H.R. 5479

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5479 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 5479

To direct the Secretary of Transportation to establish a grant program 
relating to the digitization of county roads and creation of publicly 
accessible road datasets, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

September 18, 2025

Mr. Moore of Utah (for himself, Ms. Hoyle of Oregon, Mr. Hurd of 
Colorado, and Ms. Lee of Nevada) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To direct the Secretary of Transportation to establish a grant program 
relating to the digitization of county roads and creation of publicly 
accessible road datasets, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Modernizing Access to Public Roads 
Act'' or ``MAP Roads Act''.

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF COUNTY ROAD ACCESS AND MAPPING PILOT PROGRAM.

(a) Establishment.--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.
(b) Application.--
(1) In general.--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.
(2) Priority.--In selecting an application for a grant 
under this Act, the Secretary shall give priority to an 
application in which the applicant State--
(A) identifies a significant deficiency in 
digitized county roads within the State;
(B) demonstrates the capacity to administer--
(i) a subgrant program to distribute funds 
to counties; and
(ii) a statewide repository for county road 
data; and
(C) expresses a commitment to coordinating with 
counties to create shared geospatial data standards.
(c) Use of Funds.--
(1) County activities.--Funds distributed to counties under 
this Act may be used to--
(A) digitize official county road records;
(B) convert paper maps or outdated formats to 
standardized geospatial datasets; and
(C) train personnel or hire contractors to assist 
in data creation and conversion.
(2) State repository.--Each participating State department 
of transportation shall--
(A) serve as the centralized data repository for 
all road data produced by counties under this program;
(B) ensure that such data--
(i) is published on a publicly accessible 
website;
(ii) is organized in a manner that 
distinguishes between public and private roads;
(iii) is compatible with third-party 
mapping platforms; and
(iv) is updated at least annually; and
(C) to the maximum extent practicable, coordinate 
with Federal agencies and mapping authorities to align 
data formats and metadata.
(d) Reporting Requirements.--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--
(1) a list of counties that received a subgrant;
(2) the amount of funding distributed to each county;
(3) the number of miles of county roads digitized under the 
program;
(4) the status of State repository development and data 
integration efforts; and
(5) any recommendations for improvement or expansion of the 
program.
(e) Definitions.--In this Act:
(1) County.--The term ``county'' has meaning given the term 
in section 101 of title 23, United States Code.
(2) County road.--The term ``county road'' means a public 
road that is recognized and maintained by a county government.
(3) Digitization.--The term ``digitization'' means the 
process of converting physical or analog map-based information 
into standardized electronic formats to produce geospatial 
data.
(4) 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).
(f) Savings Clause.--Nothing in this Act shall be construed to--
(1) 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;
(2) alter, affect, or determine the legal status of any 
road for purposes of ownership, jurisdiction, or public access; 
or
(3) 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.
(g) Rule of Construction.--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.
(h) Authorization of Appropriations.--
(1) In general.--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.
(2) Administrative expenses.--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).
(i) Sunset.--The authority to make grants under this Act shall 
terminate on September 30, 2031, unless reauthorized by Congress.
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