SB 149: "An Act relating to awards of federal funds to municipalities for road projects and to the statewide transportation improvement program; and providing for an effective date."
00SENATE BILL NO. 149 01 "An Act relating to awards of federal funds to municipalities for road projects 02 and to the statewide transportation improvement program; and providing for an 03 effective date." 04 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 05 * Section 1. AS 19.05 is amended by adding a new section to read: 06 Sec. 19.05.043. Statewide transportation improvement program. (a) The 07 department shall prepare a statewide transportation improvement program that allocates 08 total expenditures among transportation project categories as follows: (1) national 09 highway system, 55 percent; (2) community transportation, 36 percent; and (3) trails 10 and recreational access for Alaska, nine percent. The program shall be prepared and 11 revised as frequently as necessary for state participation in federal highway, transit, and 12 transportation programs or, in the absence of a federal requirement, as frequently as 13 the commissioner otherwise determines appropriate. Program revisions necessary to 14 comply with project funding in an appropriation bill shall be completed by the
01 commissioner and submitted for federal review within 30 days after the effective date 02 of the appropriation. The program must include a priority list of projects in each 03 transportation project category to be carried out in each of, at least, the first three years 04 of the program. The department shall evaluate and rank proposed projects in each 05 category in accordance with the process and standards established by the department 06 by regulation, except the department shall evaluate and rank proposed projects in the 07 community transportation category in accordance with (b) - (d) of this section. 08 (b) Expenditures from the community transportation category shall be further 09 allocated by the department among project subcategories as follows: (1) Anchorage 10 metropolitan area transportation study, 30 percent; (2) remote, 10 percent; (3) state 11 highway system, 15 percent; (4) gravel to pavement upgrade, 15 percent; (5) 12 reconstruction and transfer, 10 percent; (6) statewide competitive, 20 percent. The 13 department may not include a project in the community transportation category if the 14 project is eligible for evaluation under the national highway system category or the 15 trails and recreational access for Alaska category. 16 (c) The department shall rank community transportation category projects 17 proposed to be undertaken in each year of the statewide transportation improvement 18 program in accordance with the priority of the project. The department shall give 19 priority to upgrading an unimproved or hot asphaltic road if the department receives 20 a request by a municipality for the transfer of the road or a portion of the road to the 21 municipality and, after the upgrading is completed, the department shall transfer to the 22 municipality the road or the portion of it that is within the boundaries of the 23 municipality. 24 (d) If the department finds that there are not enough eligible projects within 25 the reconstruction and transfer subcategory, the department shall redistribute the excess 26 allocation to the statewide competitive subcategory. If the department finds that there 27 are not enough eligible projects within another subcategory to fully use the amount of 28 the anticipated appropriations allocated to that subcategory, the department shall 29 redistribute the excess allocation equally between the other subcategories. 30 (e) For purposes of this section, 31 (1) "Anchorage metropolitan area transportation study" means projects
01 that appear on the Anchorage metropolitan area transportation study transportation 02 improvement program prepared by the joint state and municipal organization charged 03 with transportation planning for the Anchorage urbanized area in compliance with 04 federal law; 05 (2) "community transportation" means rural, urban, and remote roads 06 that are not part of the national highway system, and includes Alaska marine highway 07 system nonmainline terminals; 08 (3) "gravel to pavement upgrade" means providing hard surface road 09 treatments to state owned gravel or cold asphaltic roads and providing improvements 10 necessary to support the hard surface; 11 (4) "national highway system" means transportation facilities designated 12 as national highways by the federal government, and includes Alaska marine highway 13 system vessels and mainline terminals; 14 (5) "reconstruction and transfer" means upgrading a road to meet state 15 standards and transferring ownership of the road and maintenance responsibility to a 16 municipality; 17 (6) "remote" means roads in communities not connected by road or 18 ferry to the contiguous continental highway network; 19 (7) "state highway system" means transportation facilities that are not 20 part of the national highway system, that are at least 10 miles in length, and that 21 connect at least two communities or connect a community with an important 22 employment or recreational site; 23 (8) "trails and recreational access for Alaska" means improvements that 24 enhance highways, roads, and the Alaska marine highway system, including trails, 25 trailheads, boardwalks, interpretive facilities, recreational access, and scenic byways. 26 * Sec. 2. AS 19.05.043(b) is amended to read: 27 (b) Expenditures from the community transportation category shall be further 28 allocated by the department among project subcategories as follows: (1) Anchorage 29 metropolitan area transportation study, 30 percent; (2) remote, 10 percent; (3) state 30 highway system, 15 percent; (4) [GRAVEL TO PAVEMENT UPGRADE, 15 31 PERCENT; (5)] reconstruction and transfer, 10 percent; (5) [(6)] statewide competitive,
01 35 [20] percent. The department may not include a project in the community 02 transportation category if the project is eligible for evaluation under the national 03 highway system category or the trails and recreational access for Alaska category. 04 * Sec. 3. AS 19.05.043(e) is amended to read: 05 (e) For purposes of this section, 06 (1) "Anchorage metropolitan area transportation study" means projects 07 that appear on the Anchorage metropolitan and transportation study transportation 08 improvement program prepared by the joint state and municipal organization charged 09 with transportation planning for the Anchorage urbanized area in compliance with 10 federal law; 11 (2) "community transportation" means rural, urban, and remote roads 12 that are not part of the national highway system, and includes Alaska marine highway 13 system nonmainline terminals; 14 (3) ["GRAVEL TO PAVEMENT UPGRADE" MEANS PROVIDING 15 HARD SURFACE ROAD TREATMENTS TO STATE OWNED GRAVEL OR COLD 16 ASPHALTIC ROADS AND PROVIDING IMPROVEMENTS NECESSARY TO 17 SUPPORT THE HARD SURFACE; 18 (4)] "national highway system" means transportation facilities 19 designated as national highways by the federal government, and includes Alaska 20 marine highway system vessels and mainline terminals; 21 (4) [(5)] "reconstruction and transfer" means upgrading a road to meet 22 state standards and transferring ownership of the road and maintenance responsibility 23 to a municipality; 24 (5) [(6)] "remote" means roads in communities not connected by road 25 or ferry to the contiguous continental highway network; 26 (6) [(7)] "state highway system" means transportation facilities that are 27 not part of the national highway system, that are at least 10 miles in length, and that 28 connect at least two communities or connect a community with an important 29 employment or recreational site; 30 (7) [(8)] "trails and recreational access for Alaska" means 31 improvements that enhance highways, roads, and the Alaska marine highway system,
01 including trails, trailheads, boardwalks, interpretive facilities, recreational access, and 02 scenic byways. 03 * Sec. 4. AS 19.05 is amended by adding new sections to read: 04 Article 4. Awards of Federal Funds to Municipalities for Road Projects. 05 Sec. 19.05.150. Municipal road projects. (a) Each fiscal year, the 06 department shall award federal funds to municipalities for road projects. The total 07 amount awarded in a fiscal year may not exceed the total amount allocated for that 08 fiscal year under AS 19.05.043(b) for the project subcategories of reconstruction and 09 transfer and statewide competitive. Awards are subject to state appropriations of 10 federal funds for municipal road projects. 11 (b) Appropriations for awards under this section are not one-year 12 appropriations and do not lapse under AS 37.25.010. 13 Sec. 19.05.155. Project applications. A municipality with the power to 14 construct and maintain roads may apply to the department for an award of federal 15 money for a road project. The project application must contain all information 16 regarding the road project that is requested by the department. The municipality must 17 agree to provide money to match federal funds if a match is required by federal law, 18 and the municipality must agree to comply with all other federal requirements for 19 receipt and expenditure of the federal funds for the road project. The department may 20 not accept an application for a road project until the department determines that the 21 project will qualify for federal funding. 22 Sec. 19.05.160. Priorities for road projects. (a) The department shall set 23 priorities for all municipal road projects for which it accepts an application under 24 AS 19.05.155. In setting priorities for projects, the department shall assign a higher 25 priority to road projects involving the reconstruction or rehabilitation of a state 26 maintained road where the municipality also agrees to accept maintenance 27 responsibility for the road upon completion of the project. 28 (b) Unless prohibited under federal law, the department shall include the 29 municipal road projects that it accepts under AS 19.05.155 in the statewide 30 transportation improvement program required under AS 19.05.043 in the order of 31 priority established under (a) of this section and in a manner that ensures that
01 municipal road projects qualify for federal funding each fiscal year in approximately 02 the total amount allocated for that fiscal year under AS 19.05.043(b) for the two 03 project subcategories of reconstruction and transfer and statewide competitive. 04 * Sec. 5. Sections 1 and 4 of this Act take effect July 1, 1999. 05 * Sec. 6. Sections 2 and 3 of this Act take effect July 1, 2003.