“To reauthorize and improve the reconnecting communities program, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section reauthorizes the Restoring essential public access and improving resilient infrastructure (REPAIR infrastructure) program—formerly the Reconnecting communities pilot program under section 11509 of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act—through FY2031 (from FY2026); authorizes $3 billion annually for FY2027 through 2031 from the Highway Trust Fund (other than the Mass Transit Account), of which $750 million is for planning grants and $2.25 billion for capital construction grants; and treats such amounts as apportioned under 23 U.S.C. chapter 1 (or chapter 2 for Tribal governments) and available until expended. (The program provides competitive grants to state, metropolitan planning, local, and Tribal governments for planning and capital projects to repair or replace public roads and facilities removed or damaged by past Federal-aid highway projects, restore community connectivity, and enhance infrastructure resilience.) It also renames the program in the statutory heading and table of contents and strikes references to it as a "pilot." The section further expands selection criteria for planning grants by adding factors, if information is available, on (1) promoting affordable transportation options, safe multimodal accommodations, and economically thriving communities; (2) community participation plans, formal partnerships with adjacent community organizations, redressing historic barriers for underserved communities, and representative advisory groups; and (3) creative placemaking and anti-displacement measures such as affordable housing preservation and community wealth-building. For capital construction grants, the section restructures subsection (d)(4) to explicitly require solicitation of applications; requires descriptions of how feasibility studies improve access and how partner resources support projects; and adds evaluation criteria on the extent to which projects will [text cuts off in provision].
This section makes projects eligible for assistance under the REPAIR infrastructure program—established by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) to repair and reconnect communities divided by highways or other transportation facilities—eligible under (1) the National Highway Performance Program (NHPP); (2) the Surface Transportation Block Grant (STBG) program; (3) the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP), while also adding a definition of "divisive roadway infrastructure" (i.e., a highway or facility creating barriers to community connectivity due to high speeds, grade separations, or design factors, such as limited-access highways, viaducts, or principal arterials) and directing planning activities to evaluate such infrastructure impacts; (4) the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ) program; (5) the Territorial Highway Program; (6) the National Highway Freight Program; and (7) the Rural Surface Transportation Grant Program. This section further revises the Carbon Reduction Program to require states receiving a Secretary certification of per capita and per-unit-of-economic-output transportation emissions reductions to prioritize such funds first for REPAIR projects (considering prior planning grant recipients) and, if funds remain, for STBG-eligible projects.