THE FEDERAL-AID HIGHWAY ACT OF 1938 [52 Stat. 633] AN ACT To amend the Federal Aid Act, approved July 11, 1916, as amended and supplemented, and for other purposes Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of the Act entitled "An Act to provide that the United States shall aid the States in the construction of rural post roads, and for other purposes," approved July 11, 1916 (39 Stat. 355), and all Acts amendatory thereof and supplementary thereto, there is hereby authorized to be appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the following sums, to be expended according to the provisions of such Act as amended and supplemented: The sum of $100,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1940, and the sum of $115,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1941. (a) All sums herein or hereafter authorized and apportioned to the States shall be available for expenditure for one year after the close of the fiscal year for which said sums, respectively, are authorized, and any sum remaining unexpended at the end of the period during which it is available for expenditure shall be reapportioned among the States as provided in section 21 of the Federal Highway Act (42 Stat. 217). (b) Beginning with the fiscal year ending June 30, 1940, the District of Columbia shall be entitled to share in all sums herein or hereafter authorized and apportioned to the States, upon the same terms and conditions as any of the several States, and the District of Columbia shall be included in the calculations to determine the basis of apportionment of such funds: Provided, That the system of roads on which Federal-aid apportionments to the District of Columbia shall be expended may be determined and agreed upon by the highway department of the said District and the Secretary of Agriculture without regard to the limitations in section 6 of the Federal Highway Act (42 Stat. 213) respecting the selection and designation of such system of roads; and, when the system first determined and agreed upon shall have been completed, additions thereto may be made in like manner as funds become available for the construction of such additions. (c) Hereafter the construction of highways by the States with the aid of Federal funds may include such roadside and landscape development, including such sanitary and other facilities as may be deemed reasonably necessary to provide, for the suitable accommodation of the public, all within the highway right-of-way and adjacent publicly owned or controlled recreational areas of limited size and with provision for convenient and safe access thereto by pedestrian and vehicular traffic, as may be approved by the Secretary of Agriculture." (d) If within the fiscal years 1938 and 1939 the Secretary of Agriculture shall find with respect to any State (1) that the proceeds of all special taxes on motor-vehicle transportation, as referred to in section 12 of the Act of June 18, 1934 (48 Stat. 995), as amended by this Act, are applied to highway purposes as defined in said section; (2) that at least 90 per centum of such proceeds are applied to the administrative and operating expenses of the State highway department, the maintenance of the State and Federal-aid highway systems, and the payment of interest on, and the amortization of, bond obligations of the State for the payment of which such revenues have heretofore been pledged; and (3) that the portion of the proceeds of all such special taxes then available for construction, together with funds available to the State from any other sources for highway purposes, will be insufficient to match all, or any part, of the regular and secondary Federal-aid road funds apportioned to such State for such fiscal years in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Highway Act (42 Stat. 212), as amended and supplemented, then such portion of such apportionment as the Secretary of Agriculture shall find the State is unable to match shall be made available for expenditure in such State in accordance with said Federal Highway Act without being matched by the State. (e) The term "highway" as defined in the Federal Highway Act (42 Stat. 212), as amended and supplemented, shall be deemed to include that portion of any interstate or international bridge and the approaches thereto, the cost 24 Amended by sec. 11 of the act approved Sept. 5, 1940 (54 Stat. 867). of which is assumed by the State highway department, including such facilities as may be required by the United States Customs and Immigration Services in connection with the operation of such bridge. SEC. 2. For the purpose of continuing the provisions of section 7 of the Act of June 16, 1936 (49 Stat. 1521), there is hereby authorized to be appropriated the sum of $15,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1940, and the sum of $15,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1941; said sums to be expended on secondary or feeder roads, including farm-to-market roads, rural-free-delivery mail roads, and public-school bus routes. SEO. 3. For the elimination of hazards to life at railroad grade crossings including the separation or protection of grades at crossings, the reconstruction of existing railroad-grade-crossing structures, and the relocation of highways to eliminate grade crossings, there is hereby authorized to be appropriated, to be apportioned on or before the 1st day of January of each year preceding the fiscal year for which it is authorized among the several States in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Highway Act (42 Stat. 212), as amended and supplemented, except that such apportionment shall be one-half on population as shown by the latest decennial census, one-fourth on the mileage of the Federal-aid highway system as determined by the Secretary of Agriculture, and one-fourth on the railroad mileage as determined by the Interstate Commerce Commission, and to be expended in accordance with said Federal Highway Act, as amended and supplemented, except that no part of such funds apportioned to any State need be matched by the State: The sum of $20,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1940, and the sum of $30,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1941. SEC. 4. Not to exceed $8,000,000 of any money herein or hereafter appropriated for expenditure in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Highway Act (42 Stat. 212) shall be available for expenditure by the Secretary of Agriculture, in accordance with the provisions of said Federal Highway Act, as an emergency-relief fund, after receipt of an application therefor from the highway department of any State, in the repair or reconstruction of highways and bridges on the system of Federal-aid highways, which he finds, after investigation, have been damaged or destroyed by floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, or landslides, and there is hereby authorized to be appropriated any sum or sums necessary to reimburse the funds so expended from time to time under the authority of this section. SEC. 5. For the purpose of carrying out the provisions of section 23 of the Federal Highway Act (42 Stat. 218), there is hereby authorized to be appropriated for forest highways, roads, and trails the following sums, to be available until expended in accordance with the provisions of said section 23: The sum of $10,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1940, and the sum of $13,000,000 for the fiscal ending June 30, 1941: Provided, That the apportionment for forest highways in Alaska shall be $400,000 for each of the fiscal years, and that such additional amount as otherwise would have been apportioned to Alaska for each of said fiscal years shall be apportioned by the Secretary of Agriculture among those States, including Puerto Rico, whose forest highway apportionment for such fiscal year otherwise would be less than 1 per centum of the entire apportionment for forest highways for that fiscal year: Provided further, That the Secretary of Agriculture may make apportionments among those States, including Puerto Rico, whose forest highway apportionments for such fiscal year otherwise would be less than 1 per centum of the entire apportionment for forest highways for that fiscal year without regard to the provisions of said section 23 relating to apportionments, but in no case shall the Secretary of Agriculture make apportionment to any State under this provision in excess of 20 per centum of the total of funds affected hereby. SEC. 6. For the purpose of carrying out the provisions of section 3 of the Federal Highway Act (42 Stat. 212), as amended by the Act of June 24, 1930 (46 Stat. 805), there is hereby authorized to be appropriated for the survey, construction, reconstruction, and maintenance of main roads through unappropriated or unreserved public lands, nontaxable Indian lands, or other Federal reservations other than the forest reservations the sum of $1,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1940, and the sum of $2,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1941, to remain available until expended. SEC. 7. For the construction, reconstruction, and improvement of roads and trails, inclusive of necessary bridges, in the national parks, monuments, and other areas administered by the National Park Service, including areas authorized to be established as national parks and monuments, and national park and monument approach roads authorized by the Act of January 31, 1931 (46 Stat. 1053), as amended, there is hereby authorized to be appropriated the sum of $4,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1940, and the sum of $5,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1941. SEC. 8. For the construction and maintenance of parkways, to give access to national parks and national monuments, or to become connecting sections of a national parkway plan, over lands to which title has been transferred to the United States by the States or by private individuals, there is hereby authorized to be appropriated the sum of $6,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1940, and the sum of $8,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1941: Provided, That hereafter the location of such parkways upon public lands, national forests, or other Federal reservations shall be determined by agreement between the department having Jurisdiction over such lands and the National Park Service. SEC. 9. For construction and improvement of Indian reservation roads under the provisions of the Act approved May 26, 1928 (45 Stat. 750), there is hereby authorized to be appropriated the sum of $2,500,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1940, and the sum of $3,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1941. SEC. 10. With the approval of the Secretary of Agriculture, not to exceed 11⁄2 per centum of the amount apportioned for any year to any State under sections 1, 2, and 3 of this Act may be used for surveys, plans, engineering, and economic investigations of projects for future construction in such State, either on the Federal-aid highway system and extensions thereof or on secondary or feeder roads, or grade-crossing eliminations. 25 SEC. 11. Any sums heretofore or hereafter withheld from the Federal-aid road funds apportioned to any State as a penalty for diversion of road-user taxes, under the provisions of section 12 of the Act approved June 18, 1934 (48 Stat. 995), are hereby authorized to be made available for reapportionment in the same manner as any other unexpended balance at the end of the period during which it otherwise would be available for expenditure, in accordance with the provisions of section 21 of the Federal Highway Act (42 Stat. 217). SEC. 12. Hereafter the Secretary of Agriculture shall approve only such methods of bidding and such plans and specifications of highway construction for the type or types proposed as will be effective in securing competition and conducive to safety, durability, and economy of maintenance. SEC. 13. The Chief of the Bureau of Public Roads is hereby directed to investigate and make a report of his findings and recommend to the Congress not later than February 1, 1939, with respect to the feasibility of building, and cost of, superhighways not exceeding three in number, running in a general direction from the eastern to the western portion of the United States, and not exceeding three in number, running in a general direction from the northern to the southern portion of the United States, including the feasibility of a toll system on such roads. SEC. 14. This Act may be cited as the "Federal Aid Highway Act of 1938." Approved, June 8, 1938. REORGANIZATION PLAN NO. 1 Prepared by the President and transmitted to the Senate and the House of Representatives in Congress assembled, April 25, 1939, pursuant to the provisions of the Reorganization Act of 1939, approved April 3, 1939, made effective on July 1, 1939, by a joint Resolution of Congress adopted June 7, 1939 PART 3. FEDERAL WORKS AGENCY SECTION 301. Federal Works Agency.-(a) The Bureau of Public Roads in the Department of Agriculture and its functions and personnel (including the Chief thereof) are transferred from the Department of Agriculture; the Public Buildings Branch of the Procurement Division in the Treasury Department and 25 Amended by the act approved July 19, 1939 (53 Stat. 1066) and by sec. 8 of the act approved Dec. 20, 1944 (58 Stat. 838). its functions and personnel are transferred from the Treasury Department; the Branch of Buildings Management of the National Park Service in the Department of the Interior and its functions and personnel (except those relating to monuments and memorials), and the functions of the National Park Service in the District of Columbia in connection with the general assignment of space, the selection of sites for public buildings, and the determination of the priority in which the construction or enlargement of public buildings shall be undertaken, and the personnel engaged exclusively in the administration of such functions, and the United States Housing Authority in the Department of the Interior and its functions and personnel (including the Administrator) are transferred from the Department of the Interior; and all of these agencies and functions, together with the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works and its functions, and all of the Works Progress Administration and its functions (except the National Youth Administration and its functions) are hereby consolidated into one agency to be known as the Federal Works Agency, with a Federal Works Administrator at the head thereof. The Federal Works Administrator shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and shall receive a salary at the rate of $12,000 per annum. He shall have general direction and supervision over the administration of the several agencies consolidated into the Federal Works Agency by this section and shall be responsible for the coordination of their functions. (b) The Federal Works Administrator shall appoint an Assistant Federal Works Administrator, who shall receive a salary at the rate of $9,000 per annum, and he may also appoint such other personnel and make such expenditures as may be necessary. (c) The Assistant Administrator shall act as Administrator during the absence or disability of the Administrator, or in the event of a vacancy in that officce, and shall perform such other duties as the Administrator shall direct. (d) The several agencies and functions consolidated by this section in the Federal Works Agency shall carry with them their personnel. SEC. 302. Public Roads Administration.—(a) The Bureau of Public Roads and its functions shall be administered as the Public Roads Administration at the head of which shall be the Chief of the Bureau of Public Roads whose title shall be changed to Commissioner of Public Roads. Hereafter the Commissioner of Public Roads shall be appointed by the Federal Works Administrator. (b) All functions of the Secretary of Agriculture relating to the administration of the Bureau of Public Roads are hereby transferred to, and shall be exercised by, the Federal Works Administrator. * Approved June 7, 1939. AID IN FREEING TOLL BRIDGES ON FEDERAL-AID SYSTEM [53 Stat. 1066] AN ACT To amend the Act entitled "An Act to aid the several States in making, or for having made, certain toll bridges on the system of Federal-aid highways free bridges, and for other purposes," by providing that funds available under such Act may be used to match regular and secondary Federal-aid road funds, and for other purposes Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Act entitled "An Act to aid the several States in making, or for having made, certain toll bridges on the system of Federal-aid highways free bridges, and for other purposes," approved August 14, 1937, is hereby amended to read as follows: "That in the case of each and every State, or political subdivision or subdivisions thereof, which, prior to July 1, 1941, shall have constructed or acquired any toll bridges on the approved system of Federal-aid highways, and which has caused or shall, prior to July 1, 1941, cause any such toll bridge or toll bridges to be made free, the Federal Works Administrator shall be, and he is hereby, authorized to pay out of the regular and secondary Federal-aid road funds apportioned to such State not to exceed 50 per centum of such amount as may 40 be approved by the Federal Works Administrator as the reasonable value or construction cost of any such bridge whichever shall be least: Provided, That no payment of Federal funds shall be made on account of any such bridge which was not constructed in accordance with plans and specifications which would meet the standards required by the Secretary of Agriculture at the time such bridge was constructed, nor on account of any bridge the construction of which was completed prior to March 3, 1927: And provided further, That no such payment shall be made which will exceed 50 per centum of the reasonable value or cost of the labor and materials which were actually incorporated in the construction of such bridge, excluding all costs of rights-of-way, property damages, and financing costs, whichever, value or cost, shall be least, and any amount so paid on account of any such bridge from regular Federal-aid road funds shall be used for matching unobligated regular Federal-aid road funds available to the State for expenditure in the improvement of highways on the system of Federal-aid highways, and any amount so paid on account of any such bridge from secondary Federal-aid road funds shall be used for matching unobligated secondary Federal-aid road funds available to the State for expenditure in the improvement of secondary or feeder roads." " SEC. 2. That section 10 of the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1938 is hereby amended to read as follows: "SEC. 10. With the approval of the Federal Works Administrator not to exceed 11⁄2 per centum of the amount apportioned for any year to any State under the Federal Highway Act, as amended and supplemented, except sections 3 and 23 thereof, shall hereafter be used with or without State funds for surveys, plans, engineering, and economic investigations of projects for future construction in such State, either on the Federal-aid highway system and extensions thereof or on secondary or feeder roads or grade-crossing eliminations." " Approved, July 19, 1939. 28 Amended by the acts approved July 13, 1943 (57 Stat. 560) and July 31, 1945 (59 Stat. 507). 27 Amended by sec. 8 of the act approved Dec. 20, 1944 (58 Stat. 838). |