Bridges not Bumpers Act of 2025

The Secretary of Transportation shall establish a bridge clearance strike working group to make recommendations on ways to improve public-private data sharing regarding bridge clearance and commercial motor vehicle route data.

The working group established under subsection (a) shall include representatives from—

(1) the Federal Highway Administration;

(2) The Federal Railroad Administration;

(3) the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration;

(4) State departments of transportation;

(5) trucking organizations;

(6) producers of GPS navigation systems;

(7) law enforcement agencies;

(8) companies that rent or lease covered rental vehicles directly to consumers; and

(9) Class I, II, and III railroad carriers.

The recommendations required under subsection (a) shall—

(1) include ways to improve the availability of information and route signs specific to commercial motor vehicles on GPS navigation tools;

(2) address potential liability issues if bridge clearance information shared between public and private partners is not accurate;

(3) address ways to improve truck driver knowledge about bridge strikes that may include a section on commercial driver’s license tests about bridge strikes;

(4) include ways for companies that rent covered rental vehicles to clearly label their vehicles with height and weight information;

(5) include ways for companies that rent covered rental vehicles to provide notice, whether orally or written, of vehicle height to individuals who rent or lease a vehicle, and warn such individuals to look out for road signs about vehicle height; and

(6) address what public or private funding streams would be necessary to incorporate bridge clearance and truck route data into GPS navigation tools.

Not later than 1 year after the working group issues recommendations under subsection (a), the Secretary shall issue such regulations as are necessary to implement such recommendations.

A GPS administrator shall be immune from liability in a civil action in any court for any injury resulting from the inclusion of information on clearance heights of bridges, tunnels, or underpasses provided by a State or the Federal Government.

It is the sense of Congress that—

(1) the Secretary, in coordination with the working group established under section 3, should conduct a national education campaign to prevent and raise awareness on bridge strikes by commercial motor vehicles; and

(2) the national education campaign should be targeted towards—

(A) educational programs for commercial drivers;

(B) independent operator businesses; and

(C) motor carrier associations.

The Secretary of Transportation shall establish a national clearinghouse for bridge and tunnel clearance strikes that—

(1) serves as a centralized repository for data collection, management, and dissemination of best practices for prevention of bridge strikes by commercial motor vehicles; and

(2) is modeled after the prototype developed by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program of the National Academies in the publication titled Guide for Preventing and Mitigating the Risk of Bridge and Tunnel Strikes by Motor Vehicles (NCHRP 08–139).

There is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary $5,000,000 to carry out this section.

The Secretary shall establish a grant program to provide grants to eligible entities to conduct research using the clearinghouse established under section 4 to—

(1) identify roadway, bridge, and tunnel locations for potential infrastructure improvement projects to mitigate bridge and tunnel clearance strikes;

(2) conduct basic, preliminary engineering tasks to analyze alternative bridge strike mitigation options and identify preferred mitigation alternative recommendations; and

(3) assess the effectiveness of currently implemented and future countermeasures against bridge and tunnel clearance strikes and strategies and programs to reduce such strikes.

An entity eligible to receive a grant under this section is—

(1) a State department of transportation;

(2) a unit of local government;

(3) a metropolitan planning organization;

(4) Class II and Class III railroads; and

(5) a transportation safety organization.

In providing grants under this section, the Secretary shall prioritize eligible entities located in States with a high incidence of bridge strikes, as determined by the Secretary.

There is authorized to be appropriated $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2030 to carry out this section.

The term commercial motor vehicle has the meaning given the term in section 31132 of title 49, United States Code.

The term covered rental vehicle means a motor vehicle that—

(A) is self-propelled or towed and used on public streets, roads, and highways except a truck tractor;

(B) has a gross vehicle weight rating of at least 5,700 pounds;

(C) is rented without a driver for an initial term of less than 4 months; and

(D) is part of a motor vehicle fleet of 5 or more motor vehicles that are used for rental purposes by a rental company.