§204 Federal Lands Access Program

Summary

Pays money to plan, build, fix, and maintain roads and related facilities that are on, next to, or that give people access to Federal land. It covers work like planning, engineering, repairs, rebuilding, and construction. It also pays for things nearby such as parking and kiosks, buying scenic or historic sites, sidewalks and bike paths, wildlife safety measures, rest areas and utilities, signs and wayfinding, landscaping, fixing visual blight, transit operation and other eligible transportation projects. The U.S. Secretary of Transportation and the federal land agency in charge run the program. They can make contracts or agreements with States or Indian tribes. Projects are usually put out for competitive bids unless a different method is clearly in the public interest. State or local money put into a project is credited to the program. All money must be handled under rules approved by the Secretary of Transportation. Project work should use local native plants when possible and designs that cut runoff and heat. The money is split among States that have Federal land. States that have at least 1 1/2 percent of the total Federal public land get 80 percent of the funds; the other States share 20 percent. Each of those two pools is divided 30 percent by recreational visits, 5 percent by Federal land area, 55 percent by Federal public road miles, and 10 percent by number of Federal public bridges. The National Park Service, the Forest Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Army Corps of Engineers provide the data for those formulas. In each State, a committee with a Federal Highway Administration member, a State DOT member, and a local representative decides which projects to fund. That committee must work with the federal agencies and should prefer projects that serve high‑use recreation sites or federal economic generators identified by those agencies.