New federal program funds rural farm roads and bridges nationwide
H.R. 4585 — Agricultural and Rural Road Improvement Program Act · Filed by Mike Bost (R-IL) · 17 cosponsors · Introduced Jul 22, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill creates a new federal grant program for states to improve rural and agricultural roads, focusing on eliminating weight-restricted bridges, improving farm access, and enhancing safety on local roads critical to agriculture. States receive dedicated federal funding (0.536% of apportioned highway money) to repair or replace bridges and roads serving farms and rural economies, with the federal government covering up to 90% of project costs.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is straightforward: it carves out a new dedicated funding stream within the existing federal highway apportionment system for agricultural and rural road improvements. This is a targeted infrastructure program, not a tax provision, subsidy, or deregulation.
What the text implies
- The 0.536% apportionment is drawn from the existing highway trust fund pool, reducing funds available for other transportation programs (carbon reduction, other highway categories) unless total appropriations increase.
- Eligibility criteria (local roads, rural minor collectors, weight-limited bridges, farm access) are broad enough to encompass many rural projects but exclude urban and suburban road improvements, concentrating benefits in agricultural regions.
- The 90% federal cost-share is higher than some other highway programs, potentially incentivizing states to prioritize these projects over locally-funded alternatives.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Rural residents and agricultural producers gain improved road infrastructure, reduced transportation costs, and enhanced market access. The program targets genuine public infrastructure needs (weight-limited bridges, farm access) with broad eligibility across rural areas, not a narrow carve-out.
Who stands to gain
- rural state departments of transportation
- agricultural producers and farm operations
- rural construction and engineering firms
Named in the bill
U.S. Department of Transportation, State transportation departments, Title 23 United States Code (federal highway law), Section 104(b) apportionment formula, Section 180 (new agricultural road program)
Where it stands
17 cosponsors: 13 Republicans, 4 Democrats.
- Jul 22, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jul 22, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $316,757 in lobbying spend. A filing names 16 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Mike Bost, the sponsor, reported $882,360 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- The Fertilizer Institute — $316,757 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 16, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (2,790 characters) on Jun 3, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 16, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“New federal program funds rural farm roads and bridges nationwide” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr4585 Report an error
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