Sponsors (8)
The bill modernizes and standardizes road/geospatial data to improve mapping, safety, and rural economic activity by providing federal funding and coordination, but it requires ongoing taxpayer funding and local maintenance and creates equity and privacy risks for some communities.
Rural counties and local governments receive federal grants and technical help to digitize road records and build geospatial repositories, improving mapping and navigation for residents and businesses.
State DOTs must host centralized, publicly accessible road datasets, which enables faster, better-coordinated emergency response and overall public safety improvements.
Standardized geospatial data supports rural commerce and third-party navigation services, making it easier for businesses, travelers, and service providers to find routes and addresses.
All taxpayers fund a dedicated $20 million per year through FY2031 for the program, increasing federal spending and creating opportunity costs.
Smaller or underfunded counties may struggle to meet application or matching requirements and could be disadvantaged, worsening equity between well-resourced and poorer jurisdictions.
States and counties will face ongoing maintenance and staffing burdens to update and host repositories annually, creating recurring local costs and workload.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Creates a DOT pilot grant program to fund State and county digitization of county roads and public statewide road data repositories; $20M/year authorized FY2026–FY2031.
Introduced September 18, 2025 by Blake D. Moore · Last progress September 18, 2025
Creates a Department of Transportation pilot grant program to help States digitize county road records and build centralized, publicly accessible road data repositories. The DOT must set up the program within 180 days, award grants to States (which can pass funds to counties), require public datasets with consistent geospatial standards and at least annual updates, and collect reports; it authorizes $20 million per year for FY2026–FY2031 with up to 2% for administration.