DAR File No. 28617

Transportation, Administration

R907-68

Prioritization of New Transportation Capacity Projects

NOTICE OF PROPOSED RULE

DAR File No.: 28617
Filed: 04/14/2006, 02:10
Received by: NL

RULE ANALYSIS

Purpose of the rule or reason for the change:

This amendment is needed to make grammatical changes and to include text in the definition section that was inadvertently left off.

Summary of the rule or change:

This amendment adds "retail sales" to the definition of "economic development." It also makes various grammatical corrections (in Section R907-68-1) and wording changes to improve readability (see Section R907-68-4).

State statutory or constitutional authorization for this rule:

Section 72-1-304

Anticipated cost or savings to:

the state budget:

This change may increase the possibility of new transportation projects, which would have a greater cost, but it is impossible to estimate how the change would affect cost.

local governments:

This change may increase the possibility of new transportation projects, which would have a greater cost, but it is impossible to estimate how the change would affect cost.

other persons:

This rule does not affect nongovernmental persons as they are not involved in the prioritization process.

Compliance costs for affected persons:

There are no costs to comply with this rule as it does not require licensing or any type of compliance.

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

This rule has no affect on costs for business as it only affects government transportation projects. 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:

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 jbeadles@utah.gov

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:

05/31/2006

This rule may become effective on:

06/01/2006

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 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 [Principle]Principal Arterial;

(c) Rural Minor Arterial;

(d) Rural Major Collector;

(e) Urban Interstate;

(f) Urban Other Freeway and Expressway;

(g) Urban Other [Principle]Principal 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(s) 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 Ratio, 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).

R907-68-3. 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 its[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 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[The Transportation Commission may consider other factors not listed above, in the final selection process. Their decision shall] be made in a public meeting forum.

KEY: transportation commission, transportation, roads, capacity

Date of Enactment or Last Substantive Amendment: [January 4, ]2006

Authorizing, and Implemented or Interpreted Law: 72-1-201

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

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For questions regarding the content or application of this rule, please contact James Beadles at the above address, by phone at 801-965-4168, by FAX at 801-965-4796, or by Internet E-mail at jbeadles@utah.gov

For questions about the rulemaking process, please contact the Division of Administrative Rules (801-538-3764). Please Note: The Division of Administrative Rules is NOT able to answer questions about the content or application of these administrative rules.