No. 28358 (New Rule): R907-68. Prioritization of New Transportation Capacity Projects

DAR File No.: 28358
Filed: 11/15/2005, 05:56
Received by: NL

 

RULE ANALYSIS

Purpose of the rule or reason for the change:

This new rule is required by S.B. 11 from the 2005 legislature. (DAR NOTE: S.B. 11 (2005) is found at UT L 2005 Ch 80, and was effective 05/02/2005.)

 

Summary of the rule or change:

This rule provides a process by which local government can suggest to the department and the transportation commission new capacity projects on state roads. It defines criteria that will be reviewed to determine whether the proposals are acceptable and the manner in which they will be approved.

 

State statutory or constitutional authorization for this rule:

Section 72-1-201

 

Anticipated cost or savings to:

the state budget:

Use of the process created by this rule may lead to an increase in staff time from reviewing local government requests, but the cost is unknown.

 

local governments:

A local government will only incur a cost if it chooses to contribute money for a project.

 

other persons:

This rule will not add costs to any other person.

 

Compliance costs for affected persons:

Complying with this rule costs nothing. There is no application fee. Local governments will only have a cost if they choose to use it and those costs will be their own staff and employee time.

 

Comments by the department head on the fiscal impact the rule may have on businesses:

This rule should have no fiscal impact on business. John R. Njord, Executive Director

 

The full text of this rule may be inspected, during regular business hours, at the Division of Administrative Rules, or at:

Transportation
Administration
CALVIN L RAMPTON COMPLEX
4501 S 2700 W
SALT LAKE CITY UT 84119-5998

 

Direct questions regarding this rule to:

James Beadles at the above address, by phone at 801-965-4168, by FAX at 801-965-4796, or by Internet E-mail at [e-mail]

 

Interested persons may present their views on this rule by submitting written comments to the address above no later than 5:00 p.m. on:

01/03/2006

 

This rule may become effective on:

01/04/2006

 

Authorized by:

John R. Njord, Executive Director

 

 

RULE TEXT

R907. Transportation, Administration.

R907-68. Prioritization of New Transportation Capacity Projects.

R907-68-1. Definitions.

(1) "ADT" means Average Daily Traffic, which is the volume of traffic on a road, annualized to a daily average.

(2) "Capacity" means the maximum hourly rate at which vehicles reasonably can be expected to traverse a point or a uniform section of a lane or roadway during a given time period under prevailing roadway, traffic, and control conditions.

(3) "Commission" means the Transportation Commission, which is created in Utah Code Ann. Section 72-1-301.

(4) "Economic Impact" is a forecast of the economic benefit that a proposed transportation project will cause. It may include employment growth, employment retention, tourism growth, freight movements, tax base increase, and traveler or user cost savings in relation to construction costs.

(5) "Functional Classification" means the description of the road as one of the following:

(a) Rural Interstate;

(b) Rural Other Principle Arterial;

(c) Rural Minor Arterial;

(d) Rural Major Collector;

(e) Urban Interstate;

(f) Urban Other Freeway and Expressway;

(g) Urban Other Principle Arterial;

(h) Urban Minor Arterial;

(i) Urban Collector;

(6) "Major New Capacity Project" means a transportation project that costs more than $5,000,000 and accomplishes any of the following:

(a) Add new roads and interchanges;

(b) Add new lanes;

(c) Modify existing interchange for capacity or economic development purpose.

(7) "MPO" as used in this section means metropolitan planning organization as defined in Utah Code Ann. Section 72-1-208.5.

(8) "Safety" means an analysis of the current safety conditions of a transportation facility. It includes an analysis of crash rates and crash severity.

(9) "Strategic Goals" means the Utah Department of Transportation Strategic Goals.

(10) "Strategic Initiatives" means the implementation strategies the Department will use to achieve the "Strategic Goals".

(11) "Transportation Efficiency" is the roadway attributes such as ADT, Truck ADT, Volume to Capacity, roadway Functional Classification, and Transportation Growth.

(12) "Transportation Growth" means the projected percentage of average annual increase in ADT.

(13) "Truck ADT" means the ADT of truck traffic on a road, annualized to a daily average.

(14) "Volume to Capacity Ratio" means the ratio of hourly volume of traffic to capacity for a transportation facility (measure of congestion).

 

R907-68-2. Authority and Purpose.

Utah Code Ann. Section 72-1-304, as enacted by Senate Bill 25, 2005 General Session, directs the Commission, in consultation with the Department and the Metropolitan Planning Organizations in the State, to issue rules that establish a prioritization process for new transportation projects that meet the Department's strategic goals. This rule fulfills that directive.

 

R907-68-3. Application of Strategic Initiatives to Projects.

The Department will use the Strategic Goals to guide the process:

(1) The Department will first seek to preserve current infrastructure and to optimize the capacity of the existing highway infrastructure before applying funds to increase capacity by adding new lanes.

(2) The Department will address means to improve the capacity of the existing system through technology like intelligent transportation systems, access management, transportation demand management, and others.

(3) The Department will assess safety through projects addressed in paragraph (1) and (2) above. The Department will also target specific highway locations for safety improvements.

(4) Adding new capacity projects will be recommended after considering items in paragraph (1), (2) and (3).

(5) All recommendations will be forwarded to the Transportation Commission for their review/action.

 

R907-68-4. Prioritization of Major New Capacity Projects List.

(1) Major New Capacity Projects will be compiled from the State of Utah Long Range Transportation Plan.

(2) The list will be first prioritized based upon Transportation Efficiency Factors, and Safety Factors. Each criterion of these factors will be given a specific weight.

(3) The Major New Capacity Projects will be ranked from highest to lowest with priority being assigned to the projects with highest overall rankings.

(4) The Transportation Commission will further evaluate the projects with highest rankings considering contributing components that include other factors such as economic impact.

(5) For each Major New Capacity Project, the Department will provide a description of how completing that project will fulfill the Department's strategic goals.

(6) The Transportation Commission may consider other factors not listed above, in the final selection process. Their decision shall be madein a public meeting forum.

 

R907-68-5. Commission Discretion.

The Commission, in consultation with the department and with MPOs, may establish additional criteria or use other considerations in prioritizing Major New Capacity Projects. If the Commission prioritizes a project over another project that has a higher rank under the criteria set forth in R907-68-4, the Commission shall identify the change and the reasons for it, and accept public comment at one of the public hearings held pursuant to R907-68-7.

 

R907-68-6. Need for Local Government Participation for Interchanges.

New interchanges for economic development purposes on existing roads will not be included on the Major New Capacity Project list unless the local government with geographical jurisdiction over the interchange location contributes at least 50% of the cost of the interchange from private, local, or other non-UDOT, funds.

 

R907-68-7. Public Hearings.

Before deciding the final prioritization list and funding levels, the Commission shall hold public hearings at locations around the state to accept public comments on the prioritization process and on the merits of the projects.

 

KEY: transportation commission, transportation, roads, capacity

2006

72-1-201