volving trust fund, by the State official authorized under the laws of the State to receive Federal-aid highway funds, to be disbursed solely upon vouchers approved by the State highway department for rights-of-way which have been or are being acquired, and for construction which has been actually performed and approved by the Secretary pursuant to this chapter. Upon determination by the Secretary that any part of the funds advanced to any State under the provisions of this section are no longer required, the amount of the advance, which is determined to be in excess of current requirements of the State, shall be repaid upon his demand, and such repayments shall be returned to the credit of the appropriation from which the funds were advanced. Any sum advanced and not repaid on demand shall be deducted from sums due the State for the Federal pro rata share of the cost of construction of Federal-aid projects.

Sec. 125. Emergency relief

(a) An emergency fund is authorized for expenditure by the Secretary, subject to the provisions of this section and section 120, for the repair or reconstruction of highways, roads, and trails which he shall find have suffered serious damage as the result of disaster over a wide area, such as by floods, hurricanes, tidal waves, earthquakes, severe storms, landslides, or other catastrophes in any part of the United States. The appropriation of such moneys, not to exceed thirty million dollars, as may be necessary for the initial establishment of this fund and for its replenishment on an annual basis is authorized. Pending such appropriation or replenishment the Secretary may expend from any funds heretofore or hereafter appropriated for expenditure in accordance with the provisions of this title, including existing Federal-aid appropriations, such sums as may be necessary for the immediate prosecution of the work herein authorized, such appropriations to be reimbursed from the appropriations herein authorized when made.

(b) The Secretary may expend funds from the emergency fund herein authorized for the repair or reconstruction of highways on the Federal-aid highway systems, including the Interstate System, in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. Except as to highways, roads, and trails mentioned in subsection (c) of this section, no funds shall be so expended unless the Secretary has received an application therefor from the State highway department, and unless an emergency has been declared by the Governor of the State and concurred in by the Secretary.

(c) The Secretary may expend funds from the emergency fund herein authorized, either independently or in cooperation with any other branch of the Government, State agency, organization, or person, for the repair or reconstruction of forest highways, forest development roads and trails, park roads and trails, and Indian reservation roads, whether or not such highways, roads, or trails are on any of the Federal-aid highway systems.40

Sec. 126. Diversion

(a) Since it is unfair and unjust to tax motor-vehicle transportation unless the proceeds of such taxation are applied to the construction, im

40 Amended by sec. 107(a) of Public Law 86-342, Sept. 21, 1959 (73 Stat. 611).

774-535 0-66- -3

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provement, or maintenance of highways, after June 30, 1935, Federal aid for highway construction shall be extended only to those States that use at least the amounts provided by law on June 18, 1934, for such purposes in each State from State motor vehicle registration fees, licenses, gasoline taxes, and other special taxes on motor-vehicle owners and operators of all kinds for the construction, improvement, and maintenance of highways and administrative expenses in connection therewith, including the retirement of bonds for the payment of which such revenues have been pledged, and for no other purposes, under such regulations as the Secretary of Commerce shall promulgate from time to time.

(b) In no case shall the provisions of this section operate to deprive any State of more than one-third of the entire apportionment authorized under this chapter to which that State would be entitled in any fiscal year. The amount of any reduction in a State's apportionment shall be reapportioned in the same manner as any other unexpended balance at the end of the period during which it otherwise would be available in accordance with section 104 (b) of this title.

Sec. 127. Vehicle weight and width limitations-Interstate System No funds authorized to be appropriated for any fiscal year under section 108(b) of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 shall be apportioned to any State within the boundaries of which the Interstate System may lawfully be used by vehicles with weight in excess of eighteen thousand pounds carried on any one axle, or with a tandemaxle weight in excess of thirty-two thousand pounds, or with an overall gross weight in excess of seventy-three thousand two hundred and eighty pounds, or with a width in excess of ninty-six inches, or the corresponding maximum weights or maximum widths permitted for vehicles using the public highways of such State under laws or regulations established by appropriate State authority in effect on July 1, 1956, whichever is the greater. Any amount which is withheld from apportionment to any State pursuant to the foregoing provisions shall lapse. This section shall not be construed to deny apportionment to any State allowing the operation within such State of any vehicles or combinations thereof that could be lawfully operated within such State on July 1, 1956. With respect to the State of Hawaii, laws or regulations in effect on February 1, 1960, shall be applicable for the purposes of this section in lieu of those in effect on July 1, 1956.41

Sec. 128. Public hearings

(a) Any State highway department which submits plans for a Federal-aid highway project involving the bypassing of, or going through, any city, town, or village, either incorporated or unincorporated, shall certify to the Secretary that it has had public hearings, or has afforded the opportunity for such hearings, and has considered the economic effects of such a location. Any State highway department which submits plans for an Interstate System project shall certify to the Secretary that it has had public hearings at a convenient location, or has afforded the opportunity for such hearings, for the purpose of enabling persons in rural areas through or contiguous to

41 Amended by sec. 17 (e) of Public Law 86-624, July 12, 1960 (74 Stat. 411).

whose property the highway will pass to express any objections they may have to the proposed location of such highway.

(b) When hearings have been held under subsection (a), the State highway department shall submit a copy of the transcript of said hearings to the Secretary, together with the certification.

Sec. 129. Toll Roads, Bridges, Tunnels, and Ferries 42

(a) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 301 of this title, the Secretary may permit Federal participation, on the same basis and in the same manner as in the construction of free highways under this chapter, in the construction of any toll bridge, toll tunnel, or approach thereto, upon compliance with the conditions contained in this section. Such bridge, tunnel, or approach thereto, must be publicly owned and operated. Federal funds may participate in the approaches to a toll bridge or toll tunnel whether such bridge or tunnel is to be or has been constructed, or acquired, by the State or other public authority. The State highway department or departments must be a party or parties to an agreement with the Secretary whereby it or they undertake performance of the following obligations:

(1) all tolls received from the operation of the bridge or tunnel, less the actual cost of such operation and maintenance, shall be applied to the repayment to the State or other public authority of all of the costs of construction or acquisition of such bridge or tunnel, except that part which was contributed by the United States;

(2) no tolls shall be charged for the use of such bridge or tunnel after the State or other public authority shall have been so repaid; and

(3) after the date of final repayment, the bridge or tunnel shall be maintained and operated as a free bridge or free tunnel.

(b) Upon a finding by the Secretary that such action will promote the development of an integrated Interstate System, the Secretary is authorized to approve as part of the Interstate System any toll road, bridge or tunnel, now or hereafter constructed which meets the standards adopted for the improvement of projects located on the Interstate System, when such toll road, bridge or tunnel is located on a route heretofore or hereafter designated as a part of the Interstate System. No Federal-aid highway funds shall be expended for the construction, reconstruction or improvement of any such toll road, except to the extent permitted by law after June 29, 1956. No Federal-aid highway funds shall be expended for the construction, reconstruction or improvement of any such toll bridge or tunnel, except to the extent permitted by law on or after June 29, 1956.

(c) Funds authorized for expenditure on any of the Federal-aid highway systems, including the Interstate System, shall be available for expenditure on projects approaching any toll road, bridge or tunnel to a point where such project will have some use irrespective of its use for such toll road, bridge or tunnel: 43

(d) Funds authorized for the Interstate System shall be available for expenditure on Interstate System projects approaching any toll road on the Interstate System, although the project has no use other

42 Amended by sec. 5(b) of Public Law 86-657, July 14, 1960 (74 Stat. 522). 43 Amended by sec. 8(a) of Public Law 86-657, July 14, 1960 (74 Stat. 522).

than an approach to such toll road, if an agreement satisfactory to the Secretary has been reached with the State prior to the approval of such project

(1) that the section of toll road will become free to the public upon the collection of tolls sufficient to liquidate the cost of the toll road or any bonds outstanding at the time constituting a valid lien against such section of toll road covered in the agreement and their maintenance and operation and debt service during the period of toll collections, and

(2) that there is one or more reasonably satisfactory alternate free routes available to traffic by which the toll section of the system may be bypassed.

(e) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 301 of this title, the Secretary may permit Federal participation under this title in the construction of a project constituting an approach to a ferry, whether toll or free, the route of which has been approved under section 103 (b) or (c) of this title as a part of one of the Federal-aid systems and has not been designated as a route on the Interstate System. Such ferry may be either publicly or privately owned and operated, but the operating authority and the amount of fares charged for passage shall be under the control of a State agency or official, and all revenues derived from publicly owned or operated ferries shall be applied to payment of the cost of construction or acquisition thereof, including debt service, and to actual and necessary costs of operation, maintenance, repair, and replacement."

Sec. 130. Railway-highway crossings

(a) Except as provided in subsection (d) of section 120 of this title and subsection (b) of this section, the entire cost of construction of projects for the elimination of hazards of railway-highway crossings, including the separation or protection of grades at crossings, the reconstruction of existing railroad grade crossing structures, and the relocation of highways to eliminate grade crossings, may be paid from sums apportioned in accordance with section 104 of this title. In any case when the elimination of the hazards of a railway-highway crossing can be effected by the relocation of a portion of a railway at a cost estimated by the Secretary to be less than the cost of such elimination by one of the methods mentioned in the first sentence of this section, then the entire cost of such relocation project, except as provided in subsection (d) of section 120 of this title and subsection (b) of this section, may be paid from sums apportioned in accordance with section 104 of this title.

(b) The Secretary may classify the various types of projects involved in the elimination of hazards of railway-highway crossings, and may set for each such classification a percentage of the costs of construction which shall be deemed to represent the net benefit to the railroad or railroads for the purpose of determining the railroad's share of the cost of construction. The percentage so determined shall in no case exceed 10 per centum. The Secretary shall determine the appropriate classification of each project.

(c) Any railroad involved in a project for the elimination of hazards of railway-highway crossings paid for in whole or in part

44 Amended by sec. 5(a) of Public Law 86-657, July 14, 1960 (74 Stat. 522).

from sums made available for expenditure under this title, or prior Acts, shall be liable to the United States for the net benefit to the railroad determined under the classification of such project made pursuant to subsection (b) of this section. Such liability to the United States may be discharged by direct payment to the State highway department of the State in which the project is located, in which case such payment shall be credited to the cost of the project. Such payment may consist in whole or in part of materials and labor furnished by the railroad in connection with the construction of such project. If any such railroad fails to discharge such liability within. a six-month period after completion of the project, it shall be liable to the United States for its share of the cost, and the Secretary shall request the Attorney General to institute proceedings against such railroad for the recovery of the amount for which it is liable under this subsection. The Attorney General is authorized to bring such proceedings on behalf of the United States, in the appropriate district court of the United States, and the United States shall be entitled in such proceedings to recover such sums as it is considered and adjudged by the court that such railroad is liable for in the premises. Any amounts recovered by the United States under this subsection shall be credited to miscellaneous receipts.

Sec. 131. Control of outdoor advertising

(a) The Congress hereby finds and declares that the erection and maintenance of outdoor advertising signs, displays, and devices in areas adjacent to the Interstate System and the primary system should be controlled in order to protect the public investment in such highways, to promote the safety and recreational value of public travel, and to preserve natural beauty.

(b) Federal-aid highway funds apportioned on or after January 1, 1968, to any State which the Secretary determines has not made provision for effective control of the erection and maintenance along the Interstate System and the primary system of outdoor advertising signs, displays, and devices which are within six hundred and sixty feet of the nearest edge of the right-of-way and visible from the main traveled way of the system, shall be reduced by amounts equal to 10 per centum of the amounts which would otherwise be apportioned to such State under section 104 of this title, until such time as such State shall provide for such effective control. Any amount which is withheld from apportionment to any State hereunder shall be reapportioned to the other States. Whenever he determines it to be in the public interest, the Secretary may suspend, for such periods as he deems necessary, the application of this subsection to a State.

(c) Effective control means that after January 1, 1968, such signs, displays, and devices shall, pursuant to this section, be limited to (1) directional and other official signs and notices, which signs and notices shall include, but not be limited to, signs and notices pertaining to natural wonders, scenic and historical attractions, which are required or authorized by law, which shall conform to national standards hereby authorized to be promulgated by the Secretary hereunder, which standards shall contain provisions concerning the lighting, size, number, and spacing of signs, and such other requirements as may be appropriate to implement this section, (2) signs, displays, and devices advertising the sale or lease of property upon which they are located,