The eligibility of all work is contingent upon approval by the FHWA Division Administrator of an application for ER and inclusion of the work in an approved program of projects.

Prior FHWA approval or authorization is not required for emergency repairs and preliminary engineering (PE).

Permanent repairs or restoration must have prior FHWA program approval and authorization, unless done as part of the emergency repairs.

ER funds may participate in:

Repair to or reconstruction of seriously damaged highway elements as necessary to restore the facility to pre-disaster conditions, including necessary clearance of debris and other deposits in drainage courses within the right-of way (ROW);

Restoration of stream channels outside the highway ROW when:

The public highway agency has responsibility for the maintenance and proper operation of the stream channel section, and

The work is necessary for satisfactory operation of the highway system involved;

Actual PE and construction engineering costs on approved projects;

Emergency repairs;

Temporary operations, including emergency traffic services such as flagging traffic through inundated sections of highways, undertaken by the applicant during or immediately following the disaster;

Betterments, only where clearly economically justified to prevent future recurring damage. Economic justification must weigh the cost of betterment against the risk of eligible recurring damage and the cost of future repair;

Temporary work to maintain essential traffic, such as raising roadway grade during a period of flooding by placing fill and temporary surface material;

Raising the grades of critical Federal-aid highways faced with long-term loss of use due to basin flooding as defined by an unprecedented rise in basin water level both in magnitude and time frame. Such grade raises are not considered to be a betterment for the purpose of 23 CFR 668.109(b)(6); and

Repair of toll facilities when the provisions of 23 U.S.C. 129 are met. If a toll facility does not have an executed toll agreement with the FHWA at the time of the disaster, a toll agreement may be executed after the disaster to qualify for that disaster.

ER funds may not participate in:

Heavy maintenance such as repair of minor damages consisting primarily of eroded shoulders, filled ditches and culverts, pavement settlement, mud and debris deposits off the traveled way, slope sloughing, slides, and slip-outs in cut or fill slopes. In order to simplify the inspection and estimating process, heavy maintenance may be defined using dollar guidelines developed by the States and Divisions with Regional concurrence;

Repair of surface damage caused by traffic whether or not the damage was aggravated by saturated subgrade or inundation, except ER funds may participate in:

Repair of surface damage to any public road caused by traffic making repairs to Federal-aid highways.

Repair of surface damage to designated detours (which may lie on both Federal-aid and non-Federal-aid routes) caused by traffic that has been detoured from a damaged Federal-aid highway; and

Repair of surface damage to Federal-aid highways caused by vehicles responding to a disaster; provided the surface damage has occurred during the first 60 days after a disaster occurrence, unless otherwise approved by the FHWA Division Administrator.

Repair of damage not directly related to, and isolated away from, the pattern of the disaster;

Routine maintenance of detour routes, not related to the increased traffic volumes, such as mowing, maintaining drainage, pavement signing, snow plowing, etc.;

Replacement of damaged or lost material not incorporated into the highway such as stockpiled materials or items awaiting installation;

Repair or reconstruction of facilities affected by long-term, pre-existing conditions or predictable developing situations, such as, gradual, long-term rises in water levels in basins or slow moving slides, except for raising grades as noted in § 668.109(b)(8);

Permanent repair or replacement of deficient bridges scheduled for replacement with other funds. A project is considered scheduled if the construction phase is included in the FHWA approved Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP);

Other normal maintenance and operation functions on the highway system including snow and ice removal; and

Reimbursing loss of toll revenue.

Replacement of a highway facility at its existing location is appropriate when it is not technically and economically feasible to repair or restore a seriously damaged element to its predisaster condition and is limited in ER reimbursement to the cost of a new facility to current design standards of comparable capacity and character to the destroyed facility. With respect to a bridge, a comparable facility is one which meets current geometric and construction standards for the type and volume of traffic it will carry during its design life. Where it is neither practical nor feasible to replace a damaged highway facility in kind at its existing location, an alternative selected through the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process, if of comparable function and character to the destroyed facility, is eligible for ER reimbursement.

Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (b)(6) of this section, the total cost of a project eligible for ER funding may not exceed the cost of repair or reconstruction of a comparable facility. ER funds may participate to the extent of eligible repair costs when proposed projects contain unjustified betterments or other work not eligible for ER funds.