2006 Code of Virginia § 33.1-41.1 - Payments to cities and certain towns for maintenance of certain highways

33.1-41.1. Payments to cities and certain towns for maintenance of certainhighways.

The Commonwealth Transportation Commissioner, subject to the approval of theCommonwealth Transportation Board, shall make payments for maintenance,construction, or reconstruction of highways, as hereinafter provided, to allcities and towns eligible for allocation of construction funds for urbanhighways under 33.1-23.3. Such payments, however, shall only be made ifthose highways functionally classified as principal and minor arterial roadsare maintained to a standard satisfactory to the Department ofTransportation. Whenever any city or town qualifies under this section forallocation of funds, such qualification shall continue to apply to such cityor town regardless of any subsequent change in population and shall cease toapply only when so specifically provided by an act of the General Assembly.All allocations made prior to July 1, 2001, to cities and towns meeting thecriteria of the foregoing provisions of this section are hereby confirmed.

No payments shall be made by the Commissioner to any such city or town unlessthe portion of the highway for which such payment is made either (a) has (i)an unrestricted right-of-way at least 50 feet wide and (ii) a hard-surfacewidth of at least 30 feet; or (b) has (i) an unrestricted right-of-way atleast 80 feet wide, (ii) a hard-surface width of at least 24 feet, and (iii)approved engineering plans for the ultimate construction of an additionalhard-surface width of at least 24 feet within the same right-of-way; or (c)(i) is a cul-de-sac, (ii) has an unrestricted right-of-way at least 40 feetwide, and (iii) has a turnaround that meets applicable standards set by theDepartment of Transportation; or (d) either (i) has been paved and hasconstituted part of the primary or secondary system of state highways priorto annexation or incorporation or (ii) has constituted part of the secondarysystem of state highways prior to annexation or incorporation and is paved toa minimum width of 16 feet subsequent to such annexation or incorporation andwith the further exception of streets or portions thereof which havepreviously been maintained under the provisions of 33.1-79 or 33.1-82; or(e) was eligible for and receiving such payments under the laws of theCommonwealth in effect on June 30, 1985; or (f) is a street established priorto July 1, 1950, which has an unrestricted right-of-way width of not lessthan 30 feet and a hard-surface width of not less than 16 feet; or (g) is astreet functionally classified as a local street and constructed on or afterJanuary 1, 1996, which at the time of approval by the city or town met thecriteria for pavement width and right-of-way of the then-current edition ofthe subdivision street requirements manual for secondary roads of theDepartment of Transportation (24 VAC 30-90-10 et seq.); (h) is a streetpreviously eligible to receive street payments that is located in a cityhaving a population of at least 200,000 but no more than 250,000 and isclosed to public travel, pursuant to legislation enacted by the governingbody of the city in which it is located, for public safety reasons, withinthe boundaries of a publicly funded housing development owned and operated bythe local housing authority; or (i) is a local street, otherwise eligible,containing one or more physical protuberances placed within the right-of-wayfor the purpose of controlling the speed of traffic.

However, the Commissioner may waive the requirements as to hard-surfacepavement or right-of-way width for highways where the width modification isat the request of the local governing body and is to protect the quality ofthe affected local government's drinking water supply or, for highwaysconstructed on or after July 1, 1994, to accommodate some other specialcircumstance where such action would not compromise the health, safety, orwelfare of the public. The modification is subject to such conditions as theCommissioner may prescribe.

For the purpose of calculating allocations and making payments under thissection, the Department shall divide affected highways into two categories,which shall be distinct from but based on functional classificationsestablished by the Federal Highway Administration: (i) principal and minorarterial roads and (ii) collector roads and local streets. Payments toaffected localities shall be based on the number of moving-lane-miles ofhighways or portions thereof available to peak-hour traffic in each categoryof highways in that locality. For the fiscal year 1986, payment to each cityand town shall be an amount equal to $7,787 per moving-lane-mile forprincipal and minor arterials and $4,572 per moving-lane-mile for collectorroads and local streets.

The Department of Transportation shall establish a statewide maintenanceindex of the unit costs for labor, equipment, and materials used on roads andbridges in the fiscal year 1986, and use changes in that index to calculateand put into effect annual changes in the base per-lane-mile rate payableunder this section.

The fund allocated by the Board shall be paid in equal sums in each quarterof the fiscal year, and no payment shall be made without the approval of theBoard.

The chief administrative officer of the city or town receiving this fundshall make annual categorical reports of expenditures to the Board, in suchform as the Board shall prescribe, accounting for all expenditures,certifying that none of the money received has been expended for other thanmaintenance, construction or reconstruction of the streets, and reporting ontheir performance as specified in subdivision B 3 of 33.1-23.02. Suchreports shall be included in the scope of the annual audit of eachmunicipality conducted by independent certified public accountants.

(1985, c. 42; 1991, c. 353; 1992, c. 267; 1994, c. 459; 1996, cc. 149, 821;1997, c. 49; 1998, c. 441; 2000, c. 97; 2002, c. 673; 2004, c. 118.)