No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section requires metropolitan planning organizations to select projects for long-range transportation plans through a publicly available transparent process using criteria that support planning factors under 23 U.S.C. §134(h), national transportation goals under section 150(b), and applicable state transportation goals, with public categorization of the highest performing projects. It further requires projects on the transportation improvement program (TIP) priority list to come from the highest performing project category, with a public explanation required if lower-categorized projects are included ahead of higher ones (e.g., for geographic balance or economically distressed areas).
This section requires projects in a state's long-range statewide transportation plan to be selected through a publicly available transparent process using criteria that support planning factors under 23 U.S.C. §135(d), national transportation goals under section 150(b), and applicable state goals, with the criteria used to publicly categorize the highest performing projects. It further requires the statewide transportation improvement program to include projects from that highest performing category and, if lower-categorized projects are selected ahead of higher ones, to provide a public explanation considering geographic balance and economically distressed areas.
This section revises metropolitan transportation planning requirements under 49 U.S.C. §5303 by (1) establishing a new paragraph (i)(7) that requires projects in the adopted transportation plan to be selected through a publicly available transparent process using criteria tied to planning factors in subsection (h), national transportation goals under 23 U.S.C. §150(b), and applicable state goals, with public categorization of the highest performing projects; and (2) requiring projects on the transportation improvement program (TIP) priority list to come from the highest-performing project category identified under subsection (i)(7), with a public explanation if a lower-categorized project is included ahead of a higher one (e.g., for geographic balance or economically distressed areas).
This section requires states to select projects for long-range statewide transportation plans through a publicly available transparent process using criteria that support planning factors under 49 U.S.C. §5304(d), national transportation goals under 49 U.S.C. §150(b), and applicable state goals, with public categorization of the highest performing projects. (As background, long-range statewide transportation plans are federally required 20-year planning documents that guide programming of federal highway and transit funds.) The section further requires projects in the statewide transportation improvement program—a four-year prioritized list of federally funded projects—to come from the highest performing category identified in the plan, with a public explanation required if a lower-categorized project is included ahead of a higher one (e.g., for geographic balance or economically distressed areas).