CSSB 263(FIN) AM: "An Act relating to secondary roads and to the statewide transportation improvement program; and providing for an effective date."
00CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 263(FIN) am 01 "An Act relating to secondary roads and to the statewide transportation 02 improvement program; and providing for an effective date." 03 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 * Section 1. AS 44.42 is amended by adding a new section to read: 05 Sec. 44.42.090. Statewide transportation improvement program. (a) The 06 department shall prepare a statewide transportation improvement program that includes 07 the following transportation categories: national highway system, trails and recreation 08 access to Alaska projects, and community transportation. The program shall be 09 prepared and revised as frequently as necessary for state participation in federal 10 highway, transit, and transportation programs or, in the absence of a federal 11 requirement, as frequently as the commissioner otherwise determines appropriate. The 12 program must include a priority list of transportation projects in each transportation 13 category to be carried out in each of, at least, the first three years of the program. The 14 department shall evaluate and rank proposed transportation projects in each category
01 in accordance with the process and standards established by the department by 02 regulation, except the department shall evaluate and rank proposed transportation 03 projects in the community transportation category in accordance with (b) - (d) of this 04 section. 05 (b) Projects included in the community transportation category are those 06 projects, as determined by the department, in one of the following subcategories: rural 07 and urban streets and roads, remote roads and trails, transit projects, and Alaska marine 08 highway system. The department may not include a project in the community 09 transportation category if the project is eligible for evaluation under the national 10 highway system category or the trails and recreation access to Alaska projects 11 category. 12 (c) The department shall rank community transportation projects proposed to 13 be undertaken in each year of the statewide transportation improvement program in 14 accordance with the priority of the project. In determining the priority of each 15 community transportation project, the department shall determine at least 20 percent 16 of the ranking of the project based on the volume of use of the facility that is the 17 subject of the project. The department shall then give additional priority to upgrading 18 an unimproved or hot asphaltic road if the department receives a request by a 19 municipality for the transfer of the road or a portion of the road to the municipality 20 and, after the upgrading is completed, the department shall transfer to the municipality 21 the road or the portion of it that is within the boundaries of the municipality. 22 (d) The department shall allocate, for planning purposes under this section, at 23 least 60 percent of the anticipated appropriations for the community transportation 24 category for projects in the rural and urban streets and roads subcategory. The 25 department may allocate the remainder of the anticipated appropriations for the 26 community transportation category among the other subcategories. If the department 27 finds that there are not enough eligible projects within a subcategory to fully use the 28 amount of the anticipated appropriations allocated to that subcategory, the department 29 shall redistribute the excess allocation equally among the other subcategories. 30 * Sec. 2. SECONDARY ROADS. (a) The Department of Transportation and Public 31 Facilities shall adopt regulations establishing design and construction standards for secondary
01 roads that are uniform throughout the state, shall identify unimproved secondary roads, and 02 shall rank those unimproved secondary roads in the order in which they should be upgraded 03 by the department. Standards adopted for secondary roads under this subsection need not 04 conform to those adopted by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation 05 Officials. 06 (b) A municipality may request the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities 07 to transfer to the municipality the ownership of a secondary road or that portion of the road 08 that is within the boundaries of the municipality. If the secondary road meets the standards 09 established under (a) of this section, the department may transfer the road or a portion of the 10 road to the municipality. The department shall give priority to upgrading an unimproved 11 secondary road if the department receives a request for the transfer of that road or a portion 12 of the road to a municipality under this subsection. 13 (c) Each fiscal year, $20,000,000 may be appropriated from federal or other funds to 14 the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities for upgrading unimproved secondary 15 roads and for the costs of transferring the ownership of secondary roads to municipalities 16 under this section. 17 (d) For purposes of this section, "unimproved secondary road" means a dirt or gravel 18 road or a road that has received a cold asphaltic application, and that 19 (1) is dedicated to public use; 20 (2) is used by automotive equipment; 21 (3) is under the control of the Department of Transportation and Public 22 Facilities; and 23 (4) does not meet the standards established under (a) of this section. 24 * Sec. 3. Section 2 of this Act is repealed June 30, 2003. 25 * Sec. 4. This Act takes effect July 1, 1998.