certifies (1) that such material, specification or process is essential for synchronization with existing operating equipment or (2) that no equally suitable alternate exists: Provided, however, That patented or proprietary articles or methods of reasonable cost which constitute minor elements of a contract item may be specified and paid for if purchased in competition with one or more equally suitable patented or proprietary articles or methods or if information is included in the advertisement stating the price at which such patented or proprietary articles or methods are available to all contractors. Manufactured patented or proprietary articles which constitute a major part of the cost of a contract item may be specified and paid for if competition is assured with unpatented or nonproprietary articles or between two or more manufactured patented or proprietary articles accepted as equally suitable for the same purpose. Nothing in this section shall be construed as a prohibition against the use of any patented or proprietary material, specification, or process for a distinctive type of construction on relatively short sections of road for experimental purposes.

(i) Construction engineering and inspection charges reimbursable with Federal funds shall be limited to the salaries of individuals directly employed on a project and to other necessary costs incurred in connection with such engineering and inspection.

(j) Federal funds may be used to reimburse the State for the cost of relocation, as defined in section 111 (c) of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, of publicly, privately or cooperatively owned utility facilities, including railroads, necessitated by the construction of any project. Such reimbursement shall not exceed the regular Federal pro rata share of the cost of such work actually paid by the State or its political subdivisions. When the State submits a project for approval which proposes Federal participation in the cost of relocation of a utility facility located on an existing public highway, right-of-way, it shall certify that payment to the utility does not violate State or local law or a legal contract between the utility and the State or its subdivisions.

(k) The procedures being followed in each State with respect to the award of contracts by competitive bidding shall be

designed to bring about the letting of contracts at the lowest cost consonant with capable performance under circumstances permitting a fair and adequate opportunity for the submission of bids. Such procedures shall conform with all pertinent provisions of this part and with all pertinent operating procedures and instructions now or hereafter issued. In the event a review by the Administrator discloses any procedures deemed by him to be contrary to the aforesaid purposes, the provisions of this part, or the operating procedures and instructions, then the Administrator shall require that such procedures shall be changed in order to conform to such purposes, regulations of this part, operating procedures and instructions.

(1) Suitable provisions shall be included in all contracts for projects under the act designed (1) to insure full compliance with all applicable Federal, State and local laws governing safety, health and sanitation, and (2) to require that the contractor shall provide all safeguards, safety devices and protective equipment and take any other needed actions, on his own responsibility or as the contracting officer may determine, reasonably necessary to protect the life and health of employees on the job and the safety of the public and to protect property in connection with the performance of the work covered by the contract.

$ 1.11 Rights-of-way. (a) Federal participation in the cost of rights-ofway acquired by a State or political subdivision thereof shall be restricted to the costs of rights-of-way actually acquired and dedicated for highway purposes subsequent to the date of approval or acceptance of the program which includes the project for which such costs are incurred. Such costs may include costs incurred and paid, pursuant to State law, for damages to property, resulting from the taking of the rights-of-way or construction of the highway. Such costs may include costs for portions of rights-ofway acquired for future highway use. Only such costs that actually result in disbursement from public highway funds of the State or political subdivision thereof shall be eligible for reimbursement. However, reimbursement may be made in proper cases for costs actually incurred in the readjustment, repair, or restoration of facilities or improvements

made necessary by reason of the construction of the highway.

(b) Before the Administrator institutes proceedings, at the request of any State, to acquire lands or interests in lands for projects on the Interstate System, the State shall declare and fully explain its inability to acquire such lands or interests in lands or its inability to acquire them with sufficient promptness, shall agree to reimburse to the Federal Government the State's pro rata share of the costs incurred in acquiring such lands or interests in lands, and shall agree to accept such lands or interests in lands thus acquired.

(c) The rights-of-way provided for Federal-aid highway projects shall be held inviolate for public highway purposes. No project shall be accepted as complete until all encroachments have been removed from the rights-of-way. No signs (other than those specified in § 1.17), posters, billboards, automotive service stations or other commercial establishments for serving motor vehicle users, roadside stands, or any other private installations shall be permitted within the right-of-way limits; neither shall any portion of the rights-of-way be used in connection with any private business or undertaking. Exceptions to the provisions of this paragraph may be made under circumstances approved by the Administrator on portions of rightsof-way acquired for future use.

(a)

§ 1.12 Labor and employment. No convict labor shall be employed and no materials manufactured or produced by convict labor shall be used on any project constructed under the regulations in this part.

(b) The selection of labor to be employed on any work undertaken under the act in each State shall be in conformity with the laws of such State.

(c) All laborers and mechanics employed by contractors or subcontractors on projects on the Interstate System authorized under section 108 of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 shall be paid wages at rates not less than those prevailing on the same type of work on similar construction in the immediate locality as determined by the Secretary of Labor after consultation with the State highway department in accordance with section 115 of that act. Such minimum wage rates shall be set out in the advertised specifications, bid proposal, and

96021-58- -19

contract for the project. The published notice to bidders shall contain a statement that the minimum wage rates predetermined by the Secretary of Labor for the project are set out in the advertised specifications and bid proposal, and that such rates will be made a part of the contract covering the project.

(d) The Administrator shall prescribe such procedures as he deems necessary to be followed by the State highway department in order to insure that all laborers and mechanics employed by contractors and subcontractors on any project referred to in paragraph (c) of this section are paid wages at rates not less than those predetermined by the Secretary of Labor and set forth in the contract.

(e) All contracts, except those for the construction of projects referred to under paragraph (c) of this section, shall prescribe the minimum rates of wages for skilled, intermediate, and unskilled labor, as predetermined by the State highway department, which contractors or subcontractors shall pay, and such minimum rates shall be stated in the specifications advertised in the call for bids on the proposed project.

§ 1.13 Highway planning and research projects. Each State highway department shall prepare and submit a detailed program of proposed engineering and economic investigations and highway research necessary in connection therewith, showing the amount of Federal and State funds proposed for expenditure on each item thereof. Subject to the approval and project agreement procedure provided for construction projects, not to exceed 12 percent of the amount apportioned for any year to each State for expenditure on the Federal-aid primary highway system, the Federal-aid secondary highway system, the Federal-aid primary highway system in urban areas, and the Interstate System, respectively, shall be used for highway planning and research projects, and the funds programed for such purposes may be pooled and administered as a single fund for the financing of the various items of work. Pending the submission and approval of the final detailed program, 12 percent of the amount apportioned for any year to each State for expenditure on each of said Federal-aid systems shall be programed for highway planning and research projects.

Page 273

§ 1.14 Railway-highway crossing projects. (a) Before a project for the elimination of hazards at a railway-highway crossing shall be approved for construction, either (1) an agreement shall have been entered into between the State highway department and the railroad concerned; or (2) an order authorizing the project shall have been issued by the State public utility commission. Such agreement or order shall contain provisions covering construction, maintenance, and railroad contributions relating to the project, which conform to, and are not inconsistent with, the policies, classifications of projects and procedures prescribed by the Administrator.

(b) State laws pursuant to which contributions are imposed upon railroads for the elimination of hazards at railway-highway crossings shall be held not to apply to Federal-aid projects.

§ 1.15 Coordination of airport and highway location. Federal highway funds shall not be used for the reconstruction or relocation of any highway giving access to, or closed or impaired by, an airport constructed or extended after December 20, 1944 unless, prior to such construction or extension, the State highway department and the Bureau of Public Roads have concurred with the officials in charge of the airport that the location or extension of such airport and the consequent reconstruction or relocation of the highway are in the public interest.

§ 1.16 Maintenance of projects. (a) Maintenance of all projects constructed under the provisions of the act shall be the responsibility of the State except as provided in paragraph (c) of this section and for those projects or portions thereof which may be eliminated from the Federal-aid highway system or from the Federal-aid secondary system through relocation in connection with further improvement of a project. The State highway department, acting under the laws of the State, may provide for the maintenance of Federal-aid projects by agreement with municipal or other local authorities, but the responsibility of the State to maintain such projects satisfactorily remains unchanged under the requirements of section 14 of the Federal Highway Act as amended by section 6 of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1950.

(b) A project for which the State highway department proposes to provide maintenance by an agreement with a municipality or a county shall not be approved if any project previously improved with Federal funds under the provisions of the Federal Highway Act, as amended and supplemented, which the said county or other subdivision has agreed to maintain, is not being satisfactorily maintained, or shall not be approved until such previously improved project shall have been placed in a proper condition of maintenance, as determined by the Administrator.

(c) The Administrator shall determine the extent to which Federal-aid funds apportioned to the Territory of Alaska may be expended for maintenance of roads within the system or systems selected and designated pursuant to section 107 (a) of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956.

§ 1.17 Traffic signs and signals. All signs and traffic-control devices and other protective structures, whether paid for from Federal or other funds, erected on or in connection with highways or structures on which Federal funds are expended, shall be in conformity with such standards as may be adopted by the American Association of State Highway Officials, approved by the State highway department, and concurred in by the Administrator.

§ 1.18 Diversion of gasoline and motor-vehicle taxes; reduction of apportionment. If the Secretary shall find at any time that lesser amounts of the revenues derived from State motorvehicle registration fees, licenses, gasoline taxes, and other special taxes on motor-vehicle owners and operators in any State are required by its laws to be applied to highway purposes than were required to be so applied by the laws of such State on June 18, 1934, he shall take such action as he may deem necessary to comply with the provisions of section 12 of the act of June 18, 1934 (48 Stat. 995), by reducing the first Federal-aid apportionment made to a State after the date of a finding that such State has diverted contrary to the aforesaid act, by an amount not in excess of one-third of the total apportionment to which the State otherwise would be entitled under the Federal-Aid Road Act of 1916, as amended. In any such reduction, each class of apportioned Federal-aid funds; namely, pri

mary, secondary, urban, and interstate, shall bear the same proportionate share of the reduction.

§ 1.19 Records and cost keeping. (a) Such records of the cost of construction, of inspection, of tests, and of maintenance done by or on behalf of the State, shall be kept, by or under the direction of the State highway department, as will enable the State to report, upon the request of the Administrator, the amount and nature of the expenditure for these purposes.

(b) The records required by paragraph (a) of this section for each project, together with all supporting documents, shall be retained for a period of three years after the payment of the final voucher, and shall be open at all times to inspection by the Administrator, or his authorized representatives, and copies thereof shall be furnished when requested.

§ 1.20 Payments. Vouchers in the form provided by the Administrator and certified as therein prescribed, showing amounts expended on any project and the amount claimed to be due from the Federal Government, shall be submitted by the State highway department to the Bureau of Public Roads, either after completion of the project or as the work progresses.

§ 1.21 Advance of funds. If necessary to enable any State highway department to make prompt payments for acquisition of rights-of-way and for construction as it progresses, the Administrator may advance the Federal share of the cost of such acquisition or construction to any State in such manner and subject to such conditions as he may prescribe.

§ 1.22 Delegation of authority. The Administrator shall perform the functions vested in the Secretary by the act except for the following: (a) Making regulations; (b) functions reserved to the Secretary by these regulations; (c) apportioning Federal-aid road funds among the States; and (d) functions reserved to the Secretary by internal directives and administrative regulations of the Department. The Administrator may redelegate any power or authority conferred upon him by this section to the Commissioner or to any official or officials of the Bureau of Public Roads as in his judgment will result in economy

and efficiency in effectuating the purposes of the act and the regulations in this part.

§ 1.23 Operating procedures and instructions. The Administrator is hereby authorized to issue such operating procedures and instructions not in conflict with the act or with the regulations in this part as he may deem necessary for carrying out the provisions and effectuating the purposes of the act and the regulations in this part, and all such operating procedures and instructions issued by him shall be and continue in full force and effect from the date on which issued or made effective until modified or revoked by him.

$ 1.24 Public hearings. The Administrator shall prescribe procedures for State highway departments to follow with respect to public hearings on any Federal-aid highway project involving the bypassing of, or going through, any city, town or village, incorporated or unincorporated, pursuant to the provisions of section 116 (c) of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956.

§ 1.25 1954 Secondary Road Plan. Any State may come under the 1954 Secondary Road Plan with the approval of the Administrator pursuant to such operating procedures and instructions as the Administrator may from time to time prescribe. Such approval will remain in effect at the discretion of the Administrator. Any State, District, or Territory which comes under the 1954 Secondary Road Plan shall not be subject in connection with secondary road projects to the following sections of this part: §§ 1.8 (a), (b) (3) and (c); 1.10 (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), (g), (h), the last sentence of (j), and (k); 1.12 (b), (c), (d) and (e).

§ 1.26 Application of regulations. The regulations in this part shall take effect upon publication in the FEDERAL REGISTER and shall supersede all regulations heretofore in effect for carrying out the provisions of the act.

15.9

Maintenance.

Records and accounting. 15.10 Commissioner's report.

AUTHORITY: §§ 15.1 to 15.10 issued under sec. 6, 54 Stat. 869, as amended; 23 U. S. C. 23b. Interpret or apply sec. 23, 42 Stat. 218, as amended, sec. 2, 49 Stat. 1520, as amended; 23 U. S. C. 23, 23a.

SOURCE: §§ 15.1 to 15.10 appear at 15 F. R. 1585, Mar. 22, 1950, except as otherwise noted.

§ 15.1 Definitions. For the purpose of the regulations in this part the following terms, respectively, shall mean:

(a) Commissioner. The Commissioner of Public Roads, Bureau of Public Roads, Department of Commerce.

(b) Forester. The Chief of the Forest Service of the Department of Agriculture.

(c) State. Any State, Territory, or insular possession eligible to receive forest highway funds.

(d) State highway department. As defined in the Federal Highway Act, the term "State highway department" includes any State department, commission, board, or official having adequate powers and suitably equipped and organized to discharge to the satisfaction of the Secretary of Commerce the duties herein required.

(e) County authorities. The commissioners, supervisors, or other officials charged by law with the selection of roads in a county, township, road district, or town, and with the expenditure of funds for road building and maintenance.

(f) Division engineer. The division engineer of the Bureau of Public Roads.

(g) District engineer. The district engineer of the Bureau of Public Roads.

(h) Regional forester. The regional forester of the Forest Service.

(i) Forest roads. Roads wholly or partly within, adjoining or adjacent to and serving the national forests.

(j) Forest highways. Those forest roads of primary importance to the State, counties or communities and which are selected and designated by the Commissioner and the Forester as constituent parts of a forest highway system.

(k) Forest highway fund. Any authorization or appropriation for forest highways.

(1) Forest highway program. List of forest highway projects for surveys, construction and maintenance, and the estimated amounts of Forest Highway Funds required, as approved by the Commissioner and Forester.

(m) Construction. Any improvement involving original construction or reconstruction.

The

(n) Highway planning survey. engineering and economic investigations of highways and highway transportation conducted by the highway departments of the States and the Bureau of Public Roads.

(0) Maintenance. The preserving and keeping of each roadway, road structure and road facility as nearly as possible in its original condition as constructed, or as subsequently improved, to provide satisfactory and safe highway service.

§ 15.2 Apportionment. (a) The Secretary of Agriculture shall prepare, and certify to the Secretary of Commerce annually, a tabulation showing the areas and value of the national forest land in each State, including the value of forage and timber. This tabulation shall serve as the basis of apportionment for the forest highway fund.

(b) on or before January 1 of each year, or as otherwise provided by legislation, the Secretary of Commerce shall apportion among the several States, Alaska, and Puerto Rico the forest highway fund authorized for the next succeeding fiscal year as follows: Threefourths in the ratio that the area of national forest land in any State bears to the total area of such land in all States, and one-fourth in the ratio that the value of national forest land in any State bears to the total value of such land in all States, subject to any modifications that future legislation may require.

(c) Ten percent of the amount so apportioned to each State shall be placed in a reserve and the balance shall be made available, immediately after apportionment, for the forest highway program. Deductions will be made from the reserve to cover administrative requirements of the Bureau of Public Roads including purchase of equipment, administration by the Forest Service, and in special cases to provide additional funds for programed projects. Any