HR5479-119

2. Establishment of county road access and mapping pilot program Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Transportation shall establish a pilot grant program to provide grants to States to support rural commerce, increase public safety, and improve public access and navigation by funding the digitization of county roads and the creation of centralized, publicly accessible road datasets. To be eligible to receive a grant under this Act, a State shall submit to the Secretary an application at such time, in such form, and containing such information as the Secretary may require. In selecting an application for a grant under this Act, the Secretary shall give priority to an application in which the applicant State— identifies a significant deficiency in digitized county roads within the State; demonstrates the capacity to administer— a subgrant program to distribute funds to counties; and a statewide repository for county road data; and expresses a commitment to coordinating with counties to create shared geospatial data standards. Funds distributed to counties under this Act may be used to— digitize official county road records; convert paper maps or outdated formats to standardized geospatial datasets; and train personnel or hire contractors to assist in data creation and conversion. Each participating State department of transportation shall— serve as the centralized data repository for all road data produced by counties under this program; ensure that such data— is published on a publicly accessible website; is organized in a manner that distinguishes between public and private roads; is compatible with third-party mapping platforms; and is updated at least annually; and to the maximum extent practicable, coordinate with Federal agencies and mapping authorities to align data formats and metadata. Not later than 6 months after the establishment of the program under subsection (a), and annually thereafter for 3 years, each State awarded a grant under this section shall submit to the Secretary a report, which shall include, with respect to the period of time since the previous report— a list of counties that received a subgrant; the amount of funding distributed to each county; the number of miles of county roads digitized under the program; the status of State repository development and data integration efforts; and any recommendations for improvement or expansion of the program. In this Act: The term county has meaning given the term in section 101 of title 23, United States Code. The term county road means a public road that is recognized and maintained by a county government. The term digitization means the process of converting physical or analog map-based information into standardized electronic formats to produce geospatial data. The term geospatial data has the meaning given such term in section 752 of the Geospatial Data Act of 2018 (43 U.S.C. 2801). Nothing in this Act shall be construed to— confer any new authority upon a county or State to declare, designate, or assert jurisdiction over a road as a county road where such designation or jurisdiction does not otherwise exist under applicable State or local law; alter, affect, or determine the legal status of any road for purposes of ownership, jurisdiction, or public access; or limit or expand any existing rights, claims, or defenses related to road ownership, rights-of-way, or public access under Federal, State, or local law. Nothing in this Act may be construed to permit the public disclosure of geographic information system data regarding the nature, location, character, or ownership of historic, paleontological, or archaeological resources, that is protected under any other provision of law. There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2031, to remain available until expended. Of the funds authorized to be appropriated under paragraph (1), the Secretary may use not more than 2 percent of such funds to administer the program established under subsection (a). The authority to make grants under this Act shall terminate on September 30, 2031, unless reauthorized by Congress.