Sec. 1302. Community transportation investment grant program
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Chapter 1 of title 23, United States Code, as amended by this title, is further amended by adding at the end the following: The Secretary shall establish a community transportation investment grant program to improve surface transportation safety, state of good repair, accessibility, and environmental quality through infrastructure investments. In carrying out the program established under subsection (a), the Secretary shall make grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible entities in accordance with this section.
The maximum amount of a grant under this section shall be $25,000,000. To be eligible for a grant under this section, an eligible entity shall submit to the Secretary an application in such form, at such time, and containing such information as the Secretary may require. Grant amounts for an eligible project carried out under this section may be used for— development phase activities, including planning, feasibility analysis, revenue forecasting, environmental review, preliminary engineering and design work, and other preconstruction activities; and construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, acquisition of real property (including land related to the project and improvements to such land), environmental mitigation, construction contingencies, acquisition of equipment, and operational improvements.
The Secretary shall reserve— not less than 25 percent of the amounts made available to carry out this section for projects located in rural areas; and not less than 25 percent of the amounts made available to carry out this section for projects located in urbanized areas with a population greater than 49,999 individuals and fewer than 200,001 individuals. In this subsection, the term rural area means all areas of a State or territory not included in urbanized areas. If the Secretary determines that there are insufficient qualified applicants to use the funds set aside under this subsection, the Secretary may use such funds for grants for any projects eligible under this section.
To evaluate applications under this section, the Secretary shall— develop a process to objectively evaluate applications on the benefits of the project proposed in such application— to transportation safety, including reductions in traffic fatalities and serious injuries; to state of good repair, including improved condition of bridges and pavements; to transportation system access, including improved access to jobs and services; and in reducing greenhouse gas emissions; develop a rating system to assign a numeric value to each application, based on each of the criteria described in paragraph (1); for each application submitted, compare the total benefits of the proposed project, as determined by the rating system developed under paragraph (2), with the costs of such project, and rank each application based on the results of the comparison; and ensure that only such applications that are ranked highly based on the results of the comparison conducted under paragraph
(3)are considered to receive a grant under this section. In establishing the evaluation process under subsection (f), the Secretary may assign different weights to the criteria described in subsection (f)(1) based on project type, population served by a project, and other context-sensitive considerations, provided that— each application is rated on all criteria described in subsection (f)(1); and each application has the same possible minimum and maximum rating, regardless of any differences in the weighting of criteria. Prior to the issuance of any notice of funding opportunity under this section, the Secretary shall make publicly available on the website of the Department of Transportation a detailed explanation of the evaluation and rating process developed under subsection (f), including any differences in the weighting of criteria pursuant to subsection (g), if applicable, and update such website for each revision of the evaluation and rating process. The Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives, the Committee on Environment and Public Works of the Senate, the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate, and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate the following written notifications: A notification when the Secretary publishes or updates the information required under paragraph (1). Not later than 30 days prior to the date on which the Secretary awards a grant under this section, a notification that includes— the ratings of each application submitted pursuant to subsection (f)(2); the ranking of each application submitted pursuant to subsection (f)(3); and a list of all applications that receive final consideration by the Secretary to receive an award under this section pursuant to subsection (f)(4). Not later than 3 business days prior to the date on which the Secretary announces the award of a grant under this section, a notification describing each grant to be awarded, including the amount and the recipient. Of the amounts made available to carry out this section, the Secretary may reserve up to $3,000,000 to provide technical assistance to eligible entities. Of the amounts made available to carry out this section, the Secretary may reserve up to $5,000,000 for the administrative costs of carrying out the program under this section. The Secretary shall, with respect to a project funded by a grant under this section, apply— the requirements of this title to a highway project; the requirements of chapter 53 of title 49 to a public transportation project; and the requirements of section 22905 of title 49 to a passenger rail or freight rail project. Except as otherwise provided in this paragraph, if an eligible project is a multimodal project, the Secretary shall— determine the predominant modal component of the project; and apply the applicable requirements of such predominant modal component to the project. For any passenger or freight rail component of a project, the requirements of section 22907(j)(2) of title 49 shall apply. For any public transportation component of a project, the requirements of section 5333 of title 49 shall apply. In applying the Buy American requirements under section 313 of this title and sections 5320, 22905(a), and 24305(f) of title 49 to a multimodal project under this paragraph, the Secretary shall— consider the various modal components of the project; and seek to maximize domestic jobs. Notwithstanding any other provision of this subsection, the Secretary shall require recipients of grants under this section to comply with subsection
(a)of section 113 with respect to public transportation projects, passenger rail projects, and freight rail projects, in the same manner that recipients of grants are required to comply with such subsection for construction work performed on highway projects on Federal-aid highways. Not later than 30 days after awarding a grant for a project under this section, the Secretary shall send to all applicants, and publish on the website of the Department of Transportation— a summary of each application made to the program for the grant application period; and the evaluation and justification for the project selection, including ratings and rankings assigned to all applications and a list of applications that received final consideration by the Secretary to receive an award under this section, for the grant application period. The Secretary shall provide, at the request of a grant applicant under this section, the opportunity to receive a briefing to explain any reasons the grant applicant was not awarded a grant. In this section: The term eligible entity means— a metropolitan planning organization; a unit of local government; a transit agency; a Tribal Government or a consortium of Tribal governments; a multijurisdictional group of entities described in this paragraph; a special purpose district with a transportation function or a port authority; a territory; or a State that applies for a grant under this section jointly with an entity described in subparagraphs
(A)through (G). The term eligible project means any project eligible under this title or chapter 53 of title 49. . The analysis for chapter 1 of title 23, United States Code, is further amended by adding at the end the following new item: 173. Community transportation investment grant program. .