§1504 Broadband Infrastructure Deployment

Summary

Requires the Transportation Secretary to make rules so every State that gets money under chapter 1 of title 23 must take steps to help put broadband into highway and public right-of-way projects. Key terms: "appropriate State agency" = a state agency with experience in broadband projects; "broadband infrastructure" = buried, underground, aerial, wireless, or wireline facilities that carry voice, video, data, or graphics; "broadband infrastructure entity" = an organization that installs, owns, or runs that infrastructure and provides service as the State decides; "State" = a State, the District of Columbia, or Puerto Rico. Under the rules, the State department of transportation, working with those agencies, must name a broadband utility coordinator, set up a registration process for broadband providers, send annual electronic notice about the State transportation improvement program (and other notices when needed), and coordinate with statewide telecom, broadband, transportation, and land-use plans to avoid repeated digging. If a State chooses to allow broadband work in a Federal-aid highway right-of-way, the State DOT must act so existing broadband providers are not treated worse than others. The rules only apply to federal obligations or spending first approved on or after the date the rules take effect. States are not forced to allow broadband in rights-of-way, and the Secretary cannot withhold or reserve title 23 funds or project approvals over these rules.