Title 6 — Domestic SecurityRelease 119-73

§1203 Hazardous materials highway routing

Title 6 › Chapter CHAPTER 4— - TRANSPORTATION SECURITY › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER IV— - SURFACE TRANSPORTATION SECURITY › Part Part D— - Hazardous Material and Pipeline Security › § 1203

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

By not later than 1 year after August 3, 2007, the Secretary of Transportation, after consulting the other Secretary named in the law, must document current and proposed truck routes for radioactive and nonradioactive hazardous materials and build a GIS-based framework for a national route registry. The Secretary must study routes to find clear safety and security criteria for picking routes. The Secretary must compare U.S., Canada, and Mexico rules to find conflicts. The Secretary must record safety and security concerns from the public, carriers, and state, local, territorial, and tribal governments. The Secretary must make guidance for State officials to help them pick safer routes consistent with the 13 safety-based nonradioactive routing criteria and the radioactive routing criteria in subpart C of part 397 of title 49. The Secretary must make a tool for States to test routes, check security risks, and try fixes. The Secretary must send a report to the appropriate congressional committees about these actions and any recommended changes to the routing rules in part 397 of title 49. Also by that deadline, the Secretary must finish an assessment of the safety and national security benefits of existing route plans for explosives and radioactive materials. The study must compare the share and severity of incidents for shipments that must have route plans with those that do not. It must also measure the safety and security benefits, feasibility, and costs of requiring every motor carrier with a hazardous material safety permit under part 385 to keep, follow, and carry a route plan that meets section 397.101 when moving the types and amounts listed in section 385.403, and it must consider tank truck, truckload, and less-than-truckload carriers. The Secretary must send that report to the appropriate congressional committees. If the Secretary finds the requirement would improve safety and security without unreasonable cost or burden, the Secretary must require those permit holders to carry such route plans.

Full Legal Text

Title 6, §1203

Domestic Security — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Not later than 1 year after August 3, 2007, the Secretary of Transportation, in consultation with the Secretary, shall—

(1)document existing and proposed routes for the transportation of radioactive and nonradioactive hazardous materials by motor carrier, and develop a framework for using a geographic information system-based approach to characterize routes in the national hazardous materials route registry;

(2)assess and characterize existing and proposed routes for the transportation of radioactive and nonradioactive hazardous materials by motor carrier for the purpose of identifying measurable criteria for selecting routes based on safety and security concerns;

(3)analyze current route-related hazardous materials regulations in the United States, Canada, and Mexico to identify cross-border differences and conflicting regulations;

(4)document the safety and security concerns of the public, motor carriers, and State, local, territorial, and tribal governments about the highway routing of hazardous materials;

(5)prepare guidance materials for State officials to assist them in identifying and reducing both safety concerns and security risks when designating highway routes for hazardous materials consistent with the 13 safety-based nonradioactive materials routing criteria and radioactive materials routing criteria in subpart C part 397 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations;

(6)develop a tool that will enable State officials to examine potential routes for the highway transportation of hazardous materials, assess specific security risks associated with each route, and explore alternative mitigation measures; and

(7)transmit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on the actions taken to fulfill paragraphs (1) through (6) and any recommended changes to the routing requirements for the highway transportation of hazardous materials in part 397 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations.

(b)(1)Not later than 1 year after August 3, 2007, the Secretary of Transportation shall complete an assessment of the safety and national security benefits achieved under existing requirements for route plans, in written or electronic format, for explosives and radioactive materials. The assessment shall, at a minimum—

(A)compare the percentage of Department of Transportation recordable incidents and the severity of such incidents for shipments of explosives and radioactive materials for which such route plans are required with the percentage of recordable incidents and the severity of such incidents for shipments of explosives and radioactive materials not subject to such route plans; and

(B)quantify the security and safety benefits, feasibility, and costs of requiring each motor carrier that is required to have a hazardous material safety permit under part 385 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, to maintain, follow, and carry such a route plan that meets the requirements of section 397.101 of that title when transporting the type and quantity of hazardous materials described in section 385.403, taking into account the various segments of the motor carrier industry, including tank truck, truckload and less than truckload carriers.

(2)Not later than 1 year after August 3, 2007, the Secretary of Transportation shall submit a report to the appropriate congressional committees containing the findings and conclusions of the assessment.

(c)The Secretary shall require motor carriers that have a hazardous material safety permit under part 385 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, to maintain, follow, and carry a route plan, in written or electronic format, that meets the requirements of section 397.101 of that title when transporting the type and quantity of hazardous materials described in section 385.403 if the Secretary determines, under the assessment required in subsection (b), that such a requirement would enhance security and safety without imposing unreasonable costs or burdens upon motor carriers.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

6 U.S.C. § 1203

Title 6 — Domestic Security

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73