644.421—Highway purposes.
Title 23 U.S.C. 317 provides that upon application of the Secretary of Transportation, land or materials may be transferred to a state for the construction or maintenance of a right-of-way for any highway adjacent to a Government installation. If, within a period of four months after such application by the Secretary of Transportation, the Secretary of the Department shall not have certified to the Secretary of Transportation that the proposed appropriation of such land or material is contrary to the public interest or inconsistent with the purpose for which such land or materials have been reserved, they may be appropriated and transferred to the state for such purposes. When the need for such land or material ceases to exist, they shall revert to the control of the department. This section applies only to projects constructed on a Federal-aid system, or under the provisions of chapter 2 of title 23 U.S.C. Usually applications for highway rights-of-way or the use of borrow material made under this Act by the Federal Highway Administration, Department of Transportation, on behalf of a particular state can be and are more simply satisfied by the issuance of a road easement or a license to take borrow material. This latter procedure is also desirable in that controls necessary to satisfy military requirements may be retained. Title 23 U.S.C. 107(d) directs Federal agencies to cooperate with the Secretary of Transportation in providing rights-of-way, including control of access, for the interstate highway system over lands and interests in lands owned by the United States.