This bill defines "transportation demand management" (TDM) in federal highway law and adds TDM as an eligible activity for several federal grant programs. The definition lists many TDM tools such as employer commute benefits, incentives, pricing, carpooling and vanpooling, trip planning, parking management, telecommuting support, marketing, micromobility, active transportation, and related technologies and data uses. The bill amends existing programs (including Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality, National Infrastructure Project Assistance, Local and Regional Project Assistance, and a large grants program created by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act) to allow funds to be used for TDM activities.
The bill creates a new rural TDM set-aside under the Surface Transportation Block Grant program: $20,000,000 per fiscal year for grants to plan and implement TDM in rural areas. Eligible recipients include State transportation departments, metropolitan planning organizations serving rural areas, local governments, Tribal governments, public transit agencies, regional planning organizations, nonprofits, and colleges. Eligible uses include planning, marketing, data collection, vanpooling and carpooling programs, employer incentive programs, real-time information systems, smart rural hubs, ITS applications, trip-planning apps, public-private coordination, and costs to operate TDM efforts.
The bill also amends the Congestion Relief program to remove a population threshold (opening eligibility beyond areas with more than 1,000,000 people) and establishes a $20,000,000 per-year small project set-aside for projects costing between $500,000 and $10,000,000. Each set-aside includes a rule that unutilized amounts may be used for other program projects.
If enacted, the bill would: expand the federal definition of TDM and make many TDM activities eligible for existing federal grants; create a dedicated $20 million annual grant pool to support TDM planning and services in rural areas; and create a $20 million annual small-project pool for mid-sized congestion relief projects. That may make more federal money available to employers, transit agencies, local governments, Tribes, nonprofits, and universities that run or plan ridesharing, vanpooling, trip-planning tools, parking management, commuter incentives, telework support, and other TDM actions.
The bill specifies two annual set-asides of federal funds: $20,000,000 per fiscal year for rural transportation demand management grants, and $20,000,000 per fiscal year as a small-project set-aside under the Congestion Relief program for projects costing $500,000 to $10,000,000. No publicly available information on overall program costs, offsets, or changes to other funding levels is provided in the bill text.
The bill's findings state that TDM increases the efficiency of existing transportation infrastructure, improves access to jobs and services, reduces congestion and air pollution, and is a cost-effective use of transportation dollars. The findings note rural areas often face higher transportation costs and limited options, and say TDM — especially carpooling and vanpooling — can help rural residents reach jobs and services.
No publicly available information.