SB 440 — Relating to requirements on abandoned or discontinued state highway or road

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Red = new code to be enacted WEST virginia legislature regular session IntroducedCommittee Substitute for Senate Bill 440 By Senator Maynard [Introduced[Originating Februaryin 24,the 2021;Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure;

referredreported on March 17, 2021]     A BILL to amend and reenact §17-2A-8 of the CommitteeCode onof TransportationWest andVirginia, Infrastructure;1931, as amended, relating to requiring the Commissioner of the Division of Highways to post online certain records related to the discontinuance, vacating, or closing of any road or highway or part thereof;

and thenrequiring to the CommitteeDivision on Finance] A BILL to amend and reenact §17-2A-8 of theHighways Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to requiringmake thevirtual Commissionerparticipation ofavailable Highways to post online any petition,person notice,interested order,in decision,participating in or otherattending recordany hearing related to thesuch abandonmentdiscontinuance, orvacating, discontinuance of any state highway or road,closing. or any part thereof;

and providing that any member of the public shall be allowed to participate in or attend a hearing relating to the abandonment or discontinuance of any state highway or road by virtual means.

Powers, dutiesduties, and responsibilities of commissioner.

In addition to all other duties, powerspowers, and responsibilities given and assigned to the commissioner in this chapter, the commissioner may:

(1) Exercise general supervision over the state road program and the construction, reconstruction, repairrepair, and maintenance of state roads and highways:

(3) Conduct investigations and experiments, hold hearings and public meetingsmeetings, and attend and participate in meetings and conferences within and without the state for purposes of acquiring information, making findingsfindings, and determining courses of action and procedure relative to advancement and improvement of the state road and highway system;

(5) Acquire, in the name of the department,department division, by lease, grant, right of eminent domaindomain, or other lawful means all lands and interests and rights in lands necessary and required for roads, rights-of-way, cuts, fills, drains, storage for equipment and materialsmaterials, and road construction and maintenance in general;

(8) Negotiate and enter in reciprocal contracts and agreements with proper authorities of other states and of the United States relating to and regulating the use of roads and highways with reference to weights and types of vehicles, registration of vehicles and licensing of operators, military and emergency movements of personnel and suppliessupplies, and all other matters of interstate or national interest;

(9) Classify and reclassify, locatelocate, and relocate, expressway, trunkline, feederfeeder, and state local service roadsroads, and designate by number the routes within the state road system;

(10) Create, extendextend, or establish, upon petition of any interested party or parties or on the commissioner’s own initiative, any new road or highway found necessary and proper;

(11) Exercise jurisdiction, control, supervisionsupervision, and authority over local roads, outside the state road system, to the extent determined by him or her to be expedient and practicable;

(12) Discontinue, vacatevacate, and close any road or highway, or any part of any road or highway, the continuance and maintenance of which are found unnecessary and improper, upon petition and hearing or upon investigation initiated by the commissioner:commissioner.

Provided,Any That any petition, motion, notice, decision, order and actionorder taken related to the abandonmentdiscontinuance, andvacating, discontinuanceor closing of any road or highway,highway or any part thereof,thereof shall be publicly posted by the commissioner,commissioner Division of Highways and/or the highways program planning and administration division on the statedivision’s website available for thereview Divisionby ofthe Highways:public.

Provided,The however,division Thatshall anymake membervirtual ofparticipation theavailable publicto whoany wishesperson tointerested participatein participating in or attendattending any hearing related to thesuch abandonmentdiscontinuance, andvacating, discontinuance of any road or highway,closing; as provided in section 3 of the Regulations Pertaining to Particular Functions of the Commissioner of Highways, CSR 1, shall be allowed to participate in or attend by a virtual platform including, but not limited to, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or Skype;

(14) Adjust damages occasioned by construction, reconstructionreconstruction, or repair of any state road or the establishment of any temporary road;

(16) Fix standard widths for road rights-of-way, bridgesbridges, and approaches to bridges and fix and determine grades and elevations therefor;

(18) Allocate the cost of retaining walls and drainage projects, for the protection of a state road or its right-of-way, to the cost of construction, reconstruction, improvementimprovement, or maintenance;

(19) Acquire, establish, construct, maintainmaintain, and operate, in the name of the department,department division, roadside recreational areas along and adjacent to state roads and highways;

(22) Institute complaints before the Public Service Commission or any other appropriate governmental agency relating to freight rates, car serviceservice, and movement of road materials and equipment;

(23) Invoke any appropriate legal or equitable remedies, subject to section§17-2A-7 seven of this article,code, to enforce his or her orders, to compel compliance with requirements of lawlaw, and to protect and preserve the state road and highway system or any part of the system;

(24) Make and promulgate rules for the government and conduct of personnel, for the orderly and efficient administration and supervision of the state road programprogram, and for the effective and expeditious performance and discharge of the duties and responsibilities placed upon him or her by law;

(27) Contract for the construction, improvementimprovement, and maintenance of the roads;

(28) Comply with provisions of present and future federal aid statutes and regulations, including execution of contracts or agreements with and cooperation in programs of the United States government and any proper department, bureaubureau, or agency of the United States government relating to plans, surveys, construction, reconstruction, improvementimprovement, and maintenance of state roads and highways;

(30) Establish a system of accounting covering and including all fiscal and financial matters of the department;department division;

(31) Establish and advance a right-of-way Acquisition Revolving Fund, a Materials Revolving FundFund, and an Equipment Revolving Fund;

(32) Enter into contracts and agreements with and cooperate in programs of counties, municipalitiesmunicipalities, and other governmental agencies and subdivisions of the state relating to plans, surveys, construction, reconstruction, improvement, maintenancemaintenance, and supervision of highways, roads, streetsstreets, and other travel ways when and to the extent determined by the department division to be expedient and practical;

(34) Purchase materials, suppliessupplies, and equipment required for the state road program and system;

(35) Dispose of all obsolete and unusable and surplus supplies and materials which cannot be used advantageously and beneficially by the department division in the state road program by transfer of the supplies and materials to other governmental agencies and institutions by exchange, tradetrade, or sale of the supplies and materials;

(36) Investigate road conditions, official conduct of department personneldivision personnel, and fiscal and financial affairs of the department division and hold hearings and make findings thereon or on any other matters within the jurisdiction of the department;department division;

(38) Fix and revise from time to time tolls for transit over highway projects constructed by the Division of Highways after May 1, 1999, that have been authorized by the provisions of §17-17A-5b of this chapter;chapter code;

The purpose of this bill is to require the Commissioner of Highways to post online aton the Division of HighwaysHighways’ website anycertain petition,records notice, order, decision, or other record related to the abandonment or discontinuance of any state highway or road, or any part thereof;

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