Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

APPROVED                 CHAPTER
                                                                JUNE 20, 2023                 237
                                                               BY GOVERNOR              PUBLIC LAW
                                 STATE OF MAINE
                                          _____
                          IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD
                      TWO THOUSAND TWENTY-THREE
                                          _____
                                H.P. 1072 - L.D. 1674
 An Act to Require and Encourage Safe and Interconnected Transportation
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
    Sec. 1. 23 MRSA §73, sub-§4, as amended by PL 2011, c. 655, Pt. JJ, §9 and
affected by §41 and amended by c. 657, Pt. W, §5, is further amended by enacting at the
end a new last blocked paragraph to read:
The Department of Transportation shall adopt rules, to the extent possible, to ensure that
all persons are safe on public ways, including bicyclists, pedestrians, persons of all ages
and abilities, transit users and motor vehicle users, and that all persons have safe and
efficient access to the transportation system. Rules adopted pursuant to this paragraph are
routine technical rules as defined in Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2‑A.
    Sec. 2. 23 MRSA §73, sub-§7, as amended by PL 2021, c. 239, §1, is further
amended to read:
    7. Priorities, service levels, asset management goals and reporting. The
Department of Transportation shall classify the State's public highways as Priority 1 to
Priority 5 using factors such as safety metrics, crash data, the federal functional
classification system, regional economic significance, heavy haul truck use and relative
regional traffic volumes. The department shall also establish customer service levels
related to safety, condition and serviceability appropriate to the priority of the highway,
resulting in a system that grades each highway as Good, Fair or Poor.
To provide a capital transportation program that is geographically balanced and that
addresses urban and rural needs and meets customer expectations and transportation system
needs, the department shall include the following goals as part of its asset management and
work plan preparation. The goals are to:
    A-1. Maintain Priority 1 highways in accordance with the department's federally
    required transportation asset management plan and the department's customer service
    measures so that no more than 15% of the highways are rated as Poor;
    B-1. Maintain Priority 2 and Priority 3 highways so that no more than 15% of the
    highways are rated as Poor; and
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    D. Continue the light capital paving program on a 7-year cycle for Priority 4 highways
    outside compact areas as defined in section 754.
The department shall report to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having
jurisdiction over transportation matters by March 1st of each odd-numbered year
quantifying the status of each of the goals. The department shall recommend any remedial
actions, including additional funding or revisions to the goals, that the department
determines to be necessary or appropriate.
    Sec. 3. 29-A MRSA §2073, sub-§5 is enacted to read:
    5. Roadway and intersection safety evaluation. At the request of a municipality,
the department shall perform a safety evaluation of an existing roadway or intersection,
using a multidisciplinary team of personnel, that estimates potential road safety issues and
identifies opportunities for improvements. The department shall provide a full report of
the results of the evaluation to the municipality.
     Sec. 4. Report. The Department of Transportation shall evaluate how speed limits
are set and develop recommendations for changes to state, county and municipal street
design standards, state laws and municipal ordinances to achieve the goal of eliminating all
traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 2035. By January 3, 2024, the department shall
report its findings and recommendations, including any suggested legislation, to the Joint
Standing Committee on Transportation. The committee may report out a bill related to the
report to the Second Regular Session of the 131st Legislature.
     Sec. 5. Rulemaking. In its initial adopting of rules to implement the Maine Revised
Statutes, Title 23, section 73, subsection 4, the Department of Transportation shall
incorporate, as applicable, the department's Complete Streets Policy completed in 2014 and
revised in June 2019 and all policy documents and standard practices related to the
following community-based initiatives: the Municipal Partnership Initiative, the Village
Partnership Initiative, the Business Partnership Initiative and the Planning Partnership
Initiative.
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Statutes affected: 
Bill Text ACTPUB , Chapter 237: 23.73