AASHTO Journal, 4 March 2016
The Federal Highway Administration has issued a new order that spells out in detail the procedures its headquarters and division offices are to follow to provide state departments of transportation with emergency relief funds after a major storm or other event damages federal-aid roads and bridges.
The Feb. 22 order, signed by Administrator Gregory Nadeau, explained that its purpose was “to strengthen the administration and oversight of the ER program to ensure the effective use of limited ER funding for eligible projects to restore federal-aid roads and bridges after a qualified event.”
It further said the order was necessary because the FHWA must ensure that ER funds “are only used for allowable, necessary and reasonable costs,” and that “external and internal reviews have expressed concerns about the administration of the ER program nationally.”
Those reviews, it added, had found a lack of documentation and inconsistent oversight in the program that provides state DOTs millions of “quick release” dollars each year, and often provides the earliest federal aid to those agencies when they are trying to restore road networks after a disaster strikes.
The order said past reviews of the program also found a “lack of verification that the appropriate federal share is being applied,” plus “tardiness in making disaster assessments and detailed damage inspections, and in submitting ER funding applications.”
While the emergency relief program is under the FHWA Office of Program Administration, also referred to as HIPA-10, the order said the FHWA division offices working directly with state DOTs “have the primary responsibility to ensure effective use of ER funds.”
It also shows how much information the state agencies will need to provide FHWA offices when tapping the emergency fund.
Among other instructions, the order said those divisions should coordinate with state DOTs on determining if the state agency will need the emergency funds, on damage assessments and documents including letters of intent to seek the ER money and acknowledgement letters.
It charged the division with ensuring the state agency “submits a damage survey summary report at least six weeks after its letter of intent,” although “the division may extend this time in very unusual circumstances.”
In addition, the order said that FHWA “divisions are responsible for determining and documenting the eligibility of ER sites,” so division personnel are to “participate in inspections of potential ER sites (subject to staff and budget constraints) to establish the severity and extent of damages and the types of repairs that will be required.”
The order also listed ER program responsibilities for tracking developments in other types of qualifying events besides storms, and how FHWA divisions should respond.
“For damage caused by a third party where ER funds have been provided, such as a truck crash into a bridge pier,” it said, “ensure that the [state DOT] makes prompt and diligent efforts to recover repair costs from the legally responsible party. The federal share of the recovery is to be credited to the ER project.”
It added that the divisions need to “track the status of recovery efforts and provide updates to HIPA-10,” and “coordinate settlement matters with the Office of Chief Counsel.”