This bill would direct the Secretary of Transportation to set up a voluntary pilot program to better connect real-time wildfire hazard alerts with State and local traffic and traveler information systems. The Secretary must work with the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Chief of the Forest Service. The pilot aims to link existing National Weather Service hazard alert products to State and local roadway closure and traveler information systems so drivers can receive notices about closures, detours, and evacuation routes during wildfire events. Participation is voluntary. The bill says the program must use existing data standards when practical, not force States to adopt uniform systems or centralized infrastructure, and let States tailor integration to their current systems. It also clarifies that the Secretary and NOAA do not gain authority to make or direct roadway closure decisions. The Secretary may fund the pilot using amounts otherwise available for surface transportation research and development under 23 U.S.C. 503(b). Not later than 2 years after the pilot starts, the Secretary must report to the relevant Congressional committees on the pilot's effectiveness in improving the timeliness and accuracy of wildfire-related driver notifications.
If your State joins the pilot, transportation agencies would try to send drivers automatic alerts about wildfire-related road closures, detours, and evacuation routes by linking National Weather Service alerts to local traffic systems. Participation is optional for States, and the program does not give federal officials power to order road closures. The pilot is meant to make driver notifications faster and more accurate, but the bill only requires a report evaluating whether that happens.
The bill allows the Secretary to use amounts already available for surface transportation research and development under 23 U.S.C. 503(b) to run the pilot. No publicly available information on estimated total costs, specific funding amounts, or budgetary impacts is provided in the bill text.
No publicly available information.
No publicly available information.