Current through Vol. 42, No. 1, September 16, 2024
(a) The purpose of the Industrial Access Road
Program is to encourage and assist local efforts toward industrial development
by providing funds for the construction or improvement of direct access
facilities to specific industrial operations or to officially designated
industrial areas wherein industrial operations are underway or have been
committed on a specific time schedule.
(b) The definition of direct access is based
on generally accepted functional classification criteria defining the limits of
responsibility of the various governmental jurisdictions for the provision of
road systems adequate to respond to their constituents' needs.
(c) The responsibility of the state highway
system is to provide for the interstate and intrastate traffic movement between
population centers and other major traffic generators throughout the state. The
local road system has the responsibility for the movement of traffic between
the state highway system and localized areas of attraction. This local
responsibility includes providing adequate roads to serve workers living in the
area where the industry is located.
(d) The "Industrial Access Road Program" is
designed to provide assistance to local industrial development efforts by
funding, within practical limitations, access facilities connecting a specific
industry or industrial area directly to the state highway system or local road
system. Existing general purpose roads serving areas where industry is located
do not qualify as industrial access roads.
(e) In general, an industrial access road is
one where the only justification for its construction or improvement is the
existence of a viable industrial operation at either of its termini. Criteria
to be considered are as follows:
(1) The
project provides primary, immediate access between the local or state road
systems and existing or committed industrial operations and/or areas.
(2) The project will provide circulation
within an existing or committed industrial area or park, connecting several
specific features or operations within the boundaries of the industrial area or
industrial park.
(3) State
participation requested in relation to other available funding sources (federal
programs, other state agencies, local sources, etc.).
(4) Magnitude of the industrial operation,
present and potential.
(5) Existing
access serving the industrial area.
(6) Availability of local participation to
match state highway funds (either money or services).
(7) The project must be exclusively on public
right-of-way.
(8) Right-of-way and
utility relocations to be furnished at no cost to Department (including
necessary utility adjustments).
(9)
The project will not be used to enhance speculative development
opportunities.
(10) Project is to
be sponsored by trust, foundation or other public or corporate entity having
legal authority to enter into a satisfactory agreement with the Department on
such items as cost sharing, design of the proposed project, and to accept
responsibility for satisfactory maintenance of the facility upon
completion.
(11) If facility is not
adequately maintained, no future industrial projects will be approved for the
county, city or authority.
(12) The
project will not be designated as a part of the state highway system.
(13) Minimum cost single project to maximize
geographic distribution.
(14)
Projects to be programmed on a statewide basis.
(15) Formal minimum design standards to be
approved by Commission setting forth minimum right-of-way widths and other
relevant geometric features.
(16)
No project will be approved for any county or city that is in arrears in their
payments to the Department for right-of-way or other underwriter responsibility
unless satisfactory arrangements have been made for the discharge of the
delinquency.
(17) Previously
approved projects can be removed from construction program by approval of the
Transportation Commission for reasons including county, city or authority
having failed to execute a formal agreement to provide right-of-way and utility
relocations, failure to maintain previous projects, or failure to provide
agreed local assistance.
