S. 90 (119th)Bill Overview

Historic Roadways Protection Act

Public Lands and Natural Resources|Land use and conservationPublic Lands and Natural Resources
Sponsor
Cosponsors
Support
Republican
Introduced
Jan 14, 2025
Discussions
Bill Text
Current stageCommittee

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

Introduced
Committee
Floor
President
Law
Congressional Activities
01 · The brief
Plain-English summaryWhat this bill actually does

<p><strong>Historic Roadways Protection Act</strong></p><p>This bill prohibits the Bureau for Land Management (BLM) from closing historical roads on public lands in certain areas of Utah until the Federal District Court for Utah makes a decision on each of the&nbsp;R.S. 2477 cases, which are cases brought by Utah and counties to keep historical roads on BLM land in Utah open for public use.</p><p>By way of background, a provision of the Mining Law of 1866, commonly known as&nbsp;R.S. 2477, granted rights-of-way to states and counties across public lands for the construction of roads for public use in order to promote settlement of the American West. In 1976, Congress repealed R.S. 2477 when it enacted the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), but FLPMA preserved rights-of-way that had been established under R.S. 2477.

Why people may split

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

Watch point

The next hurdle is converting committee movement into a floor coalition.

<p><strong>Historic Roadways Protection Act</strong></p><p>This bill prohibits the Bureau for Land Management (BLM) from closing historical roads on public lands in certain areas of Utah until the Federal District Court for Utah makes a decision on each of the&nbsp;R.S. 2477 cases, which are cases brought by Utah and counties to keep historical roads on BLM land in Utah open for public use.</p><p>By way of background, a provision of the Mining Law of 1866, commonly known as&nbsp;R.S. 2477, granted rights-of-way to states and counties across public lands for the construction of roads for public use in order to promote settlement of the American West.

In 1976, Congress repealed R.S. 2477 when it enacted the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), but FLPMA preserved rights-of-way that had been established under R.S. 2477.

Passage38/100

This bill has moved beyond introduction, but committee and floor dynamics still determine whether it can build durable support.

CredibilityPartial

How solid the drafting looks.

Contention62/100

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

02 · What it does

Who stands to gain, and who may push back.

Likely benefits vs burdens0% / 100%
Likely helpedLikely burdened

These are examples from the analysis, not a ranked list of the most-affected groups.

Likely helped
  • No clear beneficiaries surfaced yet.
Likely burdened
  • No clear downsides surfaced yet.
03 · Why people split

Why the argument around this bill splits.

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.
Progressive

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

Unclear
Centrist

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

Unclear
Conservative

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

Unclear
04 · Can it pass?

The path through Congress.

Introduced

Reached or meaningfully advanced

Committee

Reached or meaningfully advanced

Floor

Still ahead

President

Still ahead

Law

Still ahead

Passage likelihood38/100

This bill has moved beyond introduction, but committee and floor dynamics still determine whether it can build durable support.

Why this could stall
  • The next hurdle is converting committee movement into a floor coalition.
05 · Recent votes

Recent votes on the bill.

No vote history yet

The bill has not accumulated any surfaced votes yet.

06 · Go deeper

Go deeper than the headline read.

Included on this page

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

This bill has moved beyond introduction, but committee and floor dynamics still determine whether it can build durable support.

Unlocked analysis

Pro readers get the full perspective split, passage barriers, legislative design review, stakeholder impact map, and lens-based policy tradeoff analysis for Historic Roadways Protection Act.

Go beyond the headline summary with full stakeholder mapping, legislative design analysis, passage barriers, and lens-by-lens tradeoff breakdowns.

Perspective breakdownsPassage barriersLegislative design reviewStakeholder impact map
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