40 U.S.C. § 14501 — Appalachian development highway system

(a) Purpose — To open up the Appalachian region's economic potential where poor access has held back commerce and communication, the Secretary of Transportation may help build an Appalachian development highway system and local access roads, working alongside the Interstate System and other federal-aid highways. The development highway system is capped at 3,090 miles of construction. Local access roads serving specific recreational, residential, educational, commercial, industrial, or similar facilities, or helping a school consolidation program, are capped at 1,400 miles.

(b) Commission Designations — (1) What is to be designated: The Appalachian Regional Commission sends the Secretary its picks for (A) the general route and endpoints of development highways; (B) which local access roads to build; (C) which highway segments get priority; and (D) other program criteria. (2) State transportation department recommendation required: Before a state member votes on or takes part in these designations, that member must first get a recommendation from their state's transportation department.

(c) Addition to Federal-Aid Primary System — Once finished, any development highway not already on the federal-aid primary system gets added to it.

(d) Use of Specific Materials and Products — (1) Indigenous materials and products: States may give special preference to materials and products native to the Appalachian region when building these highways and roads. (2) Coal derivatives: For research into using coal and coal products in highway construction and maintenance, the Secretary may require each participating state, as much as possible, to use coal derivatives on up to 10% of the roads built under this subtitle.

(e) Federal Share — Federal help for any construction project under this section cannot exceed 80% of the project's cost.

(f) Construction Without Federal Amounts — (1) Payment of federal share: If a state builds a segment of a development highway without federal money, following all the same rules that would apply if federal money were used (except rules that would limit which projects it could build), the Secretary — on the state's application and with Commission approval — may still pay the state its federal share (up to 80% of the segment's cost) from money already appropriated and allocated to that state for this purpose. (2) No commitment or obligation: This doesn't force the federal government to pay for development-highway segments built this way.

(g) Application of Title 23 — (1) Sections 106(a) and 118: Those sections of title 23 apply to the development highway system and local access roads. (2) Construction and maintenance: States must maintain each development highway and local access road the same way they maintain federal-aid highways under title 23. Every other part of title 23 that applies to building and maintaining federal-aid primary and secondary highways, and that the Secretary decides doesn't conflict with this subtitle, applies to this system and these roads too.