[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 848 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 848

  Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress 
  should support repairing and rehabilitating United States national 
   transportation infrastructure, including bridges not located on a 
                          Federal-aid highway.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 20, 2009

 Mr. Graves (for himself, Mr. Luetkemeyer, Mr. Cleaver, Mrs. Emerson, 
 Mr. Schock, and Mr. Blunt) submitted the following resolution; which 
   was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress 
  should support repairing and rehabilitating United States national 
   transportation infrastructure, including bridges not located on a 
                          Federal-aid highway.

Whereas the Highway Bridge Program (HBP) in SAFETEA-LU [Public Law 109-59] 
        requires States to expend at a minimum 15 percent of their annual 
        apportioned amount on bridges not located on a Federal-aid highway (off-
        system);
Whereas off-system bridges are public bridges owned and maintained by local 
        governments and in many parts of the United States they are often times 
        the sole transportation route for school buses, emergency responders, 
        farmers, veterans, senior citizens, small businesses, families, and the 
        traveling public;
Whereas off-system bridges support our Nation's food and energy supply by 
        providing a vital link for commodities such as corn, soybeans, 
        livestock, ethanol, and coal;
Whereas in 2008, the U.S. Department of Transportation estimated there was more 
        than 285,000 off-system bridges nationwide of which more than 33,000 
        were functionally obsolete and 46,000 were structurally deficient;
Whereas in a single State, using Missouri as an example, there are more than 
        13,000 off-system bridges of which more than 1,700 are functionally 
        obsolete and 2,500 are structurally deficient;
Whereas according to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), functionally 
        obsolete bridges are unable to properly accommodate traffic due to poor 
        roadway alignment, insufficient width, waterway problems, low structural 
        evaluation, or inadequate clearances;
Whereas according to the FHWA, structurally deficient bridges are in relatively 
        poor condition or have poor load-carrying capacity for modern design 
        loadings;
Whereas the off-system bridge program efficiently repairs and maintains 
        functionally obsolete and structurally deficient bridges not located on 
        a Federal-aid highway; and
Whereas according to a Government Accountability Office report on the HBP 
        released in September 2008, ``Improvements were most notable in bridges 
        owned by local agencies on rural routes, which may be attributable to 
        the Federal bridge program requirement--under HBP and some of its 
        predecessor programs--that states spend a minimum amount of their 
        apportionment on non-Federal-aid highway bridges.'': Now, therefore, be 
        it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) understands the importance of off-system bridges to 
        communities across the United States;
            (2) recognizes that continued Federal investment is 
        necessary to repair and rehabilitate off-system bridges to 
        provide safe bridge access for all users; and
            (3) supports program eligibility and a specific funding 
        stream for off-system bridges in the Highway Bridge Program or 
        a Federal highway critical asset investment program.
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