“A bill to amend title 23, United States Code, to enhance roadside worker safety, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section amends highway safety improvement program (HSIP) requirements (23 U.S.C. 148) to address highway worker safety (as defined in 23 CFR 630.1004) by—(1) requiring state strategic highway safety plans to improve collection of data on roadside worker crashes; differentiate such data and fatalities/serious injuries for highway workers from other road users; and explicitly include highway workers alongside other vulnerable road users; and (2) directing states with increasing annual highway worker injuries and fatalities over the most recent two-year period to include, in their next strategic highway safety plan, strategies accounting for Federal Highway Administration Work Zone Management Program practices. (HSIP provides federal funding to states for projects, such as intersection improvements and rumble strips, that reduce roadway fatalities and serious injuries consistent with state plans.)
This section amends the highway safety program (23 U.S.C. §402(a)(2)(A)) to (1) expand protections triggered by hazard or flashing lights to situations involving construction workers, service and utility personnel, individuals assisting or in disabled vehicles, or other such vehicles stopped or parked on or next to roadways; and (2) add a new purpose to reduce injuries and deaths of drivers and highway workers (as defined in 23 C.F.R. §630.1004) in work zones. The section also amends national priority safety programs (23 U.S.C. §405(h)) to explicitly include highway workers (as so defined) among protected individuals in grant eligibility criteria and reporting. Additionally, the section directs the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Administrator to (1) update public awareness materials within two years of enactment to reflect state Move Over laws covering law enforcement, emergency responders, construction workers, utility/waste/recycling drivers, tow operators, and disabled vehicle drivers at roadway incidents; and (2) conduct a public service announcement within 180 days thereafter, potentially partnering with Federal Highway Administration work zone programs. Authorizes $2 million for each of FY2027 through FY2031 for these activities, to remain available until expended.
This section directs the Secretary of Transportation to carry out research and outreach activities to improve the safety of highway workers (i.e., as defined in 23 CFR 630.1004 or successor regulation), including addressing roadside incidents through behavior-based interventions, education, engineering solutions, and technology. In doing so, the Secretary must build on existing roadside worker safety research such as Transportation Research Board studies of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and utilize facilities including the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center, university transportation centers (i.e., grants to nonprofit institutions of higher education for multimodal transportation education, research, and technology transfer under 49 U.S.C. 5505), and the Federal Highway Administration Office of Operations work zone safety programs. This section authorizes $3 million for each of FY2027 through FY2031, to remain available until expended.
This section adds highway worker safety (as defined in 23 CFR 630.1004) as an evaluation criterion for grant applications under three discretionary transportation programs: (1) for INFRA grants (23 U.S.C. §117(h)), the extent to which projects include measures to protect highway workers and other road users during construction (e.g., planning to reduce vehicle intrusions and manage speeds) and along the highway after completion; (2) for MEGA grants (49 U.S.C. §6701(f)(3)), whether and the degree to which projects include a work zone safety plan for protecting highway workers and other road users during construction and after completion; and (3) for BUILD grants (49 U.S.C. §6702(d)(4)), demonstrated project efforts to protect highway workers and other road users during construction and to improve highway worker safety after completion.