Emergency vehicles; exempt from certain traffic regulations. Authorizes a law-enforcement vehicle, defined in current law, operated by or under the direction of a state or local law-enforcement officer to disregard parking and stopping provisions. The bill expands the situations in which such vehicles may disregard speed limits to include when establishing evidence of other violations of law and when responding to an emergency in which emergency lights and siren may pose a safety risk and removes such authorization for disregarding speed limits in certain situations provided under existing law for law-enforcement vehicles operated by or under the direction of a federal law-enforcement officer.
Photo speed monitoring devices; reduced-speed segments. Authorizes a locality without its own law-enforcement agency to, by ordinance, place and operate a photo speed monitoring device at a reduced-speed segment, defined in the bill, located within the locality for the purpose of recording violations resulting from the operation of a vehicle in excess of the speed limit. The bill requires any such locality to, by ordinance, authorize officers of the law-enforcement agency with jurisdiction within such locality or retired sworn law-enforcement officers employed by the locality to issue the summons and to swear to or affirm the certificate stating that the information produced by such photo speed monitoring device shows evidence of a vehicle speed violation. The bill provides the same requirements for such devices, information collected from such devices, and any enforcement actions resulting from information collected from such devices as current law applies to the use of such devices in school crossing zones, highway work zones, and high-risk intersection segments.
Transportation funding; project prioritization; sidewalks. Authorizes the consideration of the use of sidewalks and new sidewalk projects for certain project prioritization processes that apply statewide and to the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, for purposes of transportation funding, and expands the permissible use of certain revenues by the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority for capital improvements that reduce congestion to new sidewalk projects.
Central Virginia Transportation Fund; distribution of funds; Bay Transit. Distributes two percent of certain funds from the Central Virginia Transportation Fund to Bay Transit of New Kent and Charles City (Bay Transit) and reduces from 15 to 13 percent the amount of such funds distributed to the Greater Richmond Transit Company. The bill prohibits the distribution of funds to Bay Transit unless the Central Virginia Transportation Authority first enters into an agreement with Bay Transit for the distribution of such funds. The bill also provides that, for any year in which no such agreement exists, such funds be distributed to the Greater Richmond Transit Company.
School crossing zones; large children's sports complexes; Planning District 8. Expands the definition of "school crossing zone" to include areas surrounding schools where the presence of students, in addition to children, reasonably requires a special warning to motorists. The bill also defines "school" and provides that, in Planning District 8, the term "school" includes large children's sports complexes, defined in the bill. Existing provisions of law allowing photo speed monitoring devices to be installed in school crossing zones will apply to any location that meets the expanded definition.
Local highway system funding; revenue-sharing funds; funding cycle. Requires the application process established by the Commonwealth Transportation Board for localities to receive revenue-sharing funds to use for the improvement, construction, reconstruction, or maintenance of the highway system to be conducted on an annual basis.
Department of Transportation; rest areas and welcome centers; adult changing stations. Requires the Department of Transportation to provide at least one adult changing station at all rest areas on interstate highways and welcome centers operated by the Virginia Tourism Authority in the Commonwealth, with such changing station being either (i) in a single-stall family restroom or (ii) one adult changing station in both the men's and women's restrooms, and provides that such requirement may be satisfied by retrofitting or renovating existing restroom facilities or family restrooms. The bill provides that the Department of Transportation is not required to complete the installation, retrofitting, or provision of such an adult changing station at existing rest areas and welcome centers prior to such a time at which other renovations to such a rest area or welcome center are conducted.
School access corridors; snow and ice removal; Planning District 8. Requires the Commissioner of Highways, when providing snow and ice removal services in Planning District 8, to prioritize the removal of snow and ice from certain state-maintained sidewalks and crosswalks defined in the bill as school access corridors.
State Trails Office; Statewide Trails Plan; Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail. Directs the State Trails Office within the Department of Transportation to include the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail in the Statewide Trails Plan.
Unpaved secondary highway funds; maximum annual allocation. Increases the maximum total annual allocation made by the Commonwealth Transportation Board for certain unpaved secondary highways from $25 million to $50 million.