not be eligible under subparagraph (A). 
‘‘(2) FORMULA.—Amounts made available to 
carry out this section for a fiscal year shall be ap-
portioned among eligible urbanized areas under 
paragraph (1) as follows: 
‘‘(A) 50 percent in the ratio that—
‘‘(i) the travel time index of the eligi-
ble urbanized area; bears to 
‘‘(ii) the travel time index of all eligi-
ble urbanized areas. 
‘‘(B) 50 percent in the ratio that—
‘‘(i) the passenger miles traveled in 
the eligible urbanized area; bears to 
‘‘(ii) the passenger miles traveled in 
all eligible urbanized areas.
‘‘(3) DETERMINATIONS.—Eligibility and appor-
tionment determinations under this subsection shall 
be made by the Secretary based on data from the 
most recent year for which data is available. 
‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
is authorized to be appropriated out of the Highway Trust 
Fund (other than the Mass Transit Account) to carry out 
this section $2,000,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2004 
through 2009. 
‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following 
definitions apply: 
‘‘(1) TRAVEL TIME INDEX.—The term ‘travel 
time index’ means the travel time index developed by 
the Texas Transportation Institute and included in 
the performance plan of the Federal Highway Ad-
ministration. 
‘‘(2) PASSENGER MILES TRAVELED.—The term 
‘passenger miles traveled’ includes daily vehicle miles 
traveled and daily transit ridership as measured by 
Secretary.’’. 
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The analysis for 
chapter 1 of title 23, United States Code, is amended by 
inserting after the item relating section 164 the following:
‘‘165. Metropolitan congestion relief program.’’.
SEC. 7. TRANSPORTATION OPERATIONAL IMPROVEMENT 
PROGRAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter I of chapter 1 of title 
23, United States Code, is further amended by adding at 
the end the following: 
‘‘§ 166. Operational improvement program 
‘‘(a) GENERAL AUTHORITY.—The Secretary shall es-
tablish and implement an operational improvement pro-
gram under which the Secretary shall make grants to 
States, metropolitan planning organizations, and local 
governments for projects to improve the operation of the 
Nation’s roadways. 
‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE USES.—Grants to States, metropoli-
tan planning organizations, and local governments under 
this section may be used for the following purposes: 
‘‘(1) Incident management projects, including 
the following: 
‘‘(A) Development of a regionwide coordi-
nated plan to mitigate delays due to accidents 
and breakdowns. 
‘‘(B) Purchase or lease of telecommuni-
cations equipment for first responders. 
‘‘(C) Purchase or lease of towing and re-
covery equipment. 
‘‘(D) Payments to contractors for towing 
and recovery services.
‘‘(E) Rental of vehicle storage areas imme-
diately adjacent to roadways. 
‘‘(F) Service patrols. 
‘‘(G) Enhanced hazard materials incident 
response capacity. 
‘‘(H) Incident detection equipment. 
‘‘(I) Training. 
‘‘(2) Deployment of intelligent transportation 
systems technology, including the deployment of the 
national 511 traveler information telephone number. 
‘‘(3) Transportation demand management tech-
niques, including the following: 
‘‘(A) Commuter benefit programs. 
‘‘(B) Parking management programs. 
‘‘(C) Carpool and vanpool projects. 
‘‘(D) 
Geographic 
Information 
System 
based ride matching operations. 
‘‘(E) Employer based, real-time traveler in-
formation programs. 
‘‘(F) Telework programs. 
‘‘(G) Bicycle and pedestrian programs. 
‘‘(H) Access to transit investments. 
‘‘(I) Design and implementation of com-
muter-friendly facilities.
‘‘(J) Employer and employment-site based 
transit shuttle planning and operation. 
‘‘(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
is authorized to be appropriated out of the Highway Trust 
Fund (other than the Mass Transit Account) to carry out 
this section $500,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2004 
through 2009. 
‘‘(d) APPLICABILITY OF NHS REQUIREMENTS.—All 
provisions of this chapter that are applicable to National 
Highway System funds, other than provisions relating to 
the apportionment formula and provisions limiting the ex-
penditures of such funds to Federal-aid systems, shall 
apply to funds authorized to be appropriated to carry out 
this section, except as determined by the Secretary to be 
inconsistent with this section and except that sums au-
thorized by this section shall remain available until ex-
pended.’’. 
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The analysis for 
chapter 1 of title 23, United States Code, is amended by 
inserting after the item relating section 165 the following:
‘‘166. Incident management program.’’.
SEC. 8. METROPOLITAN PLANNING FUNDS. 
Section 104(f)(1) of title 23, United States Code, is 
amended by striking by striking ‘‘1 percent’’ and inserting 
‘‘2 percent’’.
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