In this subtitle, “federal acts” means:
The federal-aid highway acts of the United States Congress;
The Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970; and
Any rule or regulation adopted under any of these acts.
The purpose of this subtitle is to assist the national recovery and promote the general welfare by enabling this State and its political subdivisions to provide matching funds for and secure the benefits of any federal funds available under the federal acts for the construction and reconstruction of State highways and county roads and for related State or local projects.
The General Assembly of Maryland assents to the federal acts.
The Administration, for itself or for any political subdivision of this State, and each political subdivision of this State may do anything necessary or desirable to comply with any term, condition, or provision and to obtain the benefits of any of the federal acts.
The Administration may:
Accept any federal funds available to this State under the federal acts, for the use of this State or any of its political subdivisions;
In accordance with the federal acts, allocate and apportion these federal funds to itself and to the political subdivisions of this State;
Represent any political subdivision of this State for the purpose of negotiating, contracting, or dealing with the federal government as to construction and reconstruction under the federal acts;
Undertake all contracts, plans, specifications, and estimates relating to this construction and reconstruction; and
Supervise directly the construction and reconstruction work done under the federal acts.
Each political subdivision of this State may raise funds to obtain the benefits of the federal acts by:
Issuing bonds, interim certificates, and other evidences of debt or obligation; and
Taxation.
Bonds may be issued under this subsection notwithstanding any debt or other limitation set by any other law.
If federal funds available to this State under the federal acts are allocable to a political subdivision of this State, but the political subdivision has not provided for necessary matching funds in any other manner permitted by this subtitle, the Administration, the State Treasurer, and the State Comptroller may authorize the political subdivision to use its share of highway user revenues to provide the matching funds necessary to secure these federal funds.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this title, if any federal funds available for a State highway project require matching State funds, the Administration may provide the necessary matching funds by using any State funds it is authorized by law to use for State highway projects.
In addition to its other powers, the Administration, with funds received from the federal government or any federal agency, may:
Construct, reconstruct, improve, and maintain the State highway system; and
For this purpose, as agreed to by the Administration and any affected railroad company, subject to compliance with § 8-639 of this title:
Construct, reconstruct, alter, repair, or relocate any railroad grade separation; and
Otherwise eliminate any highway hazard at a railroad grade crossing.
All federal funds accepted under this section shall be accepted and spent by the Administration on the terms and conditions that the federal government requires.
Except as otherwise provided by federal law, the total cost of any project undertaken with federal funds shall be borne entirely by those funds to the extent that they are available.
If federal funds for a project are insufficient or unavailable to pay the total cost of the project, the excess of the total cost over the federal funds received shall be borne as provided by law.
In this section the following words have the meanings indicated.
“Publicly owned utility” means a utility owned or operated by a political subdivision of this State or by a public agency created under the laws of this State.
“Relocate” includes realign, raise, lower, rebuild, or remove.
Except as provided in paragraph (2) of this subsection, if, as a result of the construction, reconstruction, or improvement of an interstate highway, it is necessary to relocate any facility of a publicly owned utility, the Administration shall pay to the owner of the facility, without regard to the governmental function of the utility, the cost to the utility of the relocation, less any increase in the value of the new facility and the salvage value of the old facility.
The Administration is required to make this payment for relocation only:
If federal funds are available to this State under §§ 108 (e) and 111 of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 for reimbursement of all or part of the payment; and
If the payment otherwise would be required for relocation of a facility of a nonpublicly owned utility.
The regulations and orders of the Administration:
May not prohibit or be construed to constitute a contract prohibiting any payment required by this section; and
Are expressly waived to the extent necessary to authorize any payment required by this section.
This section does not relieve the owner of any utility from any legal or contractual obligation to comply promptly with any order or request of the Administration to perform the work necessary to relocate its facilities.
In this section the following words have the meanings indicated.
“Municipality” means any municipal corporation in this State that is entitled to receive federal-aid urban funds.
“Urban area” means an area with boundaries fixed by the Administration that includes and is adjacent to a municipality or other urban place having a population of at least 5,000, as determined by the latest federal census.
There is a County Highway Construction Fund in the Transportation Trust Fund.
There is a Municipality-Urban Area Highway Construction Fund in the Transportation Trust Fund.
In accordance with this section and Part II of Title 7, Subtitle 2 of the State Finance and Procurement Article, and with the consent of the Secretary, the Administration in any fiscal year may allocate from the Transportation Trust Fund:
To the County Highway Construction Fund, an amount equal to the amount of federal-aid secondary highway funds that:
Are available to the Administration from the Federal Highway Administration;
Are allocated by the Administration to the counties; and
The counties later release to the Administration for use on the State highway system; and
To the Municipality-Urban Area Highway Construction Fund, with the approval of the releasing municipalities or urban areas, an amount equal to the amount of federal-aid urban highway funds that:
Are available to the Administration from the Federal Highway Administration;
Are allocated by the Administration to the municipalities and urban areas; and
The municipalities or urban areas later release to the Administration for use on the State highway system.
The Administration may apportion the amounts in each fund.
Each county, municipality, or urban area that participates in a program under this section shall furnish matching construction amounts.
The County Highway Construction Fund, the Municipality-Urban Area Highway Construction Fund, and the matching amounts required by this section may be spent only for highway construction and reconstruction under rules and regulations adopted by the Administration.
In this section the following words have the meanings indicated.
“Board” means the Governor’s Workforce Development Board.
“Highway or capital transit construction” means actual construction, preliminary engineering, planning and research, or any other work or activity to implement federal laws for the administration of federal aid for highways or capital transit projects.
“Workforce development area” has the meaning stated in § 11–503(n) of the Labor and Employment Article.
The Department shall use the maximum feasible amount of federal funds available to the State under 23 U.S.C. § 140(b) to develop, conduct, and administer highway or capital transit construction training and supportive services, including skill improvement programs.
The Department shall administer the training programs under subsection (b) of this section in collaboration with the Board to ensure that highway or capital transit construction training and supportive services are provided to the greatest extent feasible to individuals in each relevant workforce development area.