Sponsors (5)
The bill requires states and MPOs to measure and cut road-related GHGs and shifts federal funding and incentives toward transit, active transport, resilience, and land‑use strategies—accelerating climate and mobility benefits but imposing new costs, compliance burdens, and funding trade-offs that may strain small or rural jurisdictions and delay traditional road projects.
State and local governments (and the traveling public) will be required to set and meet measurable targets that reduce CO2 and other transportation GHGs, leading to lower transportation emissions and stronger climate outcomes.
People who walk, bike, or ride transit (and communities seeking safer streets) will gain expanded multimodal options and active-transportation investments—through VMT-per-capita targets, transit-accessibility metrics, micromobility funding, and land-use support—improving mobility and public health.
Taxpayers and transit riders stand to get better value and more service as federal funds shift toward transit, land-use projects, and cost-effectiveness requirements (including multiyear incentives for states to meet targets), accelerating investment in non-car options.
State and local governments, and ultimately taxpayers, will bear significant new planning, analysis, reporting, and compliance costs to set targets, measure multipollutant emissions/noise, perform benefit‑cost and EJ analyses, and submit recurring reports.
Drivers, rural communities, and local road users may face delayed or reduced funding for traditional highway maintenance and capacity projects because a growing share of federal highway dollars can be reallocated to transit, active-transportation, and land‑use projects when targets are missed.
State DOTs, MPOs, and project sponsors could experience reduced local autonomy and project delays as federal oversight, complex measurement requirements, and stricter review (including blocking or conditioning SOV projects) increase.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Creates national road and transit climate and accessibility performance measures, requires MPOs to analyze big roadway projects, and forces states missing GHG targets to reallocate federal-aid funds to low-carbon and transit projects.
Sets new national rules requiring transportation agencies to measure and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and vehicle miles traveled from public roads, and to improve transit accessibility. Metropolitan planning organizations must analyze and publish the climate, equity, and travel impacts of large roadway capacity projects, and States that miss road GHG performance targets must redirect a rising share of certain Federal-aid highway funds to projects that reduce emissions and support public transit, active transportation, and related land use. Creates national transit-accessibility standards and reporting for larger metropolitan areas, requires target-setting and performance reports, and directs the Department of Transportation to issue rules, provide tools, and support states, MPOs, and communities in meeting the new standards.
Official title: Amend title 23, United States Code, to require transportation planners to consider projects and strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and for other purposes.
Introduced September 18, 2025 by Edward John Markey · Last progress September 18, 2025