CATEGORICAL EXCLUSIONS FOR PROJECTS WITHIN THE RIGHT-OF-WAY.

SEC. 1316. [23 U.S.C. 109 note] CATEGORICAL EXCLUSIONS FOR PROJECTS WITHIN THE RIGHT-OF-WAY. (a) In General.—The Secretary shall— (1) not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, designate any project (as defined in section 101(a) of title 23, United States Code) within an existing operational right-of-way as an action categorically excluded from the requirements relating to environmental assessments or environmental impact statements under section 1508.4 of title 40, Code of Federal Regulations, and section 771.117(c) of title 23, Code of Federal Regulations; and (2) not later than 150 days after the date of enactment of this Act, promulgate regulations to carry out paragraph (1). (b) Definition of an Operational Right-of-way.—In this section, the term “operational right-of-way” means all real property interests acquired for the construction, operation, or mitigation of a project (as defined in section 101(a) of title 23, United States Code), including the locations of the roadway, bridges, interchanges, culverts, drainage, clear zone, traffic control signage, landscaping, and any rest areas with direct access to a controlled access highway.