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Utah Administrative Code (Current through November 1, 2019) |
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R940. Transportation, Administration |
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R940-6. Prioritization of New Transportation Capacity Projects |
| R940-6-1. Definitions |
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(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 Section 72-1-301. (4) "Economic Development" may include such things as employment growth, employment retention, retail sales, 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 Principal Arterial; (c) Rural Minor Arterial; (d) Rural Major Collector; (e) Urban Interstate; (f) Urban Other Freeway and Expressway; (g) Urban Other Principal Arterial; (h) Urban Minor Arterial; or (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; or (c) Modify existing interchange(s) for capacity or economic development purpose. (7) "Mobility" means the movement of people and goods. (8) "MPO" as used in this section means metropolitan planning organization as defined in Section 72-1-208.5. (9) "Safety" means an analysis of the current safety conditions of a transportation facility. It includes an analysis of crash rates and crash severity. (10) "Strategic Goals" means the Utah Department of Transportation strategic goals. (11) "Strategic Initiatives" means the implementation strategies the department will use to achieve the strategic goals. (12) "Transportation Efficiency" is the roadway attributes such as ADT, truck ADT, volume to capacity ratio, roadway functional classification, and transportation growth. (13) "Transportation Growth" means the projected percentage of average annual increase in ADT. (14) "Truck ADT" means the ADT of truck traffic on a road, annualized to a daily average. (15) "Volume to Capacity Ratio" means the ratio of hourly volume of traffic to capacity for a transportation facility (measure of congestion). |
| R940-6-2. Authority and Purpose |
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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 make rules that establish a prioritization process for new transportation projects that meet the department's strategic goals. This rule fulfills that directive. |
| R940-6-3. Application of Strategic Initiatives to Projects |
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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 mobility provided by the existing highway infrastructure before applying funds to increase mobility by adding new lanes. (2) The department will address means to improve the mobility provided by 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 its review/action. |
| R940-6-4. Prioritization of Major New Capacity Projects List |
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(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 commission will further evaluate the projects with highest rankings considering contributing components that include other factors such as economic development. (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) In the final selection process, the commission may consider other factors not listed above. Its decision will be made in a public meeting forum. |
| R940-6-5. Commission Discretion |
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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 R940-6-4, the commission shall identify the change and the reasons for it, and accept public comment at one of the public hearings held pursuant to R940-6-7. |
| R940-6-6. Need for Local Government Participation for Interchanges |
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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. |
| R940-6-7. Public Hearings |
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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. |