23 U.S.C. § 135 — Statewide and nonmetropolitan transportation planning

(a) General Requirements. Each state must develop a statewide transportation plan and a statewide transportation improvement program covering the whole state, working from the goals in section 134. These must cover the development, management, and operation of an integrated, multi-mode transportation system — roads, accessible walkways, bike facilities, and connections to intercity buses and other intermodal facilities — as part of both the state's and the nation's transportation system. The process for building the plan and program must consider every mode of transportation and the policies in section 134(a), and must be continuing, cooperative, and thorough, scaled to how complex the state's transportation problems are. (b) Coordination With Metropolitan Planning; State Implementation Plan. A state must (1) coordinate its statewide planning with metropolitan-area planning done under section 134, and with statewide trade, economic development, and multistate planning efforts, and (2) develop the transportation part of the state's Clean Air Act implementation plan. (c) Interstate Agreements. Two or more states may enter agreements or compacts — as long as they don't conflict with federal law — to cooperate on transportation efforts affecting interstate areas, and to set up whatever authorities they think are needed to make those agreements work. The right to alter, amend, or repeal these compacts is expressly kept in reserve. (d) Scope of Planning Process. Each state's planning process must consider and support projects, strategies, and services that (A) support economic vitality, including global competitiveness, productivity, and efficiency; (B) increase safety for motorized and nonmotorized users; (C) increase security for those users; (D) increase accessibility and mobility for people and freight; (E) protect the environment, promote energy conservation, improve quality of life, and keep transportation consistent with state and local growth plans; (F) improve connections across transportation modes; (G) promote efficient system management and operation; (H) emphasize preserving the existing system; (I) improve resiliency and reliability and reduce stormwater impacts; and (J) enhance travel and tourism. The process must also use a performance-based approach: states must set performance targets tied to the national goals in section 150(b) and the purposes in 49 U.S.C. § 5301, coordinating those targets with metropolitan planning organizations (or, where there is none, with public transportation providers) as much as practical. States must fold these goals, measures, and targets into their statewide planning, along with other state transportation plans and any plans public transportation providers develop under 49 U.S.C. chapter 53. States must consider these performance measures and targets when setting policies, programs, and funding priorities. No court may review whether a state properly considered these planning factors. (e) Additional Requirements. At minimum, states must (1) cooperate with affected local officials in nonmetropolitan areas, or work through regional transportation planning organizations described in subsection (m); (2) consider the concerns of tribal governments and federal land management agencies with land inside the state; and (3) consider coordinating plans and planning activities with areas outside metropolitan planning areas and with other states. (f) Long-range Statewide Transportation Plan. States must develop a long-range plan covering at least a 20-year forecast period for the whole state, addressing development and implementation of an intermodal system. This plan must be built in cooperation with each metropolitan planning organization for metro areas; with affected nonmetropolitan officials or regional transportation planning organizations for rural areas (and the Secretary of Transportation will not review or approve that consultation process); and with tribal governments and the Secretary of the Interior for tribal land. The plan must be developed, as appropriate, in consultation with land use, natural resource, environmental, and historic preservation agencies, comparing the transportation plan against conservation plans, maps, and resource inventories where they exist. In developing the plan, the state must give nonmetropolitan local officials (or regional transportation planning organizations) a chance to participate, and give citizens, agencies, transit workers, ports, freight shippers, private transportation providers, disabled people's representatives, and other interested parties a reasonable chance to comment — using, as much as practical, a documented consultative process separate from general public involvement, accessible meeting locations and times, visualization techniques, and electronically accessible information such as the internet. States may also use social media and web tools to encourage participation and gather feedback. The plan must discuss potential environmental mitigation activities and where to carry them out, developed in consultation with federal, state, and tribal wildlife, land, and regulatory agencies. The plan may include a financial plan showing how it will be funded, expected public and private resources, and additional financing strategies, plus an illustrative list of extra projects that would be included if more money became available — but the state is not required to actually select any project from that illustrative list. The plan must include the performance measures and targets used under subsection (d)(2), plus a system performance report tracking progress against those targets over time. The plan should include strategies to preserve and efficiently use the existing system, considering the role intercity buses can play in cutting congestion, pollution, and energy use, including privately owned bus systems. Each long-range plan must be published or otherwise made available, including electronically where practical. (g) Statewide Transportation Improvement Program. Each state must develop a program covering all areas of the state, running for 4 years and updated at least every 4 years (or more often if the Governor chooses). The program must be developed in cooperation with metropolitan planning organizations for metro areas; with affected nonmetropolitan officials or regional transportation planning organizations for rural areas (again, without Secretary review of that specific process); and with tribal governments and the Secretary of the Interior for tribal land. The state must give citizens, agencies, transit workers, ports, freight shippers, private transportation providers, and other interested parties a reasonable chance to comment. As much as practical, the program must discuss how it will help meet the performance targets set in the statewide plan, linking funding priorities to those targets. The program must include all federally supported surface transportation spending in the state. An annual list of funded projects in each metropolitan planning area must be published, matching the funding categories used in the metro program. Regionally significant projects funded under chapter 2 must be listed individually; other chapter 2 projects can be grouped into one line item or listed individually. Every project must be consistent with the statewide plan, identical to how it's described in the approved metropolitan transportation plan, and — in areas that don't meet air quality standards for ozone, particulate matter, or carbon monoxide — consistent with the state's Clean Air Act implementation plan. A project can only be included if full funding can reasonably be expected within the time planned for finishing it. The program may include a financial plan showing funding sources and strategies, plus an illustrative list of extra projects for if more money becomes available — the state is not required to pick from that list, but the Secretary must act before any illustrative project can be moved into the approved program. The program must reflect funding priorities required by this title and 49 U.S.C. chapter 53. In areas under 50,000 people, most projects are chosen by the state working in cooperation with affected local officials (or regional transportation planning organizations); National Highway System, bridge program, and Interstate maintenance projects in those areas are instead chosen by the state after consulting those local officials. Every 4 years, the Secretary must review and approve the program if it rests on a current planning finding, and the Secretary must make that finding at least every 4 years, confirming the planning process follows this section and section 134. No Secretary action is needed for a state to move a project ahead of another project already in the approved program. (h) Performance-based Planning Processes Evaluation. The Secretary must set criteria to judge how effective each state's performance-based planning is, considering: (A) how much progress the state is making toward its performance targets, and whether those targets were appropriate; (B) how efficient and cost-effective the state's transportation investments are; and (C) whether the state's investment process relies on transparent, accountable public input, and gives the public understandable reports on system performance. Within 5 years of MAP-21's enactment, the Secretary must report to Congress on how effective performance-based planning is overall and state by state, and must publish that report, including electronically. (i) Funding. Funds set aside under section 104(b)(6) and under 49 U.S.C. § 5305(g) pay for this section. (j) Treatment of Certain State Laws as Congestion Management Processes. State laws, rules, or regulations on congestion management can count as satisfying the congestion management process required by this section and by section 134 and 49 U.S.C. §§ 5303–5304, if the Secretary finds them consistent with those provisions' purposes. (k) Continuation of Current Review Practice. Because statewide transportation plans and programs go through public comment, because individual projects within them get environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and because the Secretary's decisions on these plans and programs had not been reviewed under NEPA as of January 1, 1997, this section says the Secretary's decisions about a metropolitan or statewide transportation plan or program are not treated as a federal action subject to NEPA review. (l) Schedule for Implementation. The Secretary must issue guidance on when states must implement changes made by this section, taking into account each state's existing planning update cycle, and may not require a state to deviate from that cycle. States must reflect the changes in their plan or program updates within 2 years after the Secretary issues that guidance. (m) Designation of Regional Transportation Planning Organizations. A state may set up regional transportation planning organizations to strengthen planning, coordination, and implementation of long-range plans and improvement programs, focused on nonmetropolitan areas. Such an organization must be a multi-jurisdictional group of volunteer nonmetropolitan local officials (or their designees) and volunteer representatives of local transportation systems. At minimum, it must have a policy committee — mostly nonmetropolitan local officials or their designees, plus other appropriate representatives from the state, private business, transportation providers, economic development, and the public — and a fiscal and administrative agent, such as an existing regional planning organization, to provide professional support. Its duties include: developing and maintaining regional long-range multimodal plans with the state; developing a regional improvement program for the state to consider; coordinating local land use and economic development plans with transportation plans; giving technical help to local officials; participating in national, multistate, and state policy processes to represent nonmetropolitan interests; hosting public participation forums; sharing plans with neighboring regional organizations, metropolitan planning organizations, and tribal organizations; and supporting the statewide planning process under subsection (d) in other necessary ways. If a state chooses not to set up a regional transportation planning organization, it must instead consult with affected nonmetropolitan local officials to identify projects of regional significance.