SB 443

Under current law, the Department of Transportation administers an agricultural roads improvement program (ARIP) under which DOT provides grants to political subdivisions for projects to improve certain highway facilities that facilitate access to agricultural lands. Among the current eligibility criteria for projects under this program is a requirement that the highway have a demonstrated level of insufficiency for agricultural traffic. Currently, this may be demonstrated either by the highway having been designated as a class “B” highway due to structural deficiencies or having been subject to a posted weight limitation for at least one month during the previous year.

This bill adds an additional option for demonstrating insufficiency. Namely, under the bill, the requirement is satisfied if an engineering analysis performed by a registered professional engineer indicates that the highway is unable to accommodate heavy agricultural traffic.