General Assembly>Division of Legislative Services>Publications>Session Summaries>2008>Highways, Bridges and Ferries

CONTENTS | < PREVIOUS | NEXT > | BILL INDEX

Highways, Bridges and Ferries

Passed

P HB84

Virginia-North Carolina Interstate Toll Road Compact. Repeals the Virginia-North Carolina Interstate Toll Road Compact. The bill will take effect July 1, 2009.
Patron - Landes

P HB277

Traffic control measures. Allows installation and application of traffic control measures on secondary system components in residence districts even if those components also provide access to business districts.
Patron - Watts

P HB453

School bus stop indicators. Provides that local school boards may install signs or other devices to indicate school bus stops. Installation of these signs or devices is subject to VDOT approval if installed on any state-maintained highway. Maintenance, repair, and replacement of these school bus stop signs is to be the responsibility of the local school board. VDOT, in conformance with its current policies for emergency snow removal operations, must use its best efforts to ensure that signed school bus stop areas will not be obstructed by snow removal operations.
Patron - Rust

P HB454

HOT Lanes. Revises procedures for enforcement of High-Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes violations. This bill is the same as SB 570.
Patron - Rust

P HB1013

Newman Road. Designates the entire length of Newman Road in Fairfax County a Virginia byway.
Patron - Hugo

P HB1014

HOV lanes; clean special fuel vehicles. Extends until July 1, 2009, the "sunset" provision allowing vehicles bearing clean special fuel license plates to use HOV lanes regardless of the number of their passengers. This bill incorporates HB 342.
Patron - Hugo

P HB1032

Traffic control measures. Provides that nothing in Title 33.1 is to be construed to prevent the acceptance by the Department of Transportation of private financing for the application and installation of traffic control measures.
Patron - Frederick

P HB1406

Rural rustic road program. Increases from 1,000 to 1,500 vehicles per day the maximum average daily traffic volume for roads to be eligible to participate in the rural rustic road program.
Patron - May

P HB1464

Trooper Robert A. Hill Memorial Bridge. Designates the Virginia Route 687 bridge over U.S. Route 58 in Southampton County the "Trooper Robert A. Hill Memorial Bridge."
Patron - Tyler

P HB1507

Trooper Charles Mark Cosslett Memorial Highway. Designates a portion of Virginia Route 7100 (Fairfax County Parkway) the "Trooper Charles Mark Cosslett Memorial Highway."
Patron - Sickles

P HB1516

Public-Private Transportation Act; tolls on Interstate highways. Prohibits a private entity from imposing tolls or user fees under the Public-Private Transportation Act on any rural portion of I-81 without the prior approval of the General Assembly. This bill incorporates HB 1515 (Gilbert). This bill is identical to SB 754.
Patron - Gilbert

P HB1555

Lance Corporal Daniel Todd Morris Bridge. Designates the Virginia Route 620 bridge over Interstate Route 81 at Steeles Tavern the "Lance Corporal Daniel Todd Morris Bridge."
Patron - Cline

P HB1572

Comprehensive highway access management standards; implementation. Requires that the Commonwealth Transportation Commissioner promulgate comprehensive highway access management standards in phases. Those standards relating to principal arterial roads shall become effective on July 1, 2008, and those relating to minor arterial roads shall become effective on October 1, 2009. The Commissioner will be subject to the Administrative Process Act for those regulations effective on October 1, 2009. This bill is identical to SB 370.
Patron - Hull

P SB99

"Revenue-sharing" funds for highway systems in certain counties, cities, and towns. Provides that, from additional revenues made available by the General Assembly after January 1, 2008, and appropriated for the improvement, construction, or reconstruction of the systems of state highways, the Commonwealth Transportation Board must make an equivalent matching allocation to any county, city, or town for designations by the governing body of up to $1 million in county, city, or town general funds for use by the county, city, or town to improve, construct, or reconstruct the highway systems within such county, city, or town. After adopting a resolution supporting the action, the governing body may request revenue-sharing funds to improve, construct, or reconstruct a highway system located in another locality, between two or more localities, or to bring subdivision streets, used as such prior to July 1, 1992, up to standards sufficient to qualify them for inclusion in the state primary and secondary system of highways. All requests for funding shall be accompanied by a prioritized listing of specific projects. In allocating these funds, the Board must give priority (i) first when such project is administered by the county, city, or town, either directly or by contract with another entity, (ii) second when such county, city, or town commits more local funding than the amount of revenue-sharing funding requested, and (iii) third when the allocation will accelerate an existing project in the Six-Year Improvement Program or the locality's capital plans. Any funds remaining may be applied to any other project that requires an equivalent matching allocation from the governing body.
Patron - Ruff

P SB150

Wilderness Road: Virginia's Heritage Migration Route. Designates U.S. Route 11 from Winchester to Bristol, connecting with the Daniel Boone Wilderness Trail in Scott County and continuing west on U.S. Routes 58 and 23, ending at Cumberland Gap National Heritage Park in Lee County where it intersects with the Kentucky Wilderness Road Heritage Highway; and the Fincastle Turnpike and the Carolina Road spurs that branch off in Botetourt County as the "Wilderness Road: Virginia's Heritage Migration Route." This designation shall not affect any other designation heretofore or hereafter applied to this route or any portions thereof.
Patron - Edwards

P SB153

VDOT maintenance; community service program. Requires the Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Transportation to establish a program whereby nonviolent misdemeanants who have a suspended sentence or who are on probation will mow rights-of-way or perform other landscaping tasks that VDOT is responsible for. The bill also provides civil immunity for the officials who participate.
Patron - Stuart

P SB189

Highway construction by state or local employees. Increases the maximum cost of a project that may be undertaken using state or local employees to $600,000; and provides that the Board may enter into a written agreement with a locality for the building and maintenance of roads by local employees so long as the locality has obtained a cost estimate of not more than $1 million.
Patron - Herring

P SB370

P SB570

HOT Lanes. Revises procedures for enforcement of High-Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes violations. This bill is identical to HB 454.
Patron - Saslaw

P SB654

Jerry Falwell Parkway. Designates U.S. 460 between the Monacan Bridge in the City of Lynchburg and Wards Road in Campbell County the "Jerry Falwell Parkway."
Patron - Newman

P SB754

Public-Private Transportation Act; tolls on Interstate highways. Prohibits a private entity from imposing tolls or user fees under the Public-Private Transportation Act on any existing rural segment of Interstate Route 81 without the prior approval of the General Assembly. This bill is identical to HB 1516.
Patron - Obenshain

Failed

F HB73

Naming highways, etc. Allows the Commonwealth Transportation Board to name a highway, bridge, or interchange for a living person, group, or business entity if the cost of construction of the bridge, highway, or interchange is paid by the person, group, or business entity.
Patron - Marshall, R.G.

F HB111

F HB135

HOT lanes. Prohibits the designation of HOT lanes on any portion of I-95 between the Potomac River and the City of Fredericksburg.
Patron - Nichols

F HB147

Statewide Transportation Plan. Requires VDOT to collect and report certain statistical information. This bill incorporates HB 977.
Patron - Fralin

F HB158

Highways; littering unsightly matter. Provides when the matter illegally dumped or disposed of was ejected from a motor vehicle or transported to the disposal site in a motor vehicle, the court, in addition to the criminal penalty provided, may suspend the defendant's license to operate a motor vehicle for a period not to exceed 30 days.
Patron - Nichols

F HB185

Fees on trucks. Requires the Commonwealth Transportation Board to impose a fee on trucks and combination vehicles for use in maintaining state highways. The Board is to calculate, impose, and collect a fee for damage done to highways by certain vehicles. The amount of the fee is to be based on the difference between the amount received annually by the Commonwealth from the federal government for highway maintenance and the annual cost to the Commonwealth of repairing damage done to the highways of the Commonwealth by vehicles subject to the fee. The amount of the fee and the method of payment are to be determined by the Board. The fee is to be imposed on a vehicle-by-vehicle basis, and no vehicle upon which a fee is assessed is to be operated on any highway of the Commonwealth if the fee is not paid in full on or before the date upon which payment of the fee is due.
Patron - Marshall, R.G.

F HB268

HOV lanes. Imposes the same penalties for HOV lane violations in the Hampton Roads Planning District as are presently imposed for HOV violations in Northern Virginia.
Patron - Miller, P.J.

F HB342

HOV lanes; use by vehicles bearing clean special fuel vehicle license plates. Extends the July 1, 2008, "sunset" on use of HOV lanes by vehicles bearing clean special fuel vehicle license plates, regardless of the number of their passengers, until July 1, 2012. This bill was incorporated into HB 1014.
Patron - Plum

F HB347

Powers of CTC. Allows the Commonwealth Transportation Commissioner (CTC) to enter into contracts with Reston for grounds keeping, mowing, and litter removal on highways within Reston.
Patron - Plum

F HB348

Supplying information to and soliciting comments from Reston by VDOT. Requires that whenever any provision of Title 33.1 requires the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) to supply information to or solicit comments from the governing body of any county, city, or town, VDOT must, under similar circumstances, supply such information to or solicit comments from Reston.
Patron - Plum

F HB373

Highway "welcome" signs and exit signs. Allows local governing bodies to put up "welcome" signs within highway rights-of-way or within sight of highway rights-of-way to welcome travelers. These signs may include statements or phrases such as "birthplace of __________," "site of the __________," or "home of the __________." Such signs may also display the Internet web address of the locality's official website. The bill also provides for display of the Internet address of a locality's official website on exit signs on controlled access highways.
Patron - Carrico

F HB389

Allocation of maintenance funds among highway systems. Requires the Commonwealth Transportation Board to utilize the estimated budget required to meet performance standards for asset management under § 33.1-13.02 in determining the total amount of funds that are reasonable and necessary for maintenance of roads; the allocation of the total amount of funds made available for maintenance shall be based on achieving a minimal level of disparity in meeting asset management performance standards established under § 33.1-13.02; such provision to be fully implemented by fiscal year 2015.
Patron - Bulova

F HB471

Primary system highway construction funds allocation. Allocates primary system highway construction funds among the nine highway construction districts on the basis of the ratio of vehicle miles traveled on primary highways divided by the lane miles of primary highways in each highway construction district, weighted 90 percent, and a need factor, weighted 10 percent.
Patron - Watts

F HB507

Hampton Roads Transportation Authority. Revises the number of members needed for a quorum at meetings of the Authority and the number of affirmative votes required to impose taxes, fees, or tolls. The bill also eliminates references to phase two projects and adds improvements to the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel to the list of Authority projects. Additionally, it eliminates, for Hampton Roads, the 5 percent sales and use tax on vehicle repairs, the initial vehicle registration fee, the congestion relief fee, and the increased commercial real estate tax. Finally, the bill increases, for Hampton Roads, the tax on motor fuels from 2 percent to 5 percent, the car rental fee from 2 percent to 5 percent, and the annual vehicle license fee from $10 to $50.
Patron - Hamilton

F HB568

Local ordinances prohibiting use of certain highways by tractor-trailer combinations. Allows the governing body of any county, city, or town by ordinance to prohibit the use of any highway within its boundaries by tractor-trailer combinations when, in the sole judgment of the local governing body, tractor-trailer combinations are unable safely to negotiate such highway.
Patron - Crockett-Stark

F HB571

Revenue-sharing funds for certain counties. Eliminates the four-tier allocation system and also eliminates the authority for counties to use proffers for up to one-half of the local government's contribution to revenue-sharing fund projects. This bill was incorporated into HB 111.
Patron - Crockett-Stark

F HB629

VDOT regulations; fiber optic facilities. Requires the Department of Transportation, by regulation, to allow communications providers deploying fiber optic facilities to overlash fiber optic facilities onto existing aerial copper facilities. Vertical clearances for all such overhead installations within nonlimited-access rights-of-way must be in compliance with standards specified in the National Electric Safety Code.
Patron - May

F HB630

VDOT regulations; placement of customer service drop cables. Requires VDOT, by regulation, to allow providers of communications services to place and maintain lateral customer service drop facilities necessary to provide communications services to individual customer locations and further allow providers of communications services to place customer service drop cables of a physical size that does not exceed three inches in diameter parallel within highway rights-of-way for a distance of no more than 1,000 feet.
Patron - May

F HB692

F HB797

Traffic signs in Fairfax County. Transfers from VDOT to Fairfax County any and all powers, duties, responsibility, and control over traffic signage and marking within the boundaries of the County of Fairfax. VDOT is further required to fully reimburse the County of Fairfax for its actual and necessary expenses in carrying out the provisions of this act.
Patron - Englin

F HB803

VDOT to account for workforce housing. Grants VDOT full authority to account for workforce housing when negotiating the sale price of property being sold after it has acquired it in the course of any project. This accounting is to be made available to the Joint Commission on Transportation Accountability.
Patron - Englin

F HB826

Hampton Roads Transportation Authority. Includes expansion of the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel in the list of "first tier" projects of the Hampton Roads Transportation Authority.
Patron - Gear

F HB828

Hampton Roads Transportation Authority. Removes York County and the Cities of Hampton and Poquoson from the territory embraced by the Authority.
Patron - Gear

F HB829

Hampton Roads Transportation Authority. Abolishes the Authority and the taxes, fees, and charges dedicated to financing its operation and programs.
Patron - Gear

F HB855

Regional pedestrian and bicycle advisory committees. Requires VDOT to establish regional pedestrian and bicycle advisory committees.
Patron - Ebbin

F HB856

Rail Enhancement Fund. Allows the Director of the Department of Rail and Public Transportation, with the approval of the Rail Advisory Board, to waive the requirement that projects funded by the Fund include a minimum of 30 percent cash or in-kind matching contribution from a private source, which may include a railroad, a regional authority, a local government source, or a combination of such sources. The bill also allows the use of funds from "federal governmental sources" in connection with projects funded from the Fund.
Patron - Ebbin

F HB961

Street maintenance payments. Provides for increased payments where traffic volumes exceed the statewide average by more than 20 percent.
Patron - Shannon

F HB977

VDOT statistical information. Requires VDOT to collect and report certain statistical information. This bill was incorporated into HB 147.
Patron - Shannon

F HB1108

F HB1130

VDOT logo signs. Requires the Commonwealth Transportation Board to allow businesses that cater to recreational vehicle users and participate in the Integrated Directional Sign Program to identify themselves through use of distinctive symbols or images.
Patron - Jones, S.C.

F HB1286

Local revenue-sharing highway projects. Eliminates the three-tier aspect of the revenue-sharing program, allows localities to contribute up to 90 percent of their share in the form of proffers, and provides that 90 percent of project funding will be from VDOT and 10 percent from the locality. This bill was incorporated into HB 111.
Patron - Athey

F HB1304

Hampton Roads Transportation Authority. Provides specific procedures to be followed by the Authority in making legislative requests and recommendations to the General Assembly. The bill also provides that no tax or fee to be charged or imposed and dedicated to financing its operation and programs pursuant to Chapter 896 of the Acts of Assembly of 2007 (House Bill No. 3202) shall be imposed or collected prior to July 1, 2009.
Patron - Oder

F HB1385

Allocation of primary and secondary highway construction funds. Revises the formulas used to allocate primary and secondary highway construction funds so that such funds are allocated on the basis of population.
Patron - Miller, J.H.

F HB1444

Hampton Roads Transportation Authority. Abolishes the Authority and the taxes, fees, and charges dedicated to financing its operation and programs.
Patron - Oder

F SB11

F SB71

F SB121

TransDominion Express Commission. Establishes the TransDominion Express Commission, to be responsible, within the TransDominion Corridor, for identifying needed construction, reconstruction, improvements of or repairs to railroads and their facilities and equipment to provide enhanced passenger rail service coordinated with freight rail opportunities within the corridor.
Patron - Edwards

F SB186

VDOT statistical information. Requires VDOT to collect and report certain statistical information.
Patron - Herring

F SB371

Statewide Rail Plan. Requires that the Commonwealth Transportation Board develop a Statewide Rail Plan, which shall set forth an inventory of rail needs based upon established goals, objectives, and priorities including promotion of increased passenger rail service and increased freight rail capacity.
Patron - Watkins

F SB660

Hampton Roads Transportation Authority. Gives the Hampton Roads Transportation Authority the power to enter into design-build contracts for construction of projects.
Patron - Miller, Y.B.

F SB720

HOT lane construction contracts. Requires that any contract for the construction of any additional lanes on Interstate Route 95 or Interstate Route 395 in or between Arlington County and Spotsylvania County must specify that average vehicle speeds of at least 45 miles per hour must be maintained along Interstate Route 95 or Interstate Route 395 between the Capital Beltway and the southern terminus of the HOT lanes on Interstate Route 95. The contract must also specify monetary penalties to be paid by the contractor or operator of the HOT lanes if and when these average vehicle speeds are not met. The bill also corrects a technical error.
Patron - Barker

Carried Over

C HB94

Secondary highway system construction allocations. Allocates construction funds among the counties in the state secondary highway system solely on the basis of population. Presently, allocations are made on the basis of population (80%) and area (20%).
Patron - Nichols

C HB374

"CHILD WITH AUTISM" signs. Requires VDOT, when requested by the child's parent or legal guardian, to post within an area in which a child with autism who is less than 18 years old resides signs bearing the legend "CHILD WITH AUTISM."
Patron - Carrico

C HB405

Tolls. Prohibits imposition and collection of tolls for use of (i) Interstate Route 64 between the Virginia Route 143 (Jefferson Avenue) interchange in the City of Newport News and the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel and (ii) Interstate Route 664 between Interstate Route 64 and the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel.
Patron - Oder

C HB544

Composition of RMA Board. Revises the composition of the Board of Directors of the Richmond Metropolitan Authority (RMA).
Patron - Nixon

C HB618

Eminent domain; highway construction. Clarifies that the power of eminent domain exercised by the Commonwealth Transportation Commissioner for highway construction includes construction of sidewalks and lighting therefor.
Patron - Amundson

C HB1105

Outdoor advertising. Gives local governments increased ability to limit or remove nonconforming billboard signs.
Patron - Bouchard

C HB1288

Bridge and safety funding prioritization by CTB. Requires the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) to make the replacement and/or repair of bridges in the Commonwealth that are of the same or substantially similar design to the Interstate Route 35W bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota, that collapsed on August 1, 2007, the highest priority for all available bridge and safety funding.
Patron - Athey

C HB1301

Powers of CTB; bridge replacement and repair. Allows the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) to award contracts for the design-build procurement of bridge replacement and bridge repair projects.
Patron - Nichols

C HB1454

VDOT entrance sight-distance requirements. Provides that in any county having a population of less than 40,000, the Virginia Department of Transportation must waive entrance sight-distance requirements for entrances to buildings used by emergency fire and rescue organizations when such entrances connect to highways where there is no posted speed limit.
Patron - Nutter

C HB1511

Changeable electronic variable message signs. Imposes a moratorium on the erection or conversion of advertisements and advertising structures into changeable electronic variable message signs.
Patron - May

C SB122

Rail Transportation Development Authority. Establishes the Rail Transportation Development Authority. The Authority is to be responsible for identifying needed construction, reconstruction, improvements, or repairs to railroads and their facilities and equipment. The Authority is given the power to finance or assist in financing any such rail transportation project. The bill requires the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation, in conjunction with the Authority, to develop a rail transportation plan for the Commonwealth. The bill further abolishes the Rail Advisory Board and repeals Chapter 1041 of the 2003 Acts of Assembly, which provided for the creation of a Rail Transportation Development Authority, but never became effective, because it included a reenactment clause, and the act was not reenacted.
Patron - Edwards

C SB233

Statewide Transportation Plan. Requires that the Statewide Transportation Plan include quantifiable measures and achievable goals for carbon dioxide gas emissions.
Patron - Whipple

C SB407

C SB676

Hampton Roads Transportation Authority. Abolishes the Authority and the taxes, fees, and charges dedicated to financing its operation and programs.
Patron - Miller, J.C.

C SB763

CONTENTS | < PREVIOUS | NEXT > | BILL INDEX

General Assembly>Division of Legislative Services>Publications>Session Summaries>2008>Highways, Bridges and Ferries

E-mail Webmaster