Sponsors (5)
The bill shifts federal road funding and planning toward lower‑carbon, multimodal, and equity‑focused transportation outcomes—likely improving transit, air quality, and resilience—at the cost of new administrative burdens, higher short‑term local/state costs, and reduced flexibility for traditional road projects (with disproportionate impacts on rural areas and smaller agencies).
State and local communities will face new federally‑guided rules and funding priorities that reduce transportation greenhouse gas emissions and local air pollution by lowering per‑capita VMT and prioritizing mobile‑source GHG reductions.
Commuters and residents — especially in metro areas — are likely to gain expanded transit service, clearer transit access targets (e.g., access within 45 minutes), more walking/biking infrastructure, and improved multimodal connectivity.
Low‑income, minority, and other environmental‑justice communities will receive explicit EJ analyses and more public participation before approval of large capacity projects, improving consideration of pollution, toxic contaminants, and equity impacts.
State and local governments (and ultimately taxpayers) will face substantial new administrative, planning, monitoring, and compliance costs — including staffing, analytic work, and potentially consultant support — to meet target‑setting, reporting, and emissions/VMT requirements.
States that fail to meet federally set road performance/GHG targets risk having to reallocate substantial federal highway funds away from traditional road projects, which could reduce maintenance and highway investments—especially harming rural areas that depend on road funding.
Large single‑occupant vehicle (SOV) capacity projects may be delayed, scaled back, or canceled after new cost‑effectiveness and EJ reviews, potentially slowing road expansions that some commuters, rural residents, and transportation workers rely on.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Adds federal performance goals to cut transportation GHGs and per-capita VMT, requires transit access standards and reporting, and redirects portions of federal highway funds if States miss targets.
Requires new federal transportation performance measures and planning rules to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lower per-capita vehicle miles traveled (VMT), boost transit accessibility and multimodal travel, and improve road resilience. States and metropolitan planning organizations must set targets, analyze and disclose impacts of large projects that add traffic capacity, and meet new reporting and documentation requirements before building new single-occupancy-vehicle capacity. If a State fails to meet the new road-related performance targets, it must obligate specified shares of certain Federal-aid highway apportionments for projects that advance the targets (including transit, active-transportation, land-use, and micromobility projects); that share starts at 33% (plus 10% of another apportionment category) and grows over time until targets are met. The Department of Transportation must issue national transit access standards, require covered entities to set targets and report performance, and provide technical assistance and tools to help implementation.
Introduced September 18, 2025 by Edward John Markey · Last progress September 18, 2025