II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 430 To direct the Secretary of Transportation to establish a grant program for projects to strengthen and protect vulnerable infrastructure used during mass evacuations, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 24, 2021 Mr. MARKEY (for himself and Ms. WARREN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works A BILL To direct the Secretary of Transportation to establish a grant program for projects to strengthen and protect vulnerable infrastructure used during mass evacuations, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Enhancing the 4 Strength and Capacity of America’s Primary Evacuation 5 routes Act’’ or the ‘‘ESCAPE Act’’. 6 SEC. 2. EVACUATION ROUTE PROGRAM. 7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:21 Mar 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S430.IS S430 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 430 IS (1) EVACUATION ROUTE.—The term ‘‘evacu- 1 ation route’’ means a route that— 2 (A) is owned, operated, or maintained by a 3 Federal, State, Tribal, or local government or a 4 private entity; 5 (B) is used— 6 (i) to transport the public away from 7 an emergency event (as defined in section 8 667.3 of title 23, Code of Federal Regula- 9 tions (or successor regulations)) that is an- 10 ticipated, reasonably likely, ongoing, or 11 past; or 12 (ii) to transport emergency responders 13 and recovery resources; 14 (C) is designated by the State in which the 15 route is located (or in the case of a federally 16 owned route, the head of the Federal agency 17 with jurisdiction over the route) for the pur- 18 poses described in subparagraph (B); and 19 (D) meets the criteria for a mass evacu- 20 ation route pursuant to subsection (b)(1). 21 (2) PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘program’’ means 22 the competitive grant program established under 23 subsection (c)(1). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:21 Mar 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S430.IS S430 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 430 IS (3) RESILIENCE PROJECT.—The term ‘‘resil- 1 ience project’’ means a project— 2 (A) with the ability to anticipate, prepare 3 for, and adapt to changing conditions and with- 4 stand, respond to, and recover rapidly from dis- 5 ruptions; and 6 (B) designed and built to address current 7 and future vulnerabilities to an evacuation 8 route due to— 9 (i) future occurrence or recurrence of 10 emergency events (as defined in section 11 667.3 of title 23, Code of Federal Regula- 12 tions (or successor regulations)) that are 13 likely to occur in the geographic area in 14 which the evacuation route is located; or 15 (ii) projected changes in development 16 patterns, demographics, or extreme events 17 based on the best available evidence and 18 analysis. 19 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 20 the Secretary of Transportation. 21 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF MASS EVACUATION ROUTE 22 CRITERIA.— 23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 24 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:21 Mar 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S430.IS S430 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 430 IS retary, in consultation with the Administrator of the 1 Federal Emergency Management Agency, State de- 2 partments of transportation, metropolitan planning 3 organizations, and other stakeholders, shall establish 4 criteria for eligible entities described in subsection 5 (f) to identify mass evacuation routes. 6 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—In carrying out para- 7 graph (1), the Secretary shall— 8 (A) provide a period of not less than 90 9 days for State departments of transportation, 10 metropolitan planning organizations, other 11 stakeholders, and the public to comment on the 12 criteria proposed by the Secretary under that 13 paragraph; and 14 (B) take into consideration any comments 15 received pursuant to subparagraph (A). 16 (c) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.— 17 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary (in consulta- 18 tion with the Administrator of the Federal Emer- 19 gency Management Agency for the purposes de- 20 scribed in paragraph (2)) shall establish a competi- 21 tive grant program to provide grants for resilience 22 projects that strengthen and protect evacuation 23 routes that are essential for providing and sup- 24 porting mass evacuations caused by emergency 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:21 Mar 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S430.IS S430 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 430 IS events (as defined in section 667.3 of title 23, Code 1 of Federal Regulations (or successor regulations)). 2 (2) CONSULTATION.—In carrying out the pro- 3 gram, the Secretary shall consult with the Adminis- 4 trator of the Federal Emergency Management Agen- 5 cy for the purpose of providing technical assistance 6 to the Secretary and to applicants. 7 (d) ELIGIBLE RESILIENCE PROJECTS.—The Sec- 8 retary shall provide grants under this section to resilience 9 projects— 10 (1) described in subsection (e); and 11 (2) that— 12 (A) ensure the ability of the evacuation 13 route to provide safe passage during a mass 14 evacuation and reduce the risk of damage to 15 evacuation routes as a result of future emer- 16 gency events (as defined in section 667.3 of 17 title 23, Code of Federal Regulations (or suc- 18 cessor regulations)), including— 19 (i) restoring or replacing existing 20 mass evacuation routes that are classified 21 as being in poor condition or do not meet 22 current geometric standards; 23 (ii) protecting, elevating, or relocating 24 assets that are located in a base floodplain; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:21 Mar 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S430.IS S430 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 430 IS (iii) protecting assets vulnerable to 1 high winds; 2 (iv) installing mitigation measures 3 that prevent the intrusion of floodwaters 4 into transportation systems; 5 (v) strengthening systems that remove 6 rainwater from transportation facilities or 7 services; or 8 (vi) other resilience projects that ad- 9 dress identified vulnerabilities; 10 (B) if the Secretary determines that exist- 11 ing evacuation routes are not sufficient to ade- 12 quately facilitate mass evacuations, expand the 13 capacity of evacuation routes to swiftly and 14 safely accommodate mass evacuations and pro- 15 vide mobility for emergency responders and re- 16 covery resources, including installation of— 17 (i) communications and intelligent 18 transportation system equipment and in- 19 frastructure; 20 (ii) counterflow measures; or 21 (iii) shoulders; 22 (C) are for the construction of— 23 (i) new or redundant evacuation 24 routes, if the Secretary determines that ex- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:21 Mar 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S430.IS S430 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 430 IS isting evacuation routes are not sufficient 1 to adequately facilitate mass evacuations, 2 emergency response, or recovery efforts; or 3 (ii) sheltering facilities; or 4 (D) involve planning and acquisition, in- 5 cluding— 6 (i) mass evacuation planning and 7 preparation, such as— 8 (I) coordination with Federal 9 agencies and departments, agencies 10 and departments within the State, 11 first responders, and other States; 12 (II) identification of evacuation 13 routes; 14 (III) evacuation route education 15 and awareness campaigns; 16 (IV) traffic analysis and moni- 17 toring; or 18 (V) data sharing; 19 (ii) acquisition of evacuation route 20 and traffic incident management equip- 21 ment and vehicles; 22 (iii) evacuation route risk assessment; 23 (iv) development of enhanced mass 24 evacuation response capabilities; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:21 Mar 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S430.IS S430 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 430 IS (v) evacuation route signage; or 1 (vi) equipment for pedestrian move- 2 ment. 3 (e) ELIGIBLE PROJECTS.—The Secretary may make 4 a grant under this section only for a project that is— 5 (1) an evacuation route; 6 (2) a project eligible for assistance under title 7 23, United States Code; 8 (3) a public transportation facility or service eli- 9 gible for assistance under chapter 53 of title 49, 10 United States Code; 11 (4) a facility or service for intercity rail pas- 12 senger transportation (as defined in section 24102 13 of title 49, United States Code); 14 (5) a port facility, including a facility that— 15 (A) connects a port to other modes of 16 transportation; 17 (B) improves the efficiency of mass evacu- 18 ations and disaster relief; or 19 (C) aids transportation; 20 (6) a public-use airport (as defined in section 21 47102 of title 49, United States Code) that is in- 22 cluded in the national plan of integrated airport sys- 23 tems developed by the Federal Aviation Administra- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:21 Mar 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S430.IS S430 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 430 IS tion under section 47103 of title 49, United States 1 Code; or 2 (7) a route owned, operated, or maintained by 3 the Corps of Engineers. 4 (f) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—The Secretary may award 5 a grant under this section to any of the following: 6 (1) A State. 7 (2) A metropolitan planning organization that 8 serves an urbanized area (as defined by the Bureau 9 of the Census) with a population of more than 10 200,000 individuals. 11 (3) A unit of local government. 12 (4) A political subdivision of a State or local 13 government. 14 (5) A special purpose district or public author- 15 ity with a transportation function, including a port 16 authority. 17 (6) A Federal land management agency that 18 applies jointly with a State or group of States. 19 (7) A Tribal government or a consortium of 20 Tribal governments. 21 (8) A multistate or multijurisdictional group of 22 entities described in paragraphs (1) through (7). 23 (g) APPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to receive a grant 24 under this section, an eligible entity shall submit to the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:21 Mar 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S430.IS S430 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 430 IS Secretary an application in such form, at such time, and 1 containing such information as the Secretary determines 2 to be necessary. 3 (h) CRITERIA.—In selecting resilience projects to re- 4 ceive grants under the program, the Secretary shall con- 5 sider— 6 (1) the cost of the project compared to the risk 7 of recurring damage and the cost of future repairs, 8 taking into account current and future emergency 9 events (as defined in section 667.3 of title 23, Code 10 of Federal Regulations (or successor regulations)) 11 and extreme events, to the maximum extent prac- 12 ticable; 13 (2) the extent to which the project reduces the 14 financial risk to the Federal Government; and 15 (3) such other criteria as the Secretary deter- 16 mines to be appropriate. 17 (i) ADMINISTRATION OF PROJECTS.—A project that 18 receives a grant under this section— 19 (1) may be transferred within the Department 20 of Transportation; and 21 (2) shall be administered in accordance with— 22 (A) title 23 and title 49, United States 23 Code, as applicable; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:21 Mar 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S430.IS S430 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •S 430 IS (B) title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 1 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.); 2 (C) the National Environmental Policy Act 3 of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.); and 4 (D) the Uniform Relocation Assistance and 5 Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970 6 (42 U.S.C. 4601 et seq.). 7 (j) FEDERAL COST SHARE.— 8 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Federal share of the 9 cost of a project carried out under the program shall 10 not exceed 80 percent of the total project cost. 11 (2) NON-FEDERAL SHARE.—The eligible entity 12 may use funds provided from other Federal sources 13 to meet the non-Federal cost share requirement for 14 a project under the program. 15 (k) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 16 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section for 17 each fiscal year $1,000,000,000, to remain available until 18 expended. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:21 Mar 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S430.IS S430 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS