Section 1101(a)(13) of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21, P.L. 105-178), as amended by the TEA-21 Restoration Act (Title IX of P.L. 105-206), authorized $9,359,850,000 from the Highway Trust Fund over a 6-year period for the 1850 high priority projects listed in Section 1602. Of these funds, $1,403,977,500, or 15 percent, is authorized for FY 1999.

We are hereby allocating $1,403,572,500 to the States for FY 1999 for 1849 of the 1850 designated projects as shown on Attachment 1. This allocation does not include $405,000 for Project 320 in California, which will be allocated in a separate memorandum to our Federal Lands Highway Office as requested by the State.

The appropriation code for these funds is Q92. The funds are available until expended and are subject to obligation limitation. We are also distributing the FY 1999 obligation authority (88.3 percent) by State for the high priority projects as shown in Attachment 2. In accordance with 23 U.S.C. 117(g), as established by TEA-21, this special obligation authority is only available for these high priority projects, and it shall remain available until obligated. This obligation authority is distributed by State, not by project, and it is the State's decision on which projects it may be used in accordance with the provisions of 23 U.S.C. 117.

In accordance with 23 U.S.C. 117(c), the Federal share for these funds is 80 percent. The only exceptions are Project 1020 in Maryland on the Baltimore Washington Parkway, for which Section 1212(h) of TEA-21, as re-designated by the TEA-21 Restoration Act, provides for a Federal share of 100 percent, and the projects in American Samoa and the Virgin Islands, for which 23 U.S.C. 120(h) provides for a Federal share of 100 percent.

The FY 1999 Omnibus Appropriations Act (P.L. 105-277) amended Section 1212(m) of TEA-21 (re-designated as Section 1212(g) by the TEA-21 Restoration Act) to include Alaska, Idaho and West Virginia with Minnesota as States that may pool their high priority project funds. These four States may use any of their allocated high priority project funds for any of their high priority projects provided that no project's authorized amount is reduced. Other States may only obligate high priority project funds on a project that have been allocated for that project.

The TEA-21 high priority projects 577 in Alaska, 178 and 1547 in Georgia, 1132 in Mississippi, and 1083 in Texas were amended by the FY 1999 Omnibus Appropriations Act. The amended project descriptions are included in Attachment 1. The modification to project 577 in Alaska results in the elimination of Demo ID AK007. This project is now included under Demo ID AK017 along with project 1496.

The high priority projects should continue to be administered in accordance with the general implementing guidance provided in my September 4, 1998, memorandum to you. (Subject: Additional Allocation of FY 1998 Funding for High Priority Projects (Demonstration Projects) - TEA-21 Technical Corrections in IRS Reform Act)

By copy of this memorandum, the Budget Division of the Office of Budget and Finance is requested to process these allocations.

If you have any questions, please call Mr. Larry Beidel (202-366-1564) of my staff.