Federal Highway Administration April 2023 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The FHWA is extending the comment period for a request for comments on its existing general applicability waiver for manufactured products under FHWA's Buy America waiver authorities, which was published on March 17, 2023, in the Federal Register. The comment period is currently set to close on April 17, 2023. The extension is based on concern expressed by a number of stakeholders that the original comment period was inadequate to meaningfully review the request for comments, analyze the impact of any possible changes to the existing general applicability waiver for manufactured products, gather information, and provide comprehensive comments. The FHWA recognizes that others interested in commenting may have similar concerns and agrees that the comment period should be extended. Therefore, the comment period is reopened and the closing date for comments is May 22, 2023, which will provide stakeholders and others interested in commenting additional time to submit responses to the docket.

This notice announces that the FHWA and the Utah Department of Transportation (State) plan to renew and amend an existing MOU established pursuant to certain statutory authorities under which FHWA has assigned to the State FHWA's responsibility for determining whether a project is categorically excluded from preparation of an environmental assessment or an environmental impact statement under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) and for carrying out certain other responsibilities for conducting environmental reviews, consultations, and related activities for assigned projects. The public is invited to comment on any aspect of the proposed MOU, including the scope of environmental review, consultation, and other activities which are assigned.

This proposed rule would update the existing Tribal Transportation Program Bridge Program, formerly known as the Indian Reservation Road (IRR) Bridge Program, by renaming it the Tribal Transportation Facility Bridge Program (TTFBP) to comply with the changes made in the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21), carried on through the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, and the recent changes made by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), enacted as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). It would also remove references to terms such as structurally deficient, functionally obsolete, and sufficiency rating. These updates would align the TTFBP terminology for bridge conditions with the terminology used for State departments of transportation (State DOT) in the Federal-aid highway program. This change would establish a consistent terminology for classifying and referring to bridge conditions.