Article 2. Administration of California Streets And Highways Code >> Division 3. >> Chapter 9. >> Article 2.

The department, cities, and counties are authorized to cooperate with the federal government in any inventory or classification of bridges requested by the federal government.

The department, after conferring with the cities and the counties, shall recommend state and local projects and take such other action within the powers conferred on it by law as to comply with this chapter as fully as applicable federal laws, rules, or regulations permit.

The boards of supervisors, city councils, and the department are authorized to enter into cooperative agreements, and to do all other things necessary and proper in their respective jurisdictions, to secure federal aid under the Special Bridge Replacement Program in accordance with the intent of this chapter.

(a) The department may allocate to the counties and the cities federal funds received for approved bridge reconstruction or replacement projects on county roads or city streets in accordance with procedures promulgated by the director in cooperation with the counties and the cities and approved by the commission.
  (b) The cities and the counties may use any funds available to them to match funds made available to them under this chapter, if the use of funds for such matching purposes is not prohibited by federal law. "Match," as used in this chapter, means to provide for the payment of the cost of any project to the extent that such cost is not to be reimbursed from federal funds.

(a) The Legislature finds and declares that it is in the state's vital interest to participate fully in the federal highway bridge replacement program.
  (b) The department shall, with its available resources, expedite bridge replacement projects in order that federal funds be used to full advantage as soon as they become available.
  (c) The commission, in allocating funds, and the department, in expending funds, for bridge replacement projects, shall follow federal design standards so that the projects will be eligible for federal funds, except that this subdivision shall not apply to a project if the commission finds by resolution, after a public hearing, that application of the federal design standards would adversely affect public health or safety or would significantly increase the cost of the project to the state.
  (d) Nothing in this section shall affect the authority of the department to negotiate with the appropriate federal agency for the purpose of gaining approval of a project.