NPCA submitted the following position to members of the House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure ahead of a markup scheduled for May 21, 2026.
We applaud the bipartisan negotiations on the BUILD America 250 Act to address transportation infrastructure throughout the country, including the modest increases for critical road, bridge, and transportation system repairs and improvements at national parks across the country. However, with the national parks needing over $23 billion in maintenance repairs, half of which are transportation projects, we encourage additional resources for key programs including the Federal Lands Transportation Program, Federal Lands Access Program, Nationally Significant Federal Lands and Tribal Projects Program, and the Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program. We also support policy language changes to the programs.
Millions of visitors flock to national parks annually — 323 million in 2025 alone — generating tens of billions of dollars for gateway communities and the US economy. But decades of surging visitation and a massive deferred maintenance backlog have taken their toll. Visitors often face degraded infrastructure like roads riddled with potholes, failed bridges, neglected pathways and insufficient parking — diminishing the visitor experience and jeopardizing the long-term vitality of park resources.
The National Park Service (NPS) owns and maintains 5,600 miles of paved roads, 7,500 miles of unpaved roads, 6,100 paved parking areas, 1,338 bridges, 62 tunnels, over 800 miles of trails, and 100 transit and ferry systems. Across all parks, more than 46% of paved roads and 68% of bridges are in fair or poor condition.
In addition to increased funding for the above programs, we request the following:
Remove the obligation limit for Federal Lands Transportation Program (FLTP):
The annual obligation limitation (sometimes referred to as the “obligation ceiling” or “lop-off”) reduces the funding NPS receives from the FLTP by approximately 9.5 percent annually. Exempting FLTP from the obligation limitation would increase the contract authority available to NPS without increasing the level of authorized appropriations in the bill. In addition, federal land management agencies would receive full funding at the beginning of the fiscal year, decoupling the program funding from the legal mechanics of lop-off. There is precedent for certain programs being exempted from the obligation limitation, such as those listed in Section 1102 (b). Key projects needing funding include Denali Park Road in Alaska, State Road 9 in Zion National Park in Utah, Trail Bridge Road Scenic Byway in Colorado and roads in Buffalo National River in Arkansas.
Make the Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program (WCPP) permanent:
It is estimated that more than 200 lives are lost and 26,000 Americans are injured annually from collisions with wildlife. These dangerous collisions also impact wildlife populations, with an estimated one to two million large animals and countless smaller ones dying on our roads every year. In 2021, Congress for the first time created a program dedicated to addressing this important safety issue — the $350 million Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program. To date, WCPP has awarded grants for 35 projects across 30 states. Demand has far outpaced available funding, with $500 million in grant requests received from states and tribes during each of the first two rounds of funding.
In dedicating funding to solve this problem, Congress made a critical bipartisan down payment to better protect American motorists and wildlife. At the same time, it is clear there is much work left to be done. Therefore, we request the committee affirm our country’s commitment to addressing this challenge by removing “Pilot” from the Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program section title and renaming the section the “Wildlife Crossings Program”.
Remove the 5% cap on the Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program:
The legislation includes a new 5% cap on non-construction project grants. This could limit the amount of grant dollars for critical pre-project research work to identify wildlife-vehicle collision hotspots for future infrastructure safety projects. To date, the current grant program has supported statewide studies in Pennsylvania, Missouri, Kentucky, South Dakota, Virginia, Arizona, Maryland and Connecticut focused on identifying wildlife-vehicle collision hotspots. These have served to identify hundreds of road sections where wildlife-vehicle collision mitigation projects should be considered in the future. For example, Missouri now has a top 10 list and identified over 600 potential project areas to reduce collisions and protect drivers. The 5% cap could preclude other states from completing similar analysis.
