Chapter 8 › V.A Roads and Bridges (Category C)

Which road and bridge damage will FEMA repair?

FEMA term

Category C: Roads and bridges

Short answer

Repairing disaster damage to public roads and bridges your agency is legally responsible for is eligible. Federal-aid routes are not, because the Federal Highway Administration covers them, even when its Emergency Relief program isn’t activated or doesn’t pay.

What FEMA requires

Road components include surfaces, bases, shoulders, ditches, culverts, swales, low-water crossings, lighting, sidewalks, guardrails and signs. Bridge components include decking, girders, abutments, piers, slope protection and approaches.
Private roads (orphan roads, gated communities, homeowners’ association roads) are ineligible for permanent work.
Tribal roads remain eligible even if BIA or FHWA funded their construction or maintenance, unless FHWA Emergency Relief funds the repair. Tribal roads are eligible even if not open to the public.
Maintenance, potholes and fatigue cracking are generally ineligible; FEMA reviews maintenance records.
Scour and erosion repair is eligible only to restore the ground supporting an eligible road, bridge, culvert or drainage structure.
Replacing or upsizing culverts may need a hydrologic and hydraulic study, which is eligible.

Documentation

Maintenance records or invoices and activity logs, photos, and damage measurements for each site.

Watch out · Govstar practitioner advice

Check each road’s functional classification first. Damage on a federal-aid route is never a PA project, so don’t spend time scoping it.

Govstar summarizes FEMA’s Public Assistance Program and Policy Guide in plain language and links to the official text. Govstar is independent and not affiliated with FEMA. This is general guidance, not legal advice.