
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
[wais.access.gpo.gov]
[Laws in effect as of January 2, 2001]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 2, 2001 and January 28, 2002]
[CITE: 23USC106]

 
                           TITLE 23--HIGHWAYS
 
                     CHAPTER 1--FEDERAL-AID HIGHWAYS
 
                    SUBCHAPTER I--GENERAL PROVISIONS
 
Sec. 106. Project approval and oversight

    (a) In General.--
        (1) Submission of plans, specifications, and estimates.--Except 
    as otherwise provided in this section, each State transportation 
    department shall submit to the Secretary for approval such plans, 
    specifications, and estimates for each proposed project as the 
    Secretary may require.
        (2) Project agreement.--The Secretary shall act on the plans, 
    specifications, and estimates as soon as practicable after the date 
    of their submission and shall enter into a formal project agreement 
    with the State transportation department formalizing the conditions 
    of the project approval.
        (3) Contractual obligation.--The execution of the project 
    agreement shall be deemed a contractual obligation of the Federal 
    Government for the payment of the Federal share of the cost of the 
    project.
        (4) Guidance.--In taking action under this subsection, the 
    Secretary shall be guided by section 109.

    (b) Project Agreement.--
        (1) Provision of state funds.--The project agreement shall make 
    provision for State funds required to pay the State's non-Federal 
    share of the cost of construction of the project and to pay for 
    maintenance of the project after completion of construction.
        (2) Representations of state.--If a part of the project is to be 
    constructed at the expense of, or in cooperation with, political 
    subdivisions of the State, the Secretary may rely on representations 
    made by the State transportation department with respect to the 
    arrangements or agreements made by the State transportation 
    department and appropriate local officials for ensuring that the 
    non-Federal contribution will be provided under paragraph (1).

    (c) Assumption by States of Responsibilities of the Secretary.--
        (1) Non-interstate nhs projects.--For projects under this title 
    that are on the National Highway System but not on the Interstate 
    System, the State may assume the responsibilities of the Secretary 
    under this title for design, plans, specifications, estimates, 
    contract awards, and inspections of projects unless the State or the 
    Secretary determines that such assumption is not appropriate.
        (2) Non-nhs projects.--For projects under this title that are 
    not on the National Highway System, the State shall assume the 
    responsibilities of the Secretary under this title for design, 
    plans, specifications, estimates, contract awards, and inspection of 
    projects, unless the State determines that such assumption is not 
    appropriate.
        (3) Agreement.--The Secretary and the State shall enter into an 
    agreement relating to the extent to which the State assumes the 
    responsibilities of the Secretary under this subsection.
        (4) Limitation on authority of secretary.--The Secretary may not 
    assume any greater responsibility than the Secretary is permitted 
    under this title on September 30, 1997, except upon agreement by the 
    Secretary and the State.

    (d) Responsibilities of the Secretary.--Nothing in this section, 
section 133, or section 149 shall affect or discharge any responsibility 
or obligation of the Secretary under--
        (1) section 113 or 114; or
        (2) any Federal law other than this title (including section 
    5333 of title 49).

    (e) Value Engineering Analysis.--For such projects as the Secretary 
determines advisable, plans, specifications, and estimates for proposed 
projects on any Federal-aid highway shall be accompanied by a value 
engineering analysis or other cost reduction analysis.
    (f) Life-Cycle Cost Analysis.--
        (1) Use of life-cycle cost analysis.--The Secretary shall 
    develop recommendations for the States to conduct life-cycle cost 
    analyses. The recommendations shall be based on the principles 
    contained in section 2 of Executive Order No. 12893 and shall be 
    developed in consultation with the American Association of State 
    Highway and Transportation Officials. The Secretary shall not 
    require a State to conduct a life-cycle cost analysis for any 
    project as a result of the recommendations required under this 
    subsection.
        (2) Life-cycle cost analysis defined.--In this subsection, the 
    term ``life-cycle cost analysis'' means a process for evaluating the 
    total economic worth of a usable project segment by analyzing 
    initial costs and discounted future costs, such as maintenance, user 
    costs, reconstruction, rehabilitation, restoring, and resurfacing 
    costs, over the life of the project segment.

    (g) Value Engineering for NHS.--
        (1) Requirement.--The Secretary shall establish a program to 
    require States to carry out a value engineering analysis for all 
    projects on the National Highway System with an estimated total cost 
    of $25,000,000 or more.
        (2) Value engineering defined.--In this subsection, the term 
    ``value engineering analysis'' means a systematic process of review 
    and analysis of a project during its design phase by a 
    multidisciplined team of persons not involved in the project in 
    order to provide suggestions for reducing the total cost of the 
    project and providing a project of equal or better quality. Such 
    suggestions may include combining or eliminating otherwise 
    inefficient or expensive parts of the original proposed design for 
    the project and total redesign of the proposed project using 
    different technologies, materials, or methods so as to accomplish 
    the original purpose of the project.

    (h) Financial Plan.--A recipient of Federal financial assistance for 
a project under this title with an estimated total cost of 
$1,000,000,000 or more shall submit to the Secretary an annual financial 
plan for the project. The plan shall be based on detailed annual 
estimates of the cost to complete the remaining elements of the project 
and on reasonable assumptions, as determined by the Secretary, of future 
increases in the cost to complete the project.

(Pub. L. 85-767, Aug. 27, 1958, 72 Stat. 892; Pub. L. 88-157, Sec. 7(a), 
Oct. 24, 1963, 77 Stat. 278; Pub. L. 91-605, title I, Secs. 106(e), 142, 
Dec. 31, 1970, 84 Stat. 1717, 1737; Pub. L. 94-280, title I, Sec. 114, 
May 5, 1976, 90 Stat. 436; Pub. L. 100-17, title I, Sec. 133(b)(4), Apr. 
2, 1987, 101 Stat. 171; Pub. L. 102-240, title I, Secs. 1016(b), 
1018(a), Dec. 18, 1991, 105 Stat. 1945, 1948; Pub. L. 104-59, title III, 
Sec. 303, Nov. 28, 1995, 109 Stat. 578; Pub. L. 105-178, title I, 
Sec. 1305(a)-(c), June 9, 1998, 112 Stat. 227-229.)

                       References in Text

    Executive Order No. 12893, referred to in subsec. (f)(1), is set out 
as a note under section 501 of Title 31, Money and Finance.


                               Amendments

    1998--Pub. L. 105-178, Sec. 1305(a)(1), substituted ``Project 
approval and oversight'' for ``Plans, specifications, and estimates'' in 
section catchline.
    Subsecs. (a) to (d). Pub. L. 105-178, Sec. 1305(a)(3), added 
subsecs. (a) to (d) and struck out former subsecs. (a) to (d) which 
related to requirement for State highway departments to submit to 
Secretary for approval plans, specifications, and estimates for each 
proposed highway project, special rules relating to resurfacing, 
restoring, and rehabilitating projects on National Highway System, to 
low-cost National Highway System projects, and to non-National Highway 
System projects, limitation on estimates for construction engineering, 
and provisions relating to value engineering or other cost reduction 
analysis.
    Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 105-178, Sec. 1305(a)(3), added subsec. (e). 
Former subsec. (e) redesignated (f).
    Subsec. (f). Pub. L. 105-178, Sec. 1305(c), added subsec. (f) and 
struck out former subsec. (f) which read as follows:
    ``(f) Life-Cycle Cost Analysis.--
        ``(1) Establishment.--The Secretary shall establish a program to 
    require States to conduct an analysis of the life-cycle costs of 
    each usable project segment on the National Highway System with a 
    cost of $25,000,000 or more.
        ``(2) Analysis of the life-cycle costs defined.--In this 
    subsection, the term `analysis of the life-cycle costs' means a 
    process for evaluating the total economic worth of a usable project 
    segment by analyzing initial costs and discounted future costs, such 
    as maintenance, reconstruction, rehabilitation, restoring, and 
    resurfacing costs, over the life of the project segment.''
    Pub. L. 105-178, Sec. 1305(a)(2), redesignated subsec. (e) as (f). 
Former subsec. (f) redesignated (g).
    Subsec. (g). Pub. L. 105-178, Sec. 1305(a)(2), redesignated subsec. 
(f) as (g).
    Subsec. (h). Pub. L. 105-178, Sec. 1305(b), added subsec. (h).
    1995--Subsecs. (e), (f). Pub. L. 104-59 added subsecs. (e) and (f).
    1991--Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 102-240, Sec. 1016(b)(1), inserted ``this 
section and'' before ``section 117''.
    Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 102-240, Sec. 1016(b)(2), added subsec. (b) and 
struck out former subsec. (b) which read as follows: ``In addition to 
the approval required under subsection (a) of this section, proposed 
specifications for projects for construction on (1) the Federal-aid 
secondary system, except in States where all public roads and highways 
are under the control and supervision of the State highway department, 
and (2) the Federal-aid urban system, shall be determined by the State 
highway department and the appropriate local road officials in 
cooperation with each other.''
    Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 102-240, Sec. 1018(a), amended subsec. (c) 
generally. Prior to amendment, subsec. (c) read as follows: ``Items 
included in any such estimate for construction engineering shall not 
exceed 15 percent of the total estimated cost of a project financed with 
Federal-aid highway funds, after excluding from such total estimate 
cost, the estimated costs of rights-of-way, preliminary engineering, and 
construction engineering.''
    1987--Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 100-17 substituted ``15 percent'' for 
``10 per centum'' and struck out at end ``However, this limitation shall 
be 15 per centum in any State with respect to which the Secretary finds 
such higher limitation to be necessary.''
    1976--Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 94-280 substituted ``Federal-aid highway 
funds'' for ``Federal-aid primary, secondary, or urban funds'' and 
``such total estimate cost'' for ``such total estimated cost'' and 
struck out 10 per centum limitation for any project financed with 
interstate funds.
    1970--Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 91-605, Sec. 106(e), inserted reference 
to the Federal-aid urban system.
    Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 91-605, Sec. 142, added subsec. (d).
    1963--Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 88-157 substituted ``a project financed 
with Federal-aid primary, secondary, or urban funds'' for ``the 
project'' and provided for limitation, on items included in estimates 
for construction engineering on projects financed with Federal-aid 
primary, secondary, or urban funds, of 15 percent of total estimated 
cost of the project where found by the Secretary to be necessary and for 
10-percent limitation on projects financed with interstate funds.


                    Effective Date of 1991 Amendment

    Amendment by Pub. L. 102-240 effective Dec. 18, 1991, and applicable 
to funds authorized to be appropriated or made available after Sept. 30, 
1991, and, with certain exceptions, not applicable to funds appropriated 
or made available on or before Sept. 30, 1991, see section 1100 of Pub. 
L. 102-240, set out as a note under section 104 of this title.


                       Study of Value Engineering

    Section 1091 of Pub. L. 102-240 provided that:
    ``(a) Study.--The Secretary shall study the effectiveness and 
benefits of value engineering review programs applied to Federal-aid 
highway projects. Such study shall include an analysis of and the 
results of specialized techniques utilized in all facets of highway 
construction for the purpose of reduction of costs and improvement of 
the overall quality of Federal-aid highway projects.
    ``(b) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment 
of this Act [Dec. 18, 1991], the Secretary shall report to Congress on 
the results of the study under subsection (a), including recommendations 
on how value engineering could be utilized and improved in Federal-aid 
highway projects.''


  Modification of Project Agreements To Effectuate Requirement of Four-
                            Lanes of Traffic

    Pub. L. 89-574, Sec. 5(b), Sept. 13, 1966, 80 Stat. 767, as amended 
by Pub. L. 97-449, Sec. 2(a), Jan. 12, 1983, 96 Stat. 2439, authorized 
Secretary to modify project agreements entered into prior to Sept. 13, 
1966, pursuant to section 106 of this title for purpose of effectuating 
amendment made by this section (amending section 109(b) of this title to 
add a requirement of four lanes of traffic) with respect to as much of 
National System of Interstate and Defense Highways [now Dwight D. 
Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways] as may be 
possible.

                  Section Referred to in Other Sections

    This section is referred to in sections 101, 109, 112 of this title; 
title 40 App. section 201.
