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ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Sixth Legislature, First Regular Session
AMENDED
toll roads; conversion; prohibition
Purpose
Prohibits the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) or a county board of supervisors (county BOS) from converting a publicly funded or maintained street or highway into a toll road, as prescribed.
Background
A person who desires to construct a toll road, bridge or ferry within one or more counties must a notice in the local newspaper once each week for six successive weeks and submit an application to the county BOS containing: 1) an engineer's plat of the route of the proposed road; 2) proposed construction plans and details; and 3) estimates of cost (A.R.S. § 28-6802). The county BOS may not grant an application if: 1) the Highway Commission files a written statement with the county BOS that the proposed toll road will interfere with an existing or proposed state highway or state route; or 2) the proposed toll road will interfere with an existing or completed county highway (A.R.S. § 28-6803).
The private partner in any concession agreement to establish and collect user charges may include a variety of traffic management strategies, including: 1) general purpose toll lanes; 2) high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes where single or low-occupancy vehicles may use HOV lanes by paying a toll; 3) lanes or facilities in which the tolls may vary during the day or week or according to levels of congestion; 4) combinations of, or variations on, these or other strategies, as determined by ADOT; and 5) mechanisms to notify drivers of an upcoming facility and options to pay user charges, tolls or fares at the facility location (A.R.S. § 28-7705).
A toll road includes trails for the passage of saddle and pack animals and foot passengers, as well as roads designed for the passage of vehicles, if the trails have been built in mountainous or precipitous places or in other places where the building of roads for the passage of vehicles would be impracticable (A.R.S. § 28-6801).
There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this legislation.
Provisions
1. Prohibits a county BOS from granting an application to construct a toll road if the proposed toll road will be converted from a publicly funded or maintained street or highway.
2. Excludes, from the county BOS prohibition, an applicant that is an airport.
3. Prohibits ADOT from entering into a public-private partnership agreement that allows the conversion of an existing publicly funded or maintained street or highway to a toll road, including a conversion to implement a traffic management strategy, as prescribed.
4. Makes technical and conforming changes.
5. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
Amendments Adopted by the House of Representatives
· Excludes an airport applicant from the county BOS prohibition.
Senate Action House Action
TAT 2/13/23 DP 4-1-2 TI 3/29/23 DPA 11-0-0-0
3rd Read 3/21/23 27-2-1 3rd Read 4/26/23 57-1-1-0-1
Prepared by Senate Research
April 26, 2023
KJA/CB/sr