The Emergency Relief Program, authorized by section 125 of title 23 of the U.S. Code, provides assistance to repair or reconstruct federal-aid highways and roads on federal lands that have sustained serious damage from natural disasters or catastrophic failures. Congress has provided funds for this purpose since at least 1938. Examples of natural disasters include floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, tsunamis, severe storms, and landslides. Catastrophic failures qualify if they result from an external cause that leads to the sudden and complete failure of a major element or segment of the highway system that has a disastrous impact on transportation. Examples of qualifying causes of catastrophic failures include acts of terrorism or incidents such as a barge striking a bridge pier causing the sudden collapse of the structure or a truck crash resulting in a fire that damages the roadway. For natural disasters or other events to be eligible for emergency relief funding, the President must declare the event to be an “emergency” or a “major disaster” under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act or the governor must declare an emergency with the concurrence of the Secretary of Transportation. Since 1972, Congress has authorized $100 million annually in contract authority for the Emergency Relief Program to be paid from the Highway Trust Fund. Accordingly, FHWA may obligate up to $100 million in any one fiscal year for the program. Any unobligated balance remains available until expended. Additionally, obligations to a single state resulting from a single natural disaster or a single catastrophic failure may not exceed $100 million. In some cases, Congress has enacted legislation lifting this cap for large- scale disasters. Moreover, as provided in FHWA’s regulations, states are eligible for assistance under the Emergency Relief Program if the cost of the damage from a single event exceeds $700,000 for emergency assistance.sites in any state affected by the disaster. According to FHWA guidance, each prospective damage site must have at least $5,000 of repair costs to qualify for funding assistance—a threshold intended to distinguish unusually large expenses eligible for emergency relief funding from costs that should be covered by normal state maintenance funding. From fiscal years 2007 through 2010, Congress provided more than $2.3 billion to the Emergency Relief Program, including more than $1.9 billion in three supplemental appropriations from general revenues and about $400 million in contract authority paid from the Highway Trust Fund (see fig. 3). The supplemental appropriations represented 83 percent of the program’s funding over that time period. This percentage has been fairly consistent over time: 86 percent of the total Emergency Relief Program funding provided from fiscal years 1990 through 2006 came from supplemental appropriations. Two of the supplemental appropriations that Congress provided to the Emergency Relief Program since fiscal year 2007 were used to address the backlog of unfunded emergency relief requests from states. In May 2007, Congress provided $871 million to help clear a backlog of $736 million in funding requests from 46 states. In September 2008, when the backlog list reached more than $560 million, Congress provided $850 million to address this backlog and provide additional funds for future requests. In December 2007, Congress provided $195 million for the reconstruction of the Interstate 35 West Bridge in Minnesota. FHWA has allocated all of the $2.3 billion provided to the program since fiscal year 2007, as well as an additional $100 million carried over from previously provided program funding, among 42 states and three territories. Sixty-five percent of the allocations (almost $1.6 billion) went to six states—California, Louisiana, Minnesota, North Dakota, Texas, and Washington state (see fig. 4). California received almost $538 million, the most of all states, and most of this was a result of the 2005–2006 winter storms. Washington state was allocated almost $166 million in response to 10 events ranging from a single event estimated to cost $1 million to about $58 million to respond to flooding caused by severe rains in December 2007. Of the $2.4 billion that FHWA allocated to states from fiscal years 2007 through 2010, about 59 percent ($1.4 billion) was allocated for events that occurred during those years. FHWA allocated the remaining 41 percent ($988 million) for events that occurred from fiscal years 2001 through 2006. This amount includes $195 million made available through the December 2007 supplemental appropriation. the lake. Starting in the early 1990s, the lake level has risen dramatically, threatening adjacent roadways. Although Emergency Relief Program regulations define a natural disaster as a sudden and unusual natural occurrence, FHWA determined that the gradual and predictable basin flooding at Devils Lake is eligible for Emergency Relief Program funding. In 2005, through SAFETEA-LU, Congress authorized up to $10 million of Emergency Relief Program funds to be expended annually, up to a total of $70 million, to address an additional problem at Devils Lake and make repairs to certain roads which were impounding water and acting as dams. In the absence of other authority, this funding must come out of the $100 million annual authorization of contract authority, effectively reducing the annual emergency relief funding available to other states. As of March 2010, the Emergency Relief Program has provided more than $256 million for projects related to Devils Lake flooding. In recent years, Congress has provided significant supplemental funding to the Emergency Relief Program, but as of June 2011, a $485 million backlog of funding requests from states remained. This backlog did not include funding requests for August 2011 damages from Hurricane Irene. The backlog list provides a snapshot of states’ funding requests at a given time and is subject to change as states experience new eligible events. According to guidance in FHWA’s Emergency Relief Manual, requested amounts are based on the states’ anticipated need for emergency relief for the current fiscal year and may be less than the total emergency relief needs for any specific event. The June 2011 backlog list contained almost $90 million in formal funding requests for several events that occurred between 1983 and 1993 that were previously determined to be eligible by FHWA. Specifically, California requested almost $83 million for a single, long-term project in response to a 1983 rockslide, known as Devil’s Slide, and an additional $6.5 million for four other events from fiscal years 1990 through 1993. According to FHWA, these requests are for approved emergency relief events with projects that have had delays due to environmental issues or cost overruns. Once an event has been approved for emergency relief by FHWA, current program rules do not establish a time limit in which states must submit all funding requests for repairs. Although FHWA requires states to submit a list of projects within three months of approving a state’s application for emergency relief, eligibility stemming from an approved event does not lapse, and a state’s list of projects may be amended at any time to add new work. Consequently, FHWA faces the risk of receiving reimbursement requests from states for projects years after an event occurs, including requests for projects that have experienced significant delays and cost increases over time, due to environmental or community concerns. The June 2011 backlog list included project funding requests for two events that occurred more than 10 years ago and which demonstrate FHWA’s risk of escalating long-term costs due to older events. The Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), Pub. L. No. 105-178, § 1217(a), 112 Stat. 107, 214 (1998). review, the tunnel alternative was selected in 2002 and construction of a pair of 4,200-foot-long, 30-foot-wide tunnels began in 2006—23 years after the originating emergency relief event. Construction of the tunnel is ongoing, with a planned completion in March 2013. To date, FHWA has obligated about $555 million in emergency relief funds to the Devil’s Slide tunnel project out of an estimated cost of $631 million. The $631 million total project cost estimate includes the $83 million requested on the June 2011 backlog list—which is for work completed during fiscal year 2011—as well as an additional $120 million to be requested in the future to fully reimburse Caltrans to complete the project. Alaskan Way Viaduct in Seattle, Washington. The June 2011 backlog list also contained a “pending” request of $40.5 million from Washington state in response to a February 2001 earthquake which damaged the Alaskan Way Viaduct—a 2-mile double-deck highway running along Seattle’s waterfront. In the months after the event, FHWA approved $3.6 million for emergency relief repairs to cracks in several piers supporting a section of the viaduct, which were completed by December 2004. At the time of the earthquake, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) had begun considering options for replacing the viaduct, which was approaching the end of its design life. After continued monitoring, WSDOT found that the viaduct had experienced accelerated deterioration as a result of the earthquake and requested $2 billion in emergency relief to replace the viaduct. Congress directed FHWA and state and local agencies to determine the specific damages caused by the earthquake and the amount eligible for emergency relief.response, FHWA found that while the replacement of the entire viaduct was not eligible for emergency relief, the project was eligible to receive $45 million to replace the section of the viaduct damaged by the In earthquake.forward with a more comprehensive replacement project for the entire facility, the estimated amount of emergency relief eligibility could be applied to that project. WSDOT now plans to replace the entire viaduct with a bored tunnel under downtown Seattle, with an estimated cost of almost $2 billion. According to FHWA’s Washington state division office, the $40.5 million listed on the June 2011 emergency relief backlog list will be obligated toward the construction of the larger replacement project for the viaduct.