ERFO Overview: The Emergency Relief for Federally Owned Roads Program

Introduction
This year’s snowmelt and subsequent rain resulted in widespread road damage across many National Forests that will cost millions of dollars to repair. Unfortunately Congress slashed Forest Service road budgets at the same time that disasters struck, leaving agency officials scrambling to find enough money to repair all the damage. For more information, click here. When storms, floods and other natural disasters severely damage roads and trails, the federal government has three emergency relief programs to help cover the costs
of repair and reconstruction:

• the Emergency Relief for Federally Owned Roads Program (ERFO);
• the Federal-aid Highway Emergency Relief (ER) Program; and
• the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (Stafford Act)

The ER program can be applied to the more important State, county, and city roads, while funds provided through the Stafford Act offer alternate assistance to repair damage not covered by either the ERFO or the ER programs.

The Forest Service seeks most assistance for storm-damaged roads through ERFO, which is administered by the Office of Federal Lands Highways under the Federal Highway Administration. Funds are provided annually through a permanent Congressional appropriation of $100 million dollars to the Highway Trust Fund. Approved projects are eligible for 100 percent of the costs. In past years when the costs exceeded $100 million, Congress had typically appropriated additional dollars to cover the difference. It is unclear whether or not that will continue to be the case in the future.

Understanding the approval process and eligibility requirements can help people track how individual forests are addressing road and trail damage.

Approval Process
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), through the Federal Lands Highway Division (FLHD), decides if the natural disaster damage is serious enough to qualify for ERFO  funding. Roads must be unsafe, or unusable and the repairs beyond the scope of heavy maintenance. Additionally, the damage must be widespread, meaning across several major watershed drainages.

After a disaster, the Forest Service (or other federal land management agency) submits a Notice of Intent to the FLHD that it will seek ERFO assistance. If repairs are urgently needed, the Forest Service can begin work immediately. These “emergency” repairs differ from “permanent” repairs since officials must seek reimbursements after the work is completed. In
addition, the work must be completed within 180 days. Emergency repairs are categorically excluded from the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Both emergency and permanent repairs can be funded with ERFO.

Permanent repairs can be instituted after the Forest Service goes through the approval process with FLHD. These repairs are subject to NEPA and contracts must be awarded by the end of the second year after the natural disaster.

Ultimately, the Federal Lands Highway Deciding Engineer is responsible for determining ERFO eligibility. A Federal Lands Highway ERFO Coordinator will conduct a field review and complete a Disaster Assessment Report with a recommendation to the Deciding Engineer. A decision on whether or not a request is eligible for ERFO funding must be made within six weeks from the time the Forest Service submits a Notice of Intent. If the President issues a major disaster declaration or the state governor issues a disaster proclamation, then a Disaster Assessment Report may not be required.

Once the Deciding Engineer approves ERFO eligibility, the Forest Service and the ERFO Coordinator will jointly form a team to complete Damage Survey Reports for each site.
These reports include a description of the extent and cause of the damage, as well as a proposal for a repair plan and cost estimate. In addition to completing the Damage Survey
Reports, the team must provide other information including:

• Emergency repairs completed and emergency repairs remaining.
• Permanent repairs necessary to restore the site to its original condition.
• Major environmental issues that may have a substantive affect on repair costs and timelines.
• The level of environmental review expected [e.g., Categorical Exclusion (CE), Environmental Assessment/Finding of No Significant Impact (EA/FONSI), or Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)].
• Road Management Objectives (RMOs) for forest development roads that include the following:
  • Line Officer approval;
  • Design criteria (critical and design vehicles, surfacing);
  • Operation criteria (traffic service level); and
  • Maintenance criteria (future and present)

Source: U.S. Dept. of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Emergency Relief for Federally Owned Road Disaster Assistance Manual, Publication No.: FHWAFLH-
11-001, p. 14.

Once the Damage Survey Reports and all other needed information is gathered, the team uses it to develop a Program of Projects, which must be submitted within 90 days after the Deciding Engineer approves eligibility. Then the Deciding Engineer will make a determination to approve or deny the Program of Projects and, if approved, will establish the maximum ERFO amount authorized to complete the work.

It is important to note that for high clearance roads and those used only for administrative use, the Forest Service must seek reimbursement after repairs are completed, whereas funding for passenger vehicle  roads can be approved and dispersed in advance of repairs. This reimbursement process is a new approach by FHWA, and may lead the FS to limit their repairs because of the uncertainty that they won’t be reimbursed.

Even if everything is approved funds might not be available, especially when natural disasters occur in multiple regions of the country. In these cases, significant amounts of ERFO funding could already be obligated before other regions can even assess damage. If this occurs, the Forest Service must complete repairs first and then seek reimbursement when Congress authorizes additional funds.

Eligibility
Some key restrictions exist on what qualifies for ERFO assistance. For example, ERFO funding can only be used to repair a road to its pre-disaster conditions. This has caused many issues with ERFO, since it can “reset” roads for future failures. Fortunately, if the Deciding Engineer agrees that repairs are needed to prevent such failures, ERFO funds can be used to pay for improvements. However, the Forest Service can also supplement ERFO with its own funding to make permanent repairs. Here are some other eligibility standards:

• ERFO cannot be used to repair roads that failed due to lack of maintenance.
• ERFO cannot be used to repair closed roads.
• Culvert repair or replacement does qualify for funding.
• Embankment replacement is allowed only when extending into the road unless safety or future road failure concerns are an issue.
• Road surfacing does qualify, but only to pre-disaster levels.
• Betterments such as stabilizing slopes, road relocations, raising roadway grades, etc. may be eligible if they are needed to prevent future damage.

Other eligibility requirements exist, but those addressing road decommissioning and storage are particularly interesting. Road decommissioning funding is eligible in lieu of repair, but is capped at what it would cost to repair the road; anything above that amount would have to come from the regular Forest Service budget. Additionally, road re-contouring is not eligible except at stream crossings.

The manual also states that roads identified in a decommissioning plan are not eligible for ERFO funding. What constitutes such a plan is not defined, but it is our understanding that this does not apply to decommissioning opportunities identified in travel analysis reports: see The Riporter 15.4 cover story by clicking here.

Conclusion
While the ERFO program certainly provides important funding to the Forest Service, some restrictions are problematic. The reimbursement requirement for high clearance roads is an issue since these represent 65% of the system (204,000 miles) and these roads are often affected by natural disasters and also necessary for public access. Providing funds  exclusively through rei mbursement is a new approach by FHWA, and will only cause problems for the Forest Service. For people interested in closely tracking ERFO funded projects, obtaining the Program of Projects with the Damage Survey Reports is a good way to learn the extent of damage and the major environmental concerns. While emergency repairs are Categorically Excluded under NEPA, permanent repairs are not (especially those that include road improvements). ERFO provides important funding for the Forest Service to address
road problems caused by natural disasters or weather events. In light of the agency’s severe road maintenance backlog, this funding is critically important to reducing the impacts of their road system.