Terms Used In Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:151

  • Department: means the Department of Transportation and Development. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
  • Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
  • Roadway: means that portion of a highway improved, designed, or ordinarily used for vehicular traffic, exclusive of the berm or shoulder. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
  • Traffic: means pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles, and other conveyances either singly or together while using any highway for purposes of travel. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1

A.  The Department of Transportation and Development, in partnership with the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, office of state police, shall develop and adopt an open roads agreement which requires only that portion of any state roadway which is necessary for the safe management and clearance of a traffic incident shall be closed.  The agreement shall set forth performance standards for the response and clearance of traffic incidents and include a post-action review process to ensure that long delays in opening all lanes will be evaluated, reported, and used to improve the delivery of traffic incident management services.

B.  Each agency responding to the incident shall implement training and policy enhancements to ensure that all employees are knowledgeable about the open roads agreement adopted pursuant to this Section.

C.  The agreement shall be provided to each parish and municipal governing authority which may, at its discretion, adopt such agreement for the management of any incident on a local roadway.  Each governing authority shall be encouraged to adopt such agreement to ensure safe and consistent management of incidents on local and state roadways throughout the state.

D.  The open roads agreement required by this Section shall be completed and implemented no later than January 1, 2009.

Acts 2008, No. 429, §1, eff. June 21, 2008.