23 U.S.C. § 142 — Public transportation

(a)(1) To encourage public bus transit on federal-aid highways, and increase how many people those highways can move, the Secretary may approve as a project things like exclusive or preferential high-occupancy-vehicle lanes, highway traffic control devices, bus passenger loading areas and shelters, and fringe or corridor parking facilities — which may include electric-vehicle charging or natural-gas refueling stations — to serve high-occupancy vehicles and public transit passengers. Money apportioned under section 104(b) may pay for these. If fees are charged for a parking facility built under this section, the rate can't exceed what's needed to maintain and operate the facility and provide shuttle service to and from it, including compensation to whoever runs the facility or shuttle. (2) Beyond the projects in paragraph (1), the Secretary may also approve payment from section 104(b)(2) funds for any capital transit project eligible under chapter 53 of title 49, capital improvements connecting intercity and rural bus service, and facilities connecting highway transportation to other modes of transportation. (3) Bus corridors. The Secretary may also approve payment from section 104(b)(2) or (7) funds for a capital project to build a bus rapid transit corridor or dedicated bus lanes, including constructing or installing: (A) traffic signaling and prioritization systems; (B) redesigned intersections needed for the corridor; (C) on-street stations; (D) fare collection systems; (E) information and wayfinding systems; and (F) depots. (b) Funds apportioned under section 104(b)(1) may pay the federal share of exclusive or preferential routes or lanes for high-occupancy vehicles, trucks, and emergency vehicles. Routes built under this subsection aren't subject to the third sentence of section 109(b) of this title. (c) Accommodation of Other Modes of Transportation. The Secretary may approve, as a project paid from section 104(b) funds, modifications to existing highways needed to accommodate other modes of transportation, as long as the changes won't hurt automotive safety. (d) Metropolitan Planning. Any project carried out under this section in an urbanized area must follow the metropolitan planning requirements of section 134. (e)(1) For all purposes of this title, a project approved under subsection (a)(1) is deemed a highway project. (2) Projects approved under subsection (a)(2) are governed by all the provisions of this title that apply to surface transportation block grant projects, except where the Secretary determines a provision is inconsistent. (3) The federal share for projects under subsection (a) is the share set by section 120 of this title. (f) Availability of Rights-of-Way. Whenever there's enough land or air space within a federally funded highway's publicly acquired rights-of-way, the Secretary must authorize a state to make that land, air space, and right-of-way available — with or without charge — to a public or private authority, company, or other person, to build needed passenger, commuter, or high-speed rail, magnetic levitation systems, or other highway and nonhighway public transit facilities, as long as it won't hurt automotive safety. (g) Assistance provided under subsection (a)(2) doesn't bring a non-supervisory employee of an urban mass transportation system (or related agency) under chapter 15 of title 5 if that chapter otherwise wouldn't apply to them. (h) Funds available for subsection (a)(2) purposes must supplement — not replace — funding already authorized and available under chapter 53 of title 49.