P.l.. 109-59

H. R. 3

One Hundred Ninth Congress of the United
States of America
AT THE FIRST SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday, the fourth day of January, two thousand and five

An Act
To authorize funds for Federal-aid highways, highway safety programs, and transit programs, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE

(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safe, Accountable,
Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for
Users’’ or ‘‘SAFETEA–LU’’.

Subtitle H—Environment
SEC. 1801. CONSTRUCTION OF FERRY BOATS AND FERRY TERMINAL FACILITIES.

(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 147 of title 23, United States Code, is amended to read as follows:
‘‘§ 147. Construction of ferry boats and ferry terminal facilities
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry out a program for construction of ferry boats and ferry terminal
facilities in accordance with section 129(c).
‘‘(b) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share of the cost of construction of ferry boats, ferry terminals, and ferry
maintenance facilities under this section shall be 80 percent.
‘‘(c) ALLOCATION OF FUNDS.—The Secretary shall give priority in the allocation of funds under this section to those
ferry systems, and public entities responsible for developing ferries, that—
‘‘ (1) provide critical access to areas that are not well-served by other modes of surface transportation;
‘‘ (2) carry the greatest number of passengers and vehicles; or
‘‘ (3) carry the greatest number of passengers in passenger only service.
‘‘(d) SET-ASIDE FOR PROJECTS ON NHS.—
‘‘ (1) IN GENERAL.—$20,000,000 of the amount made available to carry out this section for each of fiscal years
2005 through 2009 shall be obligated for the construction or refurbishment of ferry boats and ferry terminal facilities
and approaches to such facilities within marine highway systems that are part of the National Highway System.
‘‘ (2) ALASKA.—$10,000,000 of the $20,000,000 for a fiscal year made available under paragraph (1) shall be
made available to the State of Alaska.
‘‘ (3) NEW JERSEY.—$5,000,000 of the $20,000,000 for a fiscal year made available under paragraph (1) shall be
made available to the State of New Jersey.
‘’ (4) WASHINGTON.—$5,000,000 of the $20,000,000 for a fiscal year made available under paragraph (1) shall be
made available to the State of Washington.
‘‘(e) PERIOD OF AVAILABILITY.—Notwithstanding section 118(b), funds made available to carry out this section shall
remain available until expended.
‘‘(f) APPLICABILITY.—All provisions of this chapter that are applicable to the National Highway System, other than
provisions relating to apportionment formula and Federal share, shall apply to funds made available to carry out this
section, except as determined by the Secretary to be inconsistent with this section.’’.
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The analysis for such subchapter is amended by striking the item relating to section
147 and inserting the following:
‘‘ 147. Construction of ferry boats and ferry terminal facilities.’’

(c) CONFORMING REPEAL.—Section 1064 of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (105 Stat.
2005) is repealed.
(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—In addition to amounts made available to carry out section 147 of title 23,
United States Code, by section 1101 of this Act, there are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be
necessary to carry out such section 147 for fiscal year 2006 and each fiscal year thereafter. Such funds shall remain
available until expended.
(e) NATIONAL FERRY DATABASE.—
(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary, acting through the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, shall establish and
maintain a national ferry database.
(2) CONTENTS.—The database shall contain current information regarding ferry systems, including information
regarding routes, vessels, passengers and vehicles carried, funding sources and such other information as the
Secretary considers useful.
(3) UPDATE REPORT.—Using information collected through the database, the Secretary shall periodically
modify as appropriate the report submitted under section 1207(c) of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st
Century (23 U.S.C. 129 note; 112 Stat. 185–186).
(4) REQUIREMENTS.—The Secretary shall—
(A) compile the database not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act and update the
database every 2 years thereafter;
(B) ensure that the database is easily accessible to the public; and
(C) make available, from the amounts made available for the Bureau of Transportation Statistics by section
5101 of this Act, not more than $500,000 for each of fiscal years 2006 through 2009 to establish and maintain the
database.
(f) TERRITORY FERRIES.—Section 129(c)(5) of title 23, United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘any territory of the United States’’.