Resilient Highways Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1710 To amend title 23, United States Code, to ensure that Federal-aid highways, bridges, and tunnels are more resilient, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 19, 2021 Mrs. GILLIBRAND introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works A BILL To amend title 23, United States Code, to ensure that Fed- eral-aid highways, bridges, and tunnels are more resil- ient, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Resilient Highways 4 Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. NATIONAL HIGHWAY PERFORMANCE PROGRAM. 6 Section 119 of title 23, United States Code, is 7 amended— 8 (1) in subsection (b)— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:31 Jun 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1710.IS S1710 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1710 IS (A) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 1 the end; 2 (B) in paragraph (3), by striking the pe- 3 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 4 (C) by adding at the end the following: 5 ‘‘(4) to provide support for measures to in- 6 crease the resiliency of Federal-aid highways, 7 bridges, and tunnels on and off the National High- 8 way System to mitigate the impacts of sea level rise 9 and extreme weather events.’’; and 10 (2) by adding at the end the following: 11 ‘‘(k) PROTECTIVE FEATURES.— 12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A State may use not more 13 than 15 percent of the funds apportioned to the 14 State under section 104(b)(1) for each fiscal year 15 for a protective feature on a Federal-aid highway, 16 bridge, or tunnel, if the protective feature is an eco- 17 nomically justified improvement designed to mitigate 18 the risk of recurring damage or the cost of future 19 repairs from extreme weather, flooding, and other 20 natural disasters. 21 ‘‘(2) PROTECTIVE FEATURES DESCRIBED.—A 22 protective feature referred to in paragraph (1) may 23 include— 24 ‘‘(A) raising roadway grades; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:31 Jun 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1710.IS S1710 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1710 IS ‘‘(B) relocating roadways in a floodplain to 1 higher ground above projected flood elevation 2 levels or away from slide prone areas; 3 ‘‘(C) stabilizing slide areas; 4 ‘‘(D) stabilizing slopes; 5 ‘‘(E) installing riprap; 6 ‘‘(F) lengthening or raising bridges to in- 7 crease waterway openings; 8 ‘‘(G) deepening channels to prevent flood- 9 ing; 10 ‘‘(H) increasing the size or number of 11 drainage structures; 12 ‘‘(I) replacing culverts with bridges or 13 upsizing culverts; 14 ‘‘(J) repairing or maintaining tide gates; 15 ‘‘(K) installing seismic retrofits on bridges; 16 ‘‘(L) adding scour protection at bridges; 17 ‘‘(M) adding spur dikes; 18 ‘‘(N) the use of natural infrastructure to 19 mitigate the risk of recurring damage or the 20 cost of future repair from extreme weather, 21 flooding, and other natural disasters; and 22 ‘‘(O) any other features that mitigate the 23 risk of recurring damage or the cost of future 24 repair as a result of extreme weather, flooding, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:31 Jun 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1710.IS S1710 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1710 IS and other natural disasters, as determined by 1 the Secretary. 2 ‘‘(3) SAVINGS PROVISION.—Nothing in this sub- 3 section limits the ability of a State to carry out a 4 project otherwise eligible under subsection (d) using 5 funds apportioned under section 104(b)(1).’’. 6 SEC. 3. FEDERAL SHARE PAYABLE. 7 Section 120(c) of title 23, United States Code, is 8 amended by adding at the end the following: 9 ‘‘(4) PROTECTIVE FEATURES.— 10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any 11 other provision of law, the Federal share pay- 12 able for the cost of a protective feature on a 13 Federal-aid highway, bridge, or tunnel project 14 under this title may be up to 100 percent, at 15 the discretion of the State, if the protective fea- 16 ture is an economically justified improvement to 17 mitigate the risk of recurring damage or the 18 cost of future repair from extreme weather, 19 flooding, and other natural disasters. 20 ‘‘(B) PROTECTIVE FEATURES DE- 21 SCRIBED.—A protective feature referred to in 22 subparagraph (A) may include— 23 ‘‘(i) raising roadway grades; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:31 Jun 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1710.IS S1710 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1710 IS ‘‘(ii) relocating roadways in a flood- 1 plain to higher ground above projected 2 flood elevation levels or away from slide 3 prone areas; 4 ‘‘(iii) stabilizing slide areas; 5 ‘‘(iv) stabilizing slopes; 6 ‘‘(v) installing riprap; 7 ‘‘(vi) lengthening or raising bridges to 8 increase waterway openings; 9 ‘‘(vii) deepening channels to prevent 10 flooding; 11 ‘‘(viii) increasing the size or number 12 of drainage structures; 13 ‘‘(ix) replacing culverts with bridges 14 or upsizing culverts; 15 ‘‘(x) repairing or maintaining tide 16 gates; 17 ‘‘(xi) installing seismic retrofits on 18 bridges; 19 ‘‘(xii) adding scour protection at 20 bridges; 21 ‘‘(xiii) adding spur dikes; 22 ‘‘(xiv) the use of natural infrastruc- 23 ture to mitigate the risk of recurring dam- 24 age or the cost of future repair from ex- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:31 Jun 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1710.IS S1710 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1710 IS treme weather, flooding, and other natural 1 disasters; and 2 ‘‘(xv) any other features that mitigate 3 the risk of recurring damage or the cost of 4 future repair as a result of extreme weath- 5 er, flooding, and other natural disasters, as 6 determined by the Secretary.’’. 7 SEC. 4. EMERGENCY RELIEF. 8 Section 125 of title 23, United States Code, is 9 amended— 10 (1) in subsection (a)(1), by inserting ‘‘wildfire, 11 sea level rise,’’ after ‘‘severe storm’’; 12 (2) by striking subsection (b) and inserting the 13 following: 14 ‘‘(b) RESTRICTION ON ELIGIBILITY.—Funds under 15 this section shall not be used for the repair or reconstruc- 16 tion of a bridge that has been permanently closed to all 17 vehicular traffic by the State or responsible local official 18 because of imminent danger of collapse due to a structural 19 deficiency or physical deterioration.’’; and 20 (3) in subsection (d)— 21 (A) in paragraph (2)(A)— 22 (i) by striking the period at the end 23 and inserting ‘‘; and’’ 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:31 Jun 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1710.IS S1710 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1710 IS (ii) by striking ‘‘a facility that meets 1 the current’’ and inserting the following: 2 ‘‘a facility that— 3 ‘‘(i) meets the current’’; and 4 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 5 lowing: 6 ‘‘(ii) incorporates economically justifi- 7 able improvements designed to mitigate the 8 risk of recurring damage from extreme 9 weather, flooding, and other natural disas- 10 ters.’’; 11 (B) by redesignating paragraph (3) as 12 paragraph (4); and 13 (C) by inserting after paragraph (2) the 14 following: 15 ‘‘(3) PROTECTIVE FEATURES.— 16 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The cost of an im- 17 provement that is part of a project under this 18 section shall be an eligible expense under this 19 section if the improvement is a protective fea- 20 ture that is economically justified to mitigate 21 the risk of recurring damage or the cost of fu- 22 ture repair from extreme weather, flooding, and 23 other natural disasters. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:31 Jun 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1710.IS S1710 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1710 IS ‘‘(B) PROTECTIVE FEATURES DE- 1 SCRIBED.—A protective feature referred to in 2 subparagraph (A) may include— 3 ‘‘(i) raising roadway grades; 4 ‘‘(ii) relocating roadways in a flood- 5 plain to higher ground above projected 6 flood elevation levels or away from slide 7 prone areas; 8 ‘‘(iii) stabilizing slide areas; 9 ‘‘(iv) stabilizing slopes; 10 ‘‘(v) installing riprap; 11 ‘‘(vi) lengthening or raising bridges to 12 increase waterway openings; 13 ‘‘(vii) deepening channels to prevent 14 flooding; 15 ‘‘(viii) increasing the size or number 16 of drainage structures; 17 ‘‘(ix) replacing culverts with bridges 18 or upsizing culverts; 19 ‘‘(x) repairing or maintaining tide 20 gates; 21 ‘‘(xi) installing seismic retrofits on 22 bridges; 23 ‘‘(xii) adding scour protection at 24 bridges; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:31 Jun 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1710.IS S1710 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1710 IS ‘‘(xiii) adding spur dikes; 1 ‘‘(xiv) the use of natural infrastruc- 2 ture to mitigate the risk of recurring dam- 3 age or the cost of future repair from ex- 4 treme weather, flooding, and other natural 5 disasters; and 6 ‘‘(xv) any other features that mitigate 7 the risk of recurring damage or the cost of 8 future repair as a result of extreme weath- 9 er, flooding, and other natural disasters, as 10 determined by the Secretary.’’. 11 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:31 Jun 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1710.IS S1710 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS