The 2005 Safe, Accountable, Flexible and Efficient Transportation Equity Act-A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), the current Federal Transportation Reauthorization Act, continued the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ) Program. The CMAQ Program directs funds toward transportation projects helping meet the national ambient air quality standards in Clean Air Act nonattainment areas for ozone, carbon monoxide and particulate matter.

Indicative of the Congressional intent for creating the CMAQ Program, the Iowa DOT Commission established ICAAP in 1995. Iowa DOT administers the ICAAP on a statewide competitive application basis and awards federal funds to projects with the highest potential for reducing transportation-related congestion and air pollution. Project applications may be submitted by cities, counties, public transit agencies, and state and federal agencies. Private nonprofit organizations and individuals who want to apply for funding must have a public agency as a co-sponsor.

Proposed projects are evaluated and ranked by a project evaluation committee comprising representatives from the Iowa DOT's Office of Systems Planning, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Iowa Public Transit Authority, MPOs, and RPAs. The Iowa DOT Commission has final project selection authority. Under SAFETEA-LU, Iowa DOT earmarked and administers $4.7 million of CMAQ funds annually for ICAAP.

The “Safe, Accountable, Flexible and Efficient Transportation Equity Act – A Legacy for Users” (SAFETEA-LU) was signed by President George W. Bush on Aug. 10, 2005. SAFETEA-LU is the federal transportation authorization act for highway construction, transportation research, public transportation, and highway safety programs from fiscal year 2004 to 2009. SAFETEA-LU authorizes $295 billion of new funding for these programs during this period. Of this total, $236.1 billion—or 80 percent—is directed toward the federal highway programs, $52.6 billion or 17.8 percent for public transportation programs, and $6.3 billion or 2.1 percent for highway safety programs.

Federal highway program funding apportioned to Iowa under Title 1 of SAFETEA-LU is estimated to be $2.446 billion, an expected increase of 25 percent over the annual average under TEA-21. Average annual highway funding is expected to increase from $329.5 million under TEA-21 to $412.5 million for FY 2005-2009. Most of the funding authorized by SAFETEA-LU is apportioned to the state under a dozen formula-based programs administered by the Iowa Department of Transportation.

Funds for other allocated programs are distributed among the states in a discretionary manner by the Secretary of Transportation or earmarked for specific projects by Congress. SAFETEA-LU authorized more than $22 billion nationally for 5,695 Congressionally-earmarked projects. Earmarks for highway-related projects in Iowa included 137 projects and $438.9 million for FY 2005-2009. These apportioned and allocated highway programs and associated annual funding amounts are illustrated in the SAFETEA-LU chart below.

Surface Transportation Program (STP) was established as a new formula program in the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) and is continued in SAFETEA-LU. STP funds may be used by states and local governments for any roads that are not functionally classified as local or rural minor collectors. Transit capital improvements are also eligible under this program. STP funds are augmented by the required redistribution of a portion of the Equity Bonus Program funding (previously the Minimum Guarantee Program under ISTEA and TEA-21 Acts) to the STP. States are required to set aside 10 percent of STP funding for safety construction activities (eliminated in 2006 when the Highway Safety Improvement Program is authorized), and 10 percent for transportation enhancements, which encompass six specified environmental-related activities. The state must divide 62.5 percent of the remaining STP funds by population between each urban area over 200,000 – designated as transportation management areas (TMAs) and the remaining geographical areas of the state. The remaining 37.5 percent can be used in any area of the state. Rural areas of 5,000 population or less are guaranteed 110 percent of the 1991 Secondary Road Program funding amount ($13.426 million for Iowa.). Set-asides and sub-state distribution requirements for annual funding amounts under SAFETEA-LU are shown in the chart below.

In November 1998, the Iowa DOT Commission approved a STP target allocation methodology to provide STP funds for all of Iowa’s Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) and Regional Planning Affiliations (RPAs) to conduct transportation planning and programming of local transportation priorities. The Commission determined the 18 RPAs (as a total) and the MPOs would receive the same per capita amount of STP funds as Congress provides to Iowa’s TMAs on an annual basis. The total amount for all RPAs is allocated among the individual RPA based on farm-to-market factors for member counties, nonmetropolitan urban population within the RPA and total nonmetropolitan population of the RPA.

In addition, 62.5 percent of flexible Minimum Guarantee (now Equity Bonus) Program funds would be included for local jurisdiction programming targets and mutually agreeable population adjustments could be made between MPOs and RPAs to reflect changes in urban area boundaries. Finally, the federal obligation limitation applicable to all federal apportionments for Iowa would be applied to local funding targets. A chart illustrating the STP target allocation methodology is attached below.