road'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 from sums made available for expenditure under this Act, 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 paragraph (b). 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 paragraph. 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 paragraph shall be credited to miscellaneous receipts.

OTHER HIGHWAYS AFFECTED BY THIS ACT

AUTHORIZATIONS

SEC. 201. The provisions of this Act shall apply to all unappropriated authorizations contained in prior Acts, and also to all unexpended appropriations heretofore made, providing for the expenditure of Federal funds on the following classes of highways: Forest highways, forest development roads and trails, park roads and trails, parkways, Indian reservation roads, public lands highways, and defense access roads. All such authorizations and appropriations shall continue in full force and effect, but hereafter obligations entered into and expenditures made pursuant thereto shall be subject to the provisions of this Act.

APPORTION MENT

SEC. 202. (a) On or before the January 1 next preceding the commencement of each fiscal year, the Secretary shall apportion the sums authorized for expenditure for such fiscal year for forest highways in the several States and Alaska, according to the area and value of the land owned by the United States within the national forests therein, which the Secretary of Agriculture is directed to determine and certify to the Secretary from such information, sources, and departments as the Secretary of Agriculture may deem most accurate.

(b) On or before the January 1 next preceding the commencement of each fiscal year, the Secretary of Agriculture shall apportion all sums authorized to be appropriated for forest development roads and trails among the several States and Alaska, according to the relative needs of the various national forests, taking into consideration the existing transportation facilities, value of timber, or other resources served, relative fire danger, and comparative difficulties of road and trail construction.

(c) The Secretary shall expend all sums appropriated for expenditure for public lands highways among those States having more than 5 per centum of their area in unappropriated or unreserved public lands, nontaxable Indian lands, or other Federal reservations, on the basis of need in such States, respectively, as determined by the Secretary upon application of the State highway departments of the respective States. Preference shall be given to those projects which are located on a Federal-aid system.

AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS

SEC. 203. (a) Any sums authorized for the fiscal years ending June 30, 1955, June 30, 1956, and June 30, 1957, for forest highways, forest development roads and trails, park roads and trails, parkways, Indian reservation roads, and public lands highways shall be immediately available for contract. Any sums remaining unexpended for period of two years after the close of the fiscal year for which

authorized shall lapse. The Secretary of the Department charged with the administration of such sums is hereby granted authority to incur obligations, approve projects, and enter into contracts under such authorizations and his action in doing so shall be deemed a contractual obligation of the United States for the payment of the cost thereof and such sums shall be deemed to have been expended when so obligated, except that with respect to forest highways, such sums shall be deemed to have been expended if a sum equal to the total of the sums appor tioned for the State for such fiscal year and previous fiscal years shall have been so obligated, and any of such sums released by payment of final vouchers or modification of project agreements shall be credited to the sums previously apportioned for the State for forest highways and be immediately available for expenditure.

(b) Appropriations made pursuant to any authorizations heretofore or hereafter enacted for forest highways shall be considered available to the Secretary for the purpose of discharging any obligations created for forest highway projects in any State or in Alaska.

(e) The total expenditures on account of any State or Alaska shall at no time exceed the total of its authorized apportionments.

FOREST HIGHWAYS

SEC. 204. (a) The Secretary shall expend the sums apportioned in accordance with paragraph (a) of section 202 for the costs of construction and maintenance of forest highways, and in connection therewith may enter into construction contracts and such other contracts with a State, Alaska, or civil subdivision thereof as he deems advisable.

(b) Cooperation of States, counties, or other local subdivisions, may be accepted but shall not be required by the Secretary.

(e) Construction estimated to cost $5,000 or more per mile, exclusive of bridges, shall be advertised and let to contract. If such estimated cost is less than $5,000 per mile or if, after proper advertising, no acceptable bid is received or the bids are deemed excessive, the work may be done by the Secretary on his own account. For such purpose, the Secretary may purchase, lease, hire, rent, or otherwise obtain all necessary supplies, materials, tools, equipment, and facilities required to perform the work, and may pay wages, salaries, and other expenses for help employed in connection with such work.

(d) All appropriations for forest highways shall be administered in conformity with regulations jointly approved by the Secretary and the Secretary of Agri

culture.

(e) The Secretary shall transfer to the Secretary of Agriculture from appropriations for forest highways such amounts as may be needed to cover necessary administrative expenses of the Forest Service in connection with the foresthighway program. Appropriations made pursuant to any authorization for forest highways shall be considered available for expenditure by the Secretary for necessary administrative and engineering expenses in connection therewith.

FOREST DEVELOPMENT ROADS AND TRAILS

SEC. 205. (a) The Secretary of Agriculture shall expend the sums apportioned pursuant to paragraph (b) of section 202 for the costs of construction and maintenance of forest development roads and trails, and adjacent vehicular parking areas, and in connection therewith may enter into construction contracts and such other contracts with a State, Alaska, or civil subdivision thereof, and issue such regulations, as he deems advisable.

(b) Cooperation of States, counties, or other local subdivisions, may be accepted but shall not be required by the Secretary of Agriculture.

(c) Construction estimated to cost $10,000 or more per mile, exclusive of bridges, shall be advertised and let to contract. If such estimated cost is less than $10,000 per mile or if, after proper advertising, no acceptable bid is received or the bids are deemed excessive, the work may be done by the Secretary of Agriculture on his own account. For such purpose, the Secretary of Agriculture may purchase, lease, hire, rent, or otherwise obtain all necessary supplies, materials, tools, equipment, and facilities required to perform the work, and may pay wages, salaries, and other expenses for help employed in connection with such work.

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PARK ROADS AND TRAILS

SEC. 206. (a) Sums available for park roads and trails shall be used to cover the cost of construction thereof.

(b) Appropriations for the construction, reconstruction, and improvement of park roads shall be administered in conformity with regulations jointly approved by the Secretary and the Secretary of the Interior.

PARKWAYS

SEC. 207. (a) Sums available for parkways shall be used to cover the cost of construction thereof.

(b) Appropriations for the construction of parkways shall be administered in conformity with regulations jointly approved by the Secretary and the Secretary of the Interior.

(c) The location of parkways upon public lands, national forests, or other Federal reservations, shall be determined by agreement between the department having jurisdiction over such lands and the National Park Service.

INDIAN RESERVATION ROADS

SEC. 208. (a) Sums available for Indian reservation roads shall be used to pay for the cost of construction and maintenance thereof.

(b) The Secretary shall approve the location, type, and design of all projects for Indian reservation roads before any expenditures are made thereon and all construction thereof shall be under the general supervision of the Secretary. (c) Indian labor may be employed in such construction and maintenance under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior.

PUBLIC LANDS HIGHWAYS

SEC. 209. (a) Sums available for public lands highways shall be paid for the cost of construction and maintenance thereof.

(b) The Secretary is authorized to cooperate with the State highway departments and with the Secretary of the Department having jurisdiction over the particular lands, in the survey, construction, and maintenance of public lands highways.

DEFENSE ACCESS ROADS

SEC. 210. (a) The Secretary is authorized out of the sums authorized to be appropriated for defense access roads to provide for the construction and maintenance of, and to pay all or any part of the cost of construction of, defense access roads (including bridges, tubes, and tunnels thereon) to military reservations, to defense industries and defense industry sites and to the sources of raw materials when such roads are certified to the Secretary as important to the national defense by the Secretary of Defense or such other official as the President may designate, and for replacing existing highways and highway connections that are shut off from general public use by necessary closures or restrictions at military reservations and defense industry sites.

(b) Not exceeding $5,000,000 of any funds appropriated under the Act approved October 16, 1951 (65 Stat. 422), may be used by the Secretary in areas certified to him by the Secretary of Defense as maneuver areas for such construction, maintenance, and repair work as may be necessary to keep the highways therein, which have been or may be used for training of the Armed Forces, in suitable condition for such training purposes and for repairing the damage caused to such highways by the operations of men and equipment in such training.

(c) Whenever any project for the construction of a circumferential highway around a city or of a radial intracity route thereto submitted by any State is certified by the Secretary of Defense, or such other official as the President may designate, as being important for civilian or military defense, such project may be constructed out of the sums heretofore or hereafter authorized to be appropriated for defense access roads.

(d) The expenditure authoized by this section shall be available without regard to apportionment among the several States.

(e) If the Secretary shall determine that the State highway department of any State is unable to obtain possession and the right to enter upon and use the required rights-of-way, lands, or interest in lands, improved, or unimproved,

required for any project authorized by this section with sufficient promptness, the Secretary is authorized to acquire, enter upon, take possession thereof and expend funds for projects thereon, prior to approval of title by the Attorney General, in the name of the United States, such rights-of-way, lands, or interest in lands as may be required in such State for such projects by purchase, donation, condemnation, or otherwise in accordance with the laws of the United States (including the Act of February 26, 1931; 46 Stat. 1421). The cost incurred by the Secretary in acquiring any such rights-of-way, lands, or interest in lands may include the cost of examination and abstract of title, certificate of title, advertising, and any fees incidental to such acquisition; and shall be payable out of the funds available for paying the cost or the Federal share of the cost of the project for which such rights-of-way, lands, or interests in lands are acquired. The Secretary is further authorized and directed by proper deed exeented in the name of the United States to convey any lands or interest in lands acquired in any State under the provisions of prior Acts or of this section to the State highway department of such State or to such political subdivision thereof as its laws may provide, upon such terms and conditions as may be agreed upon by the Secretary and the State highway department, or poltical subdivisions to which the conveyance is to be made.

TIMBER ACCESS ROAD HEARINGS

SEC. 211. With respect to any proposed construction of a timber access road, advisory public hearings shall be held at a place convenient or adjacent to the area of construction with notice and reasonable opportunity for interested persons to present their views as to the practicability and feasibility of such construction.

INTER-AMERICAN HIGHWAY

SEC. 212. (a) Sums appropriated for the Inter-American Highway shall be used to enable the United States to cooperate with the Governments of the American Republics situated in Central America-that is, with the Governments of the Republics of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama-in the survey and construction of the Inter-American Highway within the borders of the aforesaid Republics, respectively. Appropriations made for such purposes shall remain available until expended. Not to exceed one-third of the appropriation authorized for each fiscal year may be extended without requiring the country or countries in which such sums may be expended to match any part thereof, if the Secretary of State shall find that the cost of constructing said highway in such country or countries will be beyond their reasonable capacity to hear. The remainder of such authorized appropriations shall be available for expenditure only when matched to the extent required by this section by the country in which such expenditure may be made. Expenditures from the sums available on a matching basis shall not be made for the survey and construction of any portion of said highway within the borders of any country named herein unless such country shall provide and make available for expenditure in conjunction therewith a sum equal to at least one-third of the expenditures that may be incurred by that Government and the United States on such portion of the highway. All expenditures by the United States under the provisions of this section for material, equipment, and supplies shall, whenever practicable, be made for products of the United States or of the country in which such survey or construction work is being carried on. Construction work to be performed under contract shall be advertised for a reasonable period by the Minister of Public Works, or other similar official, of the government concerned in each of the participating countries and contracts shall be awarded pursuant to such advertisements with the approval of the Secretary. No part of the appropriations authorized shall be available for obligation or expenditure for work on said highway in any cooperating country unless the government of said country shall have assented to the provisions of this section; shall have furnished satisfactory assurances that it has an organization adequately qualified to administer the functions required of such country under the provisions hereof; and then only as such country may submit requests, from time to time, for the construction of any portion of the highway to standards adequate to meet present and future traffic needs. No part of said appropriations shall be available for obligation or expenditure in any such country until the government of that country shall have entered into an agreement with the United States which shall provide, in part, that said country

(1) will provide, without participation of funds authorized, all necessary right-of-way for the construction of said highway, which right-of-way shall be of a minimum width where practicable of one hundred meters in rural areas and fifty meters in municipalities and shall forever be held inviolate as a part of the highway for public use;

(2) will not impose any highway toll, or permit any such toll to be charged, for use by vehicles or persons of any portion of said highway constructed under the provisions of this section;

(3) will not levy or assess, directly or indirectly, any fee, tax, or other charge for the use of said highway by vehicles or persons from the United States that does not apply equally to vehicles or persons of such country; (4) will continue to grant reciprocal recognition of vehicle registration and drivers' licenses in accordance with the provisions of the Convention for the Regulation of Inter-American Automotive Traffic, which was opened for signature at the Pan American Union in Washington on December 15, 1943, and to which such country and the United States are parties, or of any other treaty or international convention establishing similar reciprocal recognition; and

(5) will provide for the maintenance of said highway after its completion in condition adequately to serve the needs of present and future traffic. (b) The survey and construction work authorized by this section shall be under the administration of the Secretary, who shall consult with the appropriate officials of the Department of State with respect to matters involving the foreign relations of this Government, and such negotiations with the governments of the American republics named in paragraph (a) of this section as may be required to carry out the purposes of this section shall be conducted through, or as authorized by, the Department of State.

(c) The provisions of this section shall not create nor authorize the creation of any obligations on the part of the Government of the United States with respect to any expenditures for highway construction or survey heretofore or hereafter undertaken in any of the countries enumerated in paragraph (a) of this section, other than the expenditures authorized by the provisions of this section.

(d) Appropriations made pursuant to any authorizations heretofore, or hereafter enacted for the Inter-American Highway shall be considered available for expenditure by the Secretary for necessary administrative and engineering expenses in connection with the Inter-American Highway program.

RAMA ROAD

SEC. 213. (a) Recognizing the mutual benefits that will accrue to the Republic of Nicaragua and to the United States from the completion of the road from San Benito to Rama in said Republic of Nicaragua, the construction of which road was begun and partially completed pursuant to an agreement between said Republic and the United States, the Secretary is authorized out of the sums appropriated for such purposes to provide for the construction of such road. Appropriations made for such purposes shall remain available until expended. No expenditure shall be made hereunder for the construction of said road until a request therefor shall have been received by the Secretary of State from the Government of the Republic of Nicaragua nor until an agreement shall have been entered into by said Republic with the Secretary of State which shall provide, in part, that said Republic

(1) will provide, without participation of funds authorized under this Act, or under prior Acts, all necessary right-of-way for the construction of said highway, which right-of-way shall be of a minimum width, where practicable, of one hundred meters in rural areas and fifty meters in municipalities and shall forever be held inviolate as a part of the highway for public use;

(2) will not impose any highway toll, or permit any such toll to be charged for the use of said highway by vehicles or persons;

(3) will not levy or assess, directly or indirectly, any fee, tax, or other charge for the use of said road by vehicles or persons from the United States that does not apply equally to vehicles or persons of such Republic;

(4) will continue to grant reciprocal recognition of vehicle registration and drivers' licenses in accordance with the provisions of the Convention for the Regulation of Inter-American Automotive Traffic, which was opened for signature at the Pan American Union in Washington on December 15,