603 KAR 5:250.
Selection of National Truck Network highways and reasonable access to these
highways.
RELATES TO: KRS
189.221, 189.222, 23 C.F.R. Part 658
STATUTORY
AUTHORITY: KRS 189.222, 23 C.F.R. Part 658
NECESSITY,
FUNCTION, AND CONFORMITY: KRS 189.222 authorizes the Secretary of
Transportation to establish reasonable size limits for motor vehicles using the
State Primary Road System. 23 CFR Part 658 requires the states to establish
access review procedures certified by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
for purposes of allowing the operation of specified vehicles beyond the
original limits of the National Truck Network as authorized by the Surface
Transportation Appropriations Act of 1982. This administrative regulation is
promulgated in order to provide for the procedures for the selection of
additional highway segments to be included in the National Truck Network and
terminal and service facility access review procedures to be administered by
the Department of Highways.
Section 1.
Definitions. (1) "STAA vehicle" shall mean a vehicle which exceeds
the dimension limits set forth in 603 KAR 5:070, Section 1, but which does not
exceed the dimensions prescribed by 603 KAR 5:070, Section 2(2). This includes
the larger vehicles authorized by the Surface Transportation Assistant Act of
1980 as amended and 23 CFR Part 658.
(2)
"National Truck Network (NTN)" shall mean the system of highway
routes in Kentucky described in 603 KAR 5:070, Section 3, and Appendix A to 23
CFR Part 658.
(3)
"Reasonable access" shall mean the right for an STAA vehicle to
access a terminal or service facility under the provisions of 23 CFR Part
658.19.
(4)
"Service facility" shall mean any commercial facility that provides
repair, fuel, food, or rest to an STAA vehicle or its operator.
(5)
"Terminal" shall mean any location where freight either originates,
terminates, or is handled in the transportation process, or where commercial
motor carriers maintain operating facilities.
Section 2. 23
CFR Part 658. Selection of the National Truck Network highways and access to
terminals and services by STAA vehicles shall be governed by 23 CFR Part 658.
Section 3. Right
of Access Without Review. Access to terminal and service facilities shall be
allowed for STAA vehicles up to five (5) driving miles from the National Truck
Network on state-maintained routes and up to one (1) mile on any
nonstate-maintained route except where STAA vehicles are prohibited from using
a route following the provisions set forth in Section 5 of this administrative
regulation.
Section 4.
Automatic Access by Special Vehicles. (1) Household goods transporters
automatic access. An STAA vehicle operated by a household goods carrier who has
been certificated as a household goods carrier by either the Interstate
Commerce Commission or the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet under the provisions
of KRS Chapter 281 shall have access between any points needed for the loading
and unloading of the motor vehicle except where STAA vehicles specifically are
prohibited from using a route following the provisions set forth in Section 5
of this administrative regulation.
(2) Short
semitrailers automatic access. An STAA vehicle being operated in a truck
tractor-semitrailer combination in which the semitrailer has a length which
does not exceed twenty-eight and one-half (28 1/2) feet shall have access to
any route except where STAA vehicles specifically are prohibited from using a
route following the provisions set forth in Section 5 of this administrative
regulation.
Section 5. Use
of Route Prohibited. Any route within the one (1) mile or five (5) mile
automatic access allowance set forth in Section 3 of this administrative
regulation or in the automatic access allowed by the provisions of Section 4 of
this administrative regulation that has significant, clearly-evident safety
problems may by Transportation Cabinet official order or local ordinance which
has been reviewed and approved by the Transportation Cabinet be closed to use
by STAA vehicles provided there is compliance with the following:
(1) If the
prohibition of use is on a state-maintained route, an official order for that
purpose shall be issued by the Transportation Secretary with the approval of
the State Highway Engineer.
(2) If the
prohibition of use relating to a locally-owned highway is the result of action
by a local jurisdiction, that jurisdiction shall provide the State Highway
Engineer with copies of the appropriate ordinance for review by the Department
of Highways in order to ensure consistency of the local ordinance with 23 CFR
Part 658. The Transportation Cabinet shall either approve, disapprove or offer
changes to the local ordinance within thirty (30) days of receipt of the
ordinance. If the Transportation Cabinet fails to act within the thirty (30) days,
the local ordinance shall become effective on the 31st day.
(3) Any route
normally falling within the five (5) mile or one (1) mile automatic access
which is prohibited for use by STAA vehicles under the provisions of this
section shall be identified by the placement of a traffic sign by either the
Department of Highways or the local government unit having jurisdiction over
the route.
(4) Any route
normally falling within the five (5) mile or one (1) mile automatic access
which is prohibited for use by STAA vehicles under the provisions of this
section shall be identified in 603 KAR 5:070.
Section 6.
Request for New Route to be Available to STAA Vehicles or Terminal and Service
Facility Access Review. Any owner or operator of an STAA vehicle who has need
to operate a STAA vehicle on a publicly-owned highway route segment not set
forth in 603 KAR 5:070 or who cannot reach a terminal or service facility
through the access provisions of Section 3 of this administrative regulation
and the highway segments set forth in 603 KAR 5:070 may request review of a
specific route by the following procedures:
(1) The
applicant shall file a written request addressed to the Division of Planning,
419 Ann Street, Frankfort, Kentucky 40622, in an envelope plainly marked "STAA
Route Review";
(2) The
applicant currently shall mark on a state highway map the routes the applicant
travels within Kentucky. The applicant shall also provide a written description
of these routes;
(3) The
applicant shall mark on the same map used in subsection (2) of this section the
proposed route to be reviewed and, if appropriate, mark the terminal or service
facility proposed to be used by STAA vehicles. The applicant shall also provide
a written description of the route desired to be traveled in Kentucky, the
reason why the route is desired to be used, and furnish any other appropriate
proof of need to use the route;
(4) The
applicant shall describe the STAA motor vehicle proposed to be operated by the
applicant over the route, including kingpin distance of trailers as measured to
the center of the rear axle and the amount of rear overhang as measured from
the center of the rear axle to the rear of the trailer. These dimensions shall
not exceed a forty-one (41) foot kingpin distance nor a rear overhang of five
(5) feet; and
(5) The
applicant shall agree to supply a tractor-semitrailer vehicle combination in
which the semitrailer is fifty-three (53) feet long and 102 inches wide and the
tractor is a standard model rather than a short, snub-nosed model and driver
for use in demonstrating vehicle performances on the route requested to be
reviewed within thirty (30) days.
Section 7.
Access Review Procedure. (1) After receipt of a "Request for Terminal or
Service Facility Access Review" which meets the requirements of Section 6
of this administrative regulation, the Transportation Cabinet shall have ninety
(90) days in which to inspect the route as specified in Section 8 of this
administrative regulation, make a recommendation as to whether the route should
be approved as an access route, obtain the approval of the State Highway
Engineer, and obtain the secretary's approval of an official order designating
the route as part of the access routes for the NTN system, if so warranted.
Otherwise, it shall notify the applicant that the request has been refused.
(2) In making
its findings, the Transportation Cabinet shall consider all of the factors set
forth in Section 8 of this administrative regulation. Failure to meet any one
(1) of the application requirements set forth in Section 5 of this
administrative regulation shall be grounds for denial of a request for access
review.
(3) Failure by
the Transportation Cabinet to either approve or reject the request within the
ninety (90) day period shall constitute automatic approval of this request.
(4) If the route
requested for terminal or service facility access is locally-owned and not
state-maintained, the Department of Highways shall immediately notify the
jurisdictional unit of government of the request. The local government unit may
also review the request and respond to the Department of Highways with its
recommendations within sixty (60) days.
(5) If a route
requested for terminal or service facility access is of sufficient dimensions
and geometrics that there is no question by the Transportation Cabinet of its
suitability for inclusion as an access route to the NTN, the route may be
included as an access route to the NTN by the Department of Highways without
the tests prescribed in Section 8 of this administrative regulation.
Section 8.
Provision for Over-the-road or Template Tests. A test drive of the terminal or
service facility access review route shall be accomplished except where
as-built planimetric plan drawings are available at a sufficient scale for use
of template measures. In these cases the template measures may be substituted
for an STAA vehicle test drive over the route. Where no suitable as-built plans
exist, the applicant-furnished STAA dimension test vehicle shall be driven over
the route and the vehicle's performance recorded so as to provide a permanent
record demonstrating the adequacy or inadequacy of its performance. The test
drive shall be performed at or near the highway segment speed limit in order to
approximate actual conditions.
Section 9.
Engineering and Safety Criteria. Any route requested for terminal or service
facility access review in which the test drive or template measures required by
Section 8 of this administrative regulation found the route to be inadequate
shall be subjected to an engineering and safety analysis. After a route
inadequacy is shown by the test imposed under Section 8 of this administrative
regulation any one (1) of the following design deficiencies shall disqualify a
route from further consideration for inclusion in the National Truck Network:
(1) A two (2)
lane, two (2) directional route which has a lane width of less than ten (10)
feet;
(2) A route
which has a structure on which the bridge weight allowance is less than 80,000
pounds for use by a tractor semitrailer combination with five (5) or more axles
or is less than 73,500 pounds for use by a straight truck with four (4) or more
axles;
(3) A route
which has an underpass that has a vertical clearance of less than thirteen (13)
feet six (6) inches);
(4) A route
which has a bridge structure with a width, measured curb to curb, of less than
twenty-two (22) feet;
(5) A route
greater than one (1) mile in length where the sight passing distance over fifty
(50) percent of any segment of the route is restricted to lengths less than
1,500 feet;
(6) A route
where a combination of two (2) or more of the following conditions on any
segment of the route is of a magnitude to constitute a clearly-evident safety
hazard;
(a) There exists
high degrees of horizontal or vertical curvature;
(b) The roadway
shoulders are less than four (4) feet in width; or
(c) There is a
narrow bridge on the road segment;
(7) A route on
which the turning radii of urban intersections are insufficient, as measured by
template or on-site observation, to permit safe turning maneuvers by an STAA
vehicle or a route on which the operation of an STAA vehicle constitute a
safety hazard to other vehicle operators or public or private property by
reason of vehicle off-tracking or opposing lane encroachment; or
(8) A route on
which the incidence of traffic accidents is of a magnitude to indicate that any
portion of the route is unsafe for use by STAA vehicles.
Section 10.
Request for New NTN Route for Use by STAA Vehicles. After receipt of a request
for a new NTN route for use by STAA vehicles which meets the requirements of
Section 5 of this administrative regulation and which was not submitted in
order to reach a terminal or service facility, the Transportation Cabinet shall
subject the requested route to the engineering and safety analysis set forth in
Section 9 of this administrative regulation. (17 Ky.R. 3066; Am. 3468; 18 Ky.R.
280; eff. 7-2-91.)