1. What is the purpose of this Notice? This Notice is to advise of the revised distribution among the States of the limitation on Federal-aid highway program obligations.

2. Does the Notice cancel FHWA Notice 4520.183? Yes, this Notice cancels FHWA Notice 4520.183, Federal-aid Highway Program Obligations Fiscal Year (FY) 2005, dated August 18, 2005. The revisions to the obligation limitation are required pursuant to the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), H.R. 3, 109^th Cong. (2005) (enacted).

3. What is the availability of these limitations? This Notice includes amounts advanced (Tables 1 and 2), and reconciliation of such amounts with provisions of SAFETEA-LU, pursuant to the Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2004, Part V (Pub. L. No. 108-310), as amended by the Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2005 (Pub. L. No. 109-14) and the Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2005, Parts II through V (Pub. L. Nos. 109-20, 109-35, 109-37, and 109-40).

4. What are the legislative provisions?

   1. Section 1102(a)(1) of the SAFETEA-LU provides an obligation limitation for the Federal-aid highway program for FY 2005 of $34,422,400,000.

   2. Division H, title I, section 197 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005, P.L. 108-447, contains a Working Capital Fund reduction which reduces the Federal-aid highway program obligation limitation by $2,980,000, to $34,419,420,000.

   3. This limitation shall not apply to obligations for projects covered under:

      1. (1) section 125 of title 23, United States Code (U.S.C.);

      2. (2) section 147 of the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1978;

      3. (3) section 9 of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1981;

      4. (4) sections 131(b) and 131(j) of the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982;

      5. (5) sections 149(b) and 149(c) of the Surface Transportation and Uniform Relocation Assistance Act of 1987;

      6. (6) sections 1103 through 1108 of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991;

      7. (7) section 157 of title 23, U.S.C., as in effect on the day before the date of enactment of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21^st Century;

      8. (8) section 105 of title 23, U.S.C, as in effect for fiscal years 1998 through 2004, but only in an amount equal to $639,000,000 for each of those fiscal years; and

      9. (9) section 105 of title 23, U.S.C., but only in an amount equal to $639,000,000 in FY 2005.

5. What are the Allocated Accounts?

   1. Amounts authorized for administrative expenses, programs funded from the administrative takedown, and amounts authorized for the highway use tax evasion program and for the Bureau of Transportation Statistics are subject to the limitation on obligations.

   2. Unobligated balances of funds from the previous fiscal year that are allocated by the Secretary are subject to the limitation on obligations but are excluded from the State-by-State distribution.

   3. Obligations of funds authorized for Transportation Research are subject to the limitation on obligations. Obligation limitation made available for Transportation Research remains available for 3 years. Obligation Limitation made available for Transportation Research in prior years is in addition to amounts made available for FY 2005.

   4. Amounts that are allocated will be covered by an equal amount of obligation limitation, which will be distributed with the allocation of the funds.

6. What is the Distribution of Obligation Limitation to the States?

   1. The attached Table 1 shows the amount of revised formula obligation limitation distributed to each State for FY 2005. Each State receives a proportional amount of the obligation limitation available to be distributed to the States based on the ratio that State's total apportionments subject to the limitation on obligations, bears to the total of such apportionments for all States.

   2. After August 1, 2005, the Secretary will revise the distribution of limitation made available if a State does not plan to obligate the amount distributed during FY 2005 and redistribute such amount to those States able to obligate amounts in addition to those previously distributed during FY 2005.

7. What are the Special Limitations?

   1. Section 1102(c)(4)(A) of the SAFETEA-LU provides for an obligation limitation within the overall obligation ceiling for the funds authorized under the following:

      1. (1) section 1301 of the SAFETEA-LU, Projects of National and Regional Significance;

      2. (2) section 1302 of the SAFETEA-LU, National Corridor Infrastructure Improvement Program;

      3. (3) section 1934 of the SAFETEA-LU, Transportation Improvements;

      4. (4) section 117, title 23 U.S.C., but individually for High Priority Projects numbered 1 through 3676 contained in section 1702 of SAFETEA-LU, and in aggregate to each State for projects numbered 3677-5173;

      5. (5) section 144(g) of title 23, U.S.C., the Discretionary Bridge Program;

      6. (6) section 14501 of title 40, U.S.C., Appalachian Development Highway System Program; and

      7. (7) section 117 of Division H, title I, of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005, P.L. 108-447, for Delta Regional Authority, Surface Transportation Projects, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

   2. Section 1102(c)(4)(B) of the SAFETEA-LU provides that $2,000,000,000 of the obligation limitation shall be distributed for the Equity Bonus Program, (title, 23 U.S.C. section 105).

   3. Section 1102(g) of the SAFETEA-LU provides that the special limitation associated with the programs listed in section 1102(c)(4)(A) shall remain available until used for the obligation of funds for which distributed and shall be in addition to any amount of any limitation imposed for future fiscal years.

   4. Section 1102(i) of the SAFETEA-LU provides flexibility for FY 2005 only, by permitting obligation limitation distributed under section 1102(c)(4)(A) for the High Priority Projects Program, Projects of National and Regional Significance, National Corridor Infrastructure Improvement Program, and Transportation Improvements, to be used as "formula limitation" (limitation distributed under section1102(c)(6) of SAFETEA-LU). Limitation so used is to be restored to its original purpose when the FY 2006 obligation limitation is distributed. The obligation limitation associated with these programs is shown in Table 3. Flexibility under section 1102(i) of the SAFETEA-LU is also provided for Discretionary Bridge Program funds allocated for fiscal year 2005.

   5. Section 1102(j) of the SAFETEA-LU provides flexibility by permitting obligation limitation assigned individually to High Priority Projects numbered 1-3676 in the table in section 1702, to be used for any other project in that section in the same State. Limitation so used must be restored to its original purpose when the FY 2006 obligation limitation is distributed.

   6. The State-by-State distribution of the revised special limitation associated with Equity Bonus Program and the Appalachian Development Highway System Program for FY 2005 is also shown on the attached Table 1.

8. Are there any transfer or withholding provisions? Yes, limitation will be transferred to the State's 402 Safety Program for those States that failed to meet the provisions of title 23, U.S.C., section 154, the Open Container Requirements law; and title 23, U.S.C., section 164, the Minimum Penalties for Repeat Offenders for Driving While Intoxicated or Driving Under the Influence law for FY 2005. The amounts of the revised transfers and associated obligation limitation are shown on Table 2.

9. Are there any reconciliations? Reconciliation has been made between formula limitation, special limitation, limitation associated with penalty transfer, and exempt limitation as needed. The details of the reconciliation will be shown in a separate notification.

10. What action is required? Division Administrators should ensure that copies of this Notice are provided to the State departments of transportation.

Attachments

Table 1

Table 2

Table 3