Sponsors (5)
The bill redirects federal transportation planning and funds toward measurable emissions reductions and expanded multimodal options—likely improving air quality, transit access, and resilience—but does so by imposing substantial new analytical and compliance requirements and reducing local flexibility, which could raise costs and delay traditional road projects, especially in smaller and rural jurisdictions.
State and local governments (and the MPOs that serve them) will be required to set measurable road-sector GHG and VMT/per-capita targets and to plan projects with those targets in mind, leading to reduced transportation-related CO2 and other mobile-source emissions.
Commuters, transit riders, and people who walk or bike will gain expanded multimodal options and funding (transit expansion, active transportation, micromobility and land‑use/TOD investments), improving mobility, safety, public health, and lowering some travel costs.
Environmental justice communities will receive explicit, standardized analysis of air-pollution and toxic-contaminant impacts (using federal EJ tools), improving transparency and the targeting of harms.
State DOTs, MPOs, and many local governments will face substantial new planning, measurement, reporting, and compliance costs (recurring), straining budgets and staff especially at smaller agencies.
States may lose flexibility over highway funds because substantial shares must be redirected to emissions-reducing projects if targets are missed, which can delay or reduce funding for traditional road maintenance and capacity needs that communities expect.
Drivers, freight operators, and construction workers could see project delays, blocked capacity projects, or rerouted investments that harm commutes, supply chains, and local construction jobs; substituting operational improvements in lieu of capacity investments could worsen congestion in some areas.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Directs DOT to set national road and transit climate/accessibility performance measures, forces MPO analyses before capacity projects, and makes states reallocate federal-aid funds if GHG targets are missed.
Introduced September 18, 2025 by Edward John Markey · Last progress September 18, 2025
Requires the U.S. Department of Transportation to adopt national performance measures that explicitly target greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions, resilience, lower per-capita vehicle miles traveled (VMT), and transit accessibility. It forces metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) to analyze and publish climate, VMT, and environmental-justice impacts before approving major roadway capacity projects or any new single-occupancy-vehicle (SOV) capacity, and requires states that miss GHG targets to dedicate a rising share of certain federal-aid highway formula funds to projects that reduce emissions or expand non-SOV options. Also sets national transit-accessibility standards and reporting for larger metropolitan areas, requires covered areas to set targets and report performance, and directs DOT to provide technical assistance and analytical tools to help states, MPOs, transit agencies, and communities comply.