Maximizing Transportation Efficiency Act
Sponsored By: Senator Blunt Rochester, Lisa [D-DE]
Introduced
Summary
Expands Transportation Demand Management (TDM) across federal surface transportation programs to make travel smarter, cut congestion, and target money to rural areas and smaller, high-impact projects. This bill would broaden what counts as TDM and fold TDM into several major grant programs.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
4 provisions identified: 4 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.
Defines transportation demand management
This bill would add a legal definition of "transportation demand management" in federal highway law. The definition would list many actions that count as TDM, including employer transit benefits, parking and toll pricing, carpooling and vanpooling, trip planning, telework support, micromobility and walking, HOV/HOT lanes, marketing, and use of data and technology. If enacted, agencies and grant programs that refer to TDM would use this list to decide which projects qualify for federal support.
More federal support for demand management
This bill would let multiple federal surface-transportation grant programs fund projects that implement transportation demand management (TDM) as defined in the bill. It would explicitly allow CMAQ funds to pay for TDM projects, add TDM project types and eligible TDM activities to the INFRA program, make TDM an eligible category for Local and Regional Project Assistance, and add TDM to eligible focuses under the SMRTP grant program. The bill does not create new program-wide funding totals, but it would make it easier for states and local sponsors to use existing federal grant money for TDM work.
Rural transportation grants $20 million
This bill would create a Rural Transportation Demand Management set-aside of $20,000,000 each fiscal year for rural TDM grants. Eligible recipients would include State DOTs, MPOs serving rural areas, local and tribal governments, transit agencies, regional planning groups, nonprofits, and universities doing rural transportation planning. Grants could pay for planning, outreach, data work, vanpooling and carpooling programs, employer incentives, real-time traveler information, mobility platforms, public-private coordination, and some operating costs like staff salaries. If funds are not used in a year, they would be redirected to other program grants that year.
Small congestion relief grants set aside
This bill would change the Congestion Relief Program so more places can apply and smaller projects get dedicated funds. It would remove a phrase that limited some program clauses to areas with more than 1,000,000 people. It would also require the Secretary to set aside $20,000,000 each year for projects that cost between $500,000 and $10,000,000. If the set-aside is not fully used in a year, the unused money would be put toward other projects in the same fiscal year.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Blunt Rochester, Lisa [D-DE]
DE • D
Cosponsors
There are no cosponsors for this bill.
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
View on Congress.gov