Sponsors (2)
The bill shifts federal highway practice toward safer, more multimodal and transparent project decisions—helping pedestrians, cyclists, transit users, and small communities—while imposing added planning, compliance, and short-term administrative costs and some constraints on local flexibility and larger project funding.
People who walk, bike, or use transit nationwide will likely experience safer streets because the bill requires state agencies and FHWA/FTA to adopt proven safety countermeasures, safer roadway design guidance, and HSIP accountability to prevent increases in vulnerable road user fatalities.
Urban and suburban travelers (including low-income transit riders) will get clearer, consistent multimodal standards and guidance so pedestrian, bicycle, and transit facilities are evaluated and incorporated into federally funded highway projects.
Small and rural communities and local governments will gain better access to funding and technical help via a guaranteed minimum (at least 10%) for small safety projects, streamlined application procedures, prioritized funding for small projects, and federal help with nonmotorized data.
State and local transportation agencies and project sponsors will face increased planning, documentation, and compliance costs — and potentially higher project time and expense — to justify deviations, perform multimodal evaluations, update manuals, and meet new reporting requirements.
Projects could be delayed and there may be short-term regulatory confusion as federal and state agencies update guidance, reword prior IIJA language, adopt new multimodal rules, and implement modified application procedures.
The bill reduces some local flexibility by encouraging adoption of specific national design guides and by restricting HSIP target-setting (preventing increases in vulnerable user fatalities compared with prior periods), which could constrain how states set metrics or account for baseline changes.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Increases MUTCD transparency, tightens FHWA multimodal design rules, requires state design manual updates, and reserves highway safety funds for small communities.
Official title: To provide for consideration of all modes of transportation and all road users in certain highway and transit programs, and for other purposes.
Introduced August 6, 2026 by Seth Moulton · Last progress August 6, 2026
Requires greater public documentation and transparency for the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), directs a GAO study of practitioner use of the MUTCD, and tightens federal expectations for multimodal design on Federal‑aid highways. It also conditions certain highway funds on state adoption of updated design guidance, adjusts Highway Safety Improvement Program targets for vulnerable road users, and creates set‑asides and simplified grant rules for small‑community safety projects under the highway safety program. The bill directs the FHWA Administrator to revise regulations and guidance within two years to clarify how to evaluate and incorporate multimodal needs (pedestrians, cyclists, transit) and to issue categorical design exceptions for multimodal improvements, while requiring states and applicants to demonstrate they considered nonmotorized facilities in funded project designs. It reserves at least 10% of certain highway safety program funds for small communities and provides technical and flexible funding shares for those projects.