| (1) |
The department is authorized to construct and maintain appurtenances along the state highway system necessary for public safety, welfare, and information. Appurtenances include highway illumination, sidewalks, curbs, gutters, steps, driveways, retaining walls, fire hydrants, guard rails, noise abatement measures, storm sewers, and rest areas. |
Terms Used In Utah Code 72-6-111
- Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
- Commission: means the Transportation Commission created under Section 72-1-301. See Utah Code 72-1-102
- Construction: means the construction, reconstruction, replacement, and improvement of the highways, including the acquisition of rights-of-way and material sites. See Utah Code 72-1-102
- Department: means the Department of Transportation created in Section 72-1-201. See Utah Code 72-1-102
- Highway: means any public road, street, alley, lane, court, place, viaduct, tunnel, culvert, bridge, or structure laid out or erected for public use, or dedicated or abandoned to the public, or made public in an action for the partition of real property, including the entire area within the right-of-way. See Utah Code 72-1-102
- Property: includes both real and personal property. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
- Right-of-way: means real property or an interest in real property, usually in a strip, acquired for or devoted to state transportation purposes. See Utah Code 72-1-102
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes a state, district, or territory of the United States. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
- State highway: means those highways designated as state highways in Title 72, Chapter 4, Designation of State Highways Act. See Utah Code 72-1-102
| (2) |
A noise abatement measure may only be constructed by the department along a highway when:
| (a) |
the department is constructing a new state highway or performing major reconstruction on an existing state highway; |
| (b) |
the Legislature provides an appropriation or the federal government provides funding for construction of retrofit noise abatement along an existing state highway; or |
| (c) |
the cost for the noise abatement measure is provided by citizens, adjacent property owners, developers, or local governments. |
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| (3) |
In addition to the requirements under Subsection (2), the department may only construct noise abatement measures within the unincorporated area of a county or within a municipality that has an ordinance or general plan that requires:
| (a) |
a study to be conducted to determine the noise levels along new development adjacent to an existing state highway or a dedicated right-of-way; and |
| (b) |
the construction of noise abatement measures at the expense of the developer if required to be constructed under standards established by a rule of the department. |
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| (4) |
In accordance with Title 63G, Chapter 3, Utah Administrative Rulemaking Act, the department shall make rules establishing:
| (a) |
when noise abatement measures are required to be constructed, including standards for decibel levels of traffic noise; |
| (b) |
the decibel level of traffic noise which identifies the projects to be programmed by the commission for the earliest construction of retrofit noise abatement measures funded under Subsection (2)(b) based on availability of funding; and |
| (c) |
a priority system for the construction of other retrofit noise abatement measures that meet or exceed the standards established under this section and are funded under Subsection (2)(b) which includes:
| (i) |
the number of residential dwellings adversely affected by the traffic noise; |
| (ii) |
the cost effectiveness of mitigating the traffic noise; and |
| (iii) |
the length of time the decibel level of traffic noise has met or exceeded the standards established under this section. |
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Amended by Chapter 382, 2008 General Session
