Current through Vol. 42, No. 1, September 16, 2024
(a)
Discretionary funding. The
Commission shall, except as provided by law, exercise sole discretion in the
expenditure of State Transportation funds for work involving Department
personnel, equipment or material on roads, streets or other locations in
municipalities. Such cases may include but are not strictly limited to the
following:
(1) Maintenance, construction or
other improvement of designated portions of the state highway system.
(2) Right-of-way or other properties owned or
under jurisdiction of the Department.
(3) Maintenance, construction or other
improvement of the principal access roads or streets providing connections from
the designated state highway system to state institutions, as provided in
730:35-1-6.
(4) Construction or improvement of industrial
access, airport access, lake access, or state park roads, when such facilities
are part of an approved industrial access, lake access, or state park road
program.
(b)
Routine maintenance. The following shall govern routine
maintenance on the state highway system including frontage roads, local roads,
public roads and interchange-collector-distributor roads thereto, within the
corporate limits of cities and towns.
(1) The
Department shall maintain, or pay the cost of maintaining, any municipal
streets where such streets are a continuation of the State or Federal highway
system as follows:
(A) The Department shall
maintain the area of the roadway pavement and pavement structure between the
gutter lines excluding curbs and sidewalks, and, if no curb exists, only that
portion of the roadway pavement and pavement structure between the outer edge
of the shoulder lines, excluding any underground utilities and appurtenances.
The Department shall not perform maintenance on or pay the cost of accident or
spill clean up, sweeping, mowing the right-of-way, drainage systems, and
facilities including inlets, curbs, sidewalks, driveways, electronic traffic
control devices or highway system lights. In areas where cities or towns have
annexed additional rural lands into the corporate limits, the Department may
choose to continue turf management prior to the development of such
lands.
(B) The Department shall
maintain or pay for the cost of installation, repair and maintenance of signs
and lane markings.
(C) The
Department may participate in or pay the cost of lighting and electronic
traffic control devices. The maintenance of such equipment shall be the
responsibility of the cities and towns.
(D) The Department may maintain, or
participate in the cost of constructing or improving any safety
appurtenances.
(E) The cities and
towns shall maintain that portion of the rights-of-way beyond the gutter or
shoulder lines, including storm sewers and inlets as well as all other
underground facilities.
(F) The
cities and towns shall maintain any public roads as defined in
730:35-1-2 within
their corporate limits.
(2) Maintenance of the designated Interstate
Routes which are a part of the National Highway System, urban freeways with
fully controlled access, together with all frontage roads, local roads, public
roads and interchange-collector-distributor roads thereto, within the limits of
the cities and towns which are a part of the state highway system shall be as
follows:
(A) The Department shall maintain the
highway, interchange ramps, interchange-collector-distributor roads, and that
portion of the frontage roads or local roads between the nearest edge of the
first crossroad or street and the ramp from the mainline connecting to the
frontage road or local road. This maintenance shall include all signs, pavement
markings, and other traffic control devices, except for traffic signals and
lighting.
(B) Cities and towns
shall maintain only that area of the right-of-way occupied by a frontage road
or local road between the control of access line and the right-of-way line, and
that portion of frontage roads or local roads that is not considered a part of
an interchange ramp.
(C) The
Department shall maintain all interchange and cross-over bridge structures,
exclusive of the surface and/or deck as provided in
730:35-1-5.
(D) The cities and towns shall maintain all
streets connecting to the highway or Department maintained frontage road,
including all signs, pavement markings and traffic control devices along the
cross streets, except as noted in 730:35-1-11(b)(2)(A).
(E) Cities and towns shall maintain any
Public Roads as defined in
730:35-1-2 within
their corporate limits.
(c)
Maintenance agreements. In
all cases, the Department will obtain written maintenance agreements from the
governing bodies of such cities and towns. These maintenance agreements shall
incorporate the foregoing provisions and such other provisions to which the
parties agree delineating maintenance responsibilities. Where written
agreements concerning maintenance responsibilities within cities and towns have
heretofore been obtained, they are hereby approved if reasonably conforming to
the provisions of this section. The provisions of this subchapter are
supplemental to such maintenance agreements and shall be used to carry into
effect the overall policy of the Commission. Where maintenance agreements
cannot be obtained, the provisions of this subchapter and State law shall
govern in determining maintenance responsibilities.
(1) The Department will not participate in
the improvement or maintenance of campus streets or parking areas at the
various state college and university campuses.
(2) Any other uses of funds, personnel or
equipment under the jurisdiction of the Commission in municipalities, except in
instances of legislative mandate, shall be considered contrary to established
policies of the Commission.
(3) The
Department shall control, by means of a permit system, driveway entrances and
exits on the state highway system, but may delegate this responsibility to a
city or town. Before permanent authority is delegated, the city or town
involved must enact an ordinance adopting the policy of the Commission on
driveway regulations for Oklahoma highways.
(4) The Department shall control, by means of
a permit system, the installation of landscaping within the rights-of-way on
the state highway system. Modification of right-of-way on controlled access
facilities is considered to be a landscape improvement and will be considered
for approval in accordance with the Commission policy on fencing for controlled
access highways.
