Sponsors
The bill increases safety for drivers, passengers, and road workers—especially in tribal and rural areas—by funding enforcement, technology, and training, but it relies on limited §402 funds and new program costs that could divert or dilute state highway-safety resources and strain budgets.
Drivers, passengers, and road construction/maintenance workers experience fewer crashes, injuries, and fatalities because of targeted enforcement, intrusion-mitigation technologies, and improved training/certification.
Tribal and rural communities receive prioritized assistance, directing more federal safety resources and support to underserved areas.
State governments gain improved data collection and independent evaluations to identify effective countermeasures and better guide future highway safety spending decisions.
State §402 funds used for overtime, equipment, and a wide range of eligible activities could reduce funding for other highway safety programs and dilute the overall impact of limited federal safety dollars.
Deploying and maintaining new alerting and intrusion-mitigation technologies and running pilots may create ongoing costs that strain State budgets if federal support is insufficient.
Prioritizing Tribal and rural areas for assistance could shift resources away from high-traffic urban work zones where absolute crash counts are higher, potentially leaving more urban users at risk.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Permits States to use portions of federal §402 highway safety grant funds for enforcement, education, tech, training, and evaluation to reduce work‑zone crashes and requires a GAO effectiveness report.
Authorizes States to use portions of their federal highway safety grant funds to reduce crashes, injuries, and deaths in and near work zones by supporting enforcement, driver education, alerting and intrusion‑mitigation technologies, training for flaggers and construction personnel, and program evaluation. Requires States to follow their approved triennial highway safety plans and to prioritize Tribal governments and rural areas when carrying out these activities, and directs the Government Accountability Office to study and report on program effectiveness within two years.
Introduced September 18, 2025 by Timothy Patrick Sheehy · Last progress September 18, 2025