23 U.S.C. § 165 — Territorial and Puerto Rico highway program

(a) Division of Funds. Each fiscal year's territorial and Puerto Rico highway funding is split as follows. (1) For the Puerto Rico highway program: $173,010,000 in fiscal year 2022; $176,960,000 in 2023; $180,120,000 in 2024; $183,675,000 in 2025; and $187,230,000 in 2026. (2) For the territorial highway program: $45,990,000 in fiscal year 2022; $47,040,000 in 2023; $47,880,000 in 2024; $48,825,000 in 2025; and $49,770,000 in 2026. (b) Puerto Rico Highway Program. (1) The Secretary must give Puerto Rico's funds to the Commonwealth to run its own highway program. (2) Each year's funds are handled this way: (A) For penalty purposes under this title or title 49, the funds are treated as if apportioned to Puerto Rico under the old 1997 formulas (sections 104(b) and 144 as they existed then), split in the same proportion Puerto Rico received under each program back in 1997. Funds tied to the national highway system, surface transportation block grants, and interstate maintenance programs are treated as split 50/50 between the national highway performance program and the surface transportation program for penalty purposes. (B) These treated amounts count as if legally required to be apportioned to Puerto Rico under each section, for penalty purposes. (C) Of the money Puerto Rico gets each year: at least 50 percent must go to purposes allowed under section 119; at least 25 percent must go to purposes allowed under section 148; and any leftover money can be used for activities under chapter 1 and for preventive maintenance on the National Highway System. (3) Except as specifically allowed, Puerto Rico cannot get funds that this title apportions to states. (c) Territorial Highway Program. (1) "Territory" here means American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, or the U.S. Virgin Islands. (2) The Secretary may run a program helping each territory's government build and improve a system of major roads and needed inter-island connections, chosen by the territory's governor or chief executive and approved by the Secretary. The federal government's funding share follows section 120(g). (3) The Secretary may give the territories ongoing technical help with highway planning, environmental review, right-of-way and relocation programs, and designing, building, and maintaining their road systems; the details of this help must be spelled out in the agreement required by paragraph (5). (4) Except where the Secretary decides a rule doesn't fit a territory's needs and this subsection's purpose, the rest of this chapter (other than the rules on how funds are apportioned and allocated) applies to money under this subsection; the agreement required by paragraph (5) must say which sections apply to that territory and how far they apply. (5) Except in specific cases, no territory can get its funds until its chief executive signs an agreement with the Secretary promising to: (i) run the program following this chapter and paragraph (4); (ii) design and build the road system using standards fit for that territory and approved by the Secretary; (iii) maintain what's built so it can handle present and future traffic; and (iv) follow Secretary-approved traffic-control standards. That agreement must also spell out the technical assistance to be given, how territories will share information, and who's responsible for oversight; it must be reevaluated and updated at least every two years. Existing agreements (including old ones under former section 215) stay in effect until replaced, and money under them stays available as long as the agreement is in force. (6) Territorial funds may only pay for: (i) eligible surface transportation block grant projects; (ii) cost-effective preventive maintenance; (iii) ferry boats, terminals, and approaches; (iv) engineering and economic studies for planning and financing future highway programs; (v) studies of highway economy, safety, and convenience; (vi) regulating and fairly taxing highway use; and (vii) research and development needed for planning, designing, and maintaining the highway system — but none of this money may pay for routine maintenance. (7) Except for certain listed project types, territorial highway projects cannot be built on roads classified as purely local.