The department and a municipality may enter into an agreement with each other or with the federal government for the financing, planning, establishment, improvement, maintenance, use regulation, or vacation of controlled-access facilities or other public ways in their respective jurisdictions.

Repealed or Renumbered

Article 02. METROPOLITAN PLANNING ORGANIZATIONS

The governor may approve a transportation improvement plan or an amendment to a transportation improvement plan prepared by a metropolitan planning organization if the plan is consistent with applicable federal law and regulation and the policy board of the metropolitan planning organization is organized in accordance with applicable provisions of Section 19.20.210 .

In the development of a controlled-access facility, the department and the municipality may plan, designate, establish, use, regulate, alter, improve, maintain, and vacate local service highways and exercise jurisdiction over them in the same manner authorized for the exercise of jurisdiction over controlled-access facilities if, in their opinion, local service highways are necessary or desirable. Local service highways shall be of appropriate design and shall be separated from the controlled-access facility by the devices designated as necessary or desirable by the proper authority.

In order to coordinate transportation planning in urbanized areas and achieve the transportation planning goals of 23 U.S.C. 134 and 49 U.S.C. 5303 - 5306, a metropolitan planning organization shall be established for each metropolitan area of the state when required for participation in a federal transportation program. A metropolitan area is an urbanized area with a population of more than 50,000 persons.

A municipality of over 5,000 population, according to the latest available census, together with the department, shall develop and adopt a master highway plan, which shall insure the proper location and integration of the Alaska highway connections in the municipality. In selecting and designating the master highway plan, they shall take into account the important principal streets that connect residential areas with business areas and the streets that carry important rural traffic into and across the municipality, in order to ensure a system of highways upon which traffic can be controlled and protected in a manner to provide safe and efficient movement of traffic in the municipality.

The department and a municipality may design a controlled-access facility and may regulate, restrict, or prohibit access to best serve the traffic for which the facility is intended. The department and the municipality may divide and separate a controlled-access facility into separate highways by the construction of raised curbings, central dividing sections, or other physical separations, or by designating the separate highways by signs, markers, stripes and the proper lane for traffic by appropriate signs, markers, stripes, and other devices. No person has the right of ingress or egress to, from, or across controlled-access facilities to or from abutting land, except at designated points at which access is permitted, upon the terms and conditions specified from time to time.

The department and a municipality, acting alone or in cooperation with each other or with a federal agency participating in the construction and maintenance of highways, may plan, designate, establish, regulate, vacate, alter, improve, maintain, and provide controlled-access facilities for public use when it finds that present or future traffic conditions justify special facilities. The department or a municipality may exercise the same authority with respect to controlled-access facilities that each has with respect to highways within its jurisdiction. The department or the municipality may regulate, restrict, or prohibit the use of the controlled-access facilities by the various classes of vehicles or traffic in a manner consistent with the definition of a controlled-access facility.

The department and a municipality may designate and establish controlled-access highways as new and additional facilities, or may designate and establish an existing highway as included within a controlled-access facility. The department and the municipality may provide for the elimination of an intersection at grade of a controlled-access facility with an existing highway by grade separation or service highway, or by closing off the highway at the right-of-way boundary line of the controlled-access facility. After the establishment of a controlled-access facility, a highway not part of the facility may not intersect it at grade. A municipal or state highway, or other public way may not be opened into or connected with a controlled-access facility without the consent and prior approval of the department or the municipality having jurisdiction over the controlled-access facility. The department shall give its consent and approval only if the public interest is served.

(a) The department may enter into cooperative agreements with a municipality for the construction or maintenance of a connecting highway that is part of the state highway system and located within the municipality.

(b) The jurisdiction, control and duty of the department and municipality with respect to connecting highways is as follows:

(1) The department has no authority to change or establish a grade of a connecting highway without approval of the governing body of the municipality.

(2) The municipality shall at its own expense maintain all underground facilities in a connecting highway and has the right to construct necessary additional underground facilities.

(3) The municipality may grant the privilege to open the surface of a connecting highway, but the municipality shall promptly repair all damage occasioned by the opening of the surface.

(4) Subject to law the municipality has the exclusive right to grant franchises over, beneath, and upon a connecting highway. However, it may not grant a franchise for transportation of passengers in motor vehicles on a connecting highway without the approval of the department.

For the purposes of Section 19.05 - Section 19.25 the department and a municipality may acquire private or public property and property rights including rights of access, air, view, and light, for controlled-access facilities and service roads by gift, devise, purchase, or condemnation in the same manner as they may now or hereafter be authorized by law to acquire property or property rights in connection with highways in their respective jurisdictions. Property rights acquired under Section 19.05 - Section 19.25 shall be in fee simple. In acquiring property or property rights for a controlled-access facility or service highway in connection therewith, the municipality may acquire an entire lot, block, or tract of land, if, by so doing, the interests of the public will be best served, even though the entire lot, block, or tract is not immediately needed for the right-of-way.

(a) A municipality, by resolution of its governing body, may request the transfer to it of the responsibility of the department for the operation and maintenance of a traffic control system that regulates the flow of traffic at intersections of highways and roads maintained by the state and the municipality.

(b) After receipt of a resolution requesting a transfer to a municipality of the responsibility for operation and maintenance of a traffic control system under (a) of this section, the commissioner shall promptly negotiate and enter into an agreement with municipal officials transferring the operation and maintenance of a traffic control system to the municipality. The agreement shall contain the terms and conditions that ensure compliance with the requirements of this title, and may include other terms and conditions that relate to traffic control and that are considered by the commissioner to be in the public interest.

(c) If the commissioner and a municipality enter into an agreement under (b) of this section, the commissioner shall annually pay to the municipality, for the period beginning with the effective date of transfer of responsibility, the cost to the state of operating the traffic control system during the fiscal year preceding the effective date of the transfer, adjusted annually for inflation.

(d) The provisions of this section apply only to the extent permitted by federal law and regulation.

(e) In this section, 'traffic control system' means a series of traffic control signals that regulate electronically or by computer, and coordinate the flow of vehicle traffic.

(a) A municipality, by resolution of its governing body, may request of the department the assumption of the department's responsibilities relating to planning of transportation corridors that are to be located within the boundaries or operating area of the municipality. After receipt of the request, the department shall provide by agreement for assumption by the municipality of the department's responsibilities relating to planning of transportation corridors, unless the commissioner determines that assumption of responsibilities by the municipality is not practicable or not in the best interests of the state. The parties may by mutual agreement provide for joint or cooperative assumption of responsibilities by the department and the municipality.

(b) If the commissioner determines that assumption of responsibilities by a municipality under this section is not practicable or not in the best interests of the state, the commissioner shall notify the municipality of that finding and specify reasons for it. If the municipality requests reconsideration of the decision, the commissioner shall hold a hearing in the municipality within 30 days following mailing of the request. Following the hearing the commissioner may affirm, modify, or reverse the initial decision and shall specify in writing the reasons.

(c) Provisions of this title governing planning of transportation corridors by the department, and regulations adopted under the provisions, govern the administration of projects assumed by a municipality under this section, and for that purpose supersede any conflicting provisions of ordinance or charter.

(d) The commissioner may require terms or conditions in an agreement under this section necessary to ensure compliance with the requirements of this section and otherwise considered to be in the public interest. If necessary, the commissioner may require as a condition of an agreement under this section approval of the agreement by the federal government.

(e) The provisions of this section apply only to the extent permitted by federal laws and regulations.

(f) [Repealed, Sec. 88 ch 74 SLA 1985].

(a) The policy board of a metropolitan planning organization established under Section 19.20.200 for a metropolitan area with a population greater than 200,000 persons shall consist of at least seven voting members. A quorum of the policy board is a majority of the voting members of the board. Four voting members of the board shall be designated by the municipalities that are located partially or wholly within the metropolitan area. Three voting members shall be appointed by the governor. At least one member designated by the municipalities and at least one member appointed by the governor shall be public members who reside within the metropolitan area and who are not elected public officials. The public members shall serve for three-year terms.

(b) Two nonvoting members of the policy board of a metropolitan planning organization that is subject to (a) of this section shall be designated as follows:

(1) one member of the senate who is elected from a district, of which more than 50 percent is located within the metropolitan area, and who is designated by the president of the senate; a person who is designated to serve as a member of the policy board of a metropolitan planning organization under this paragraph may not receive compensation for service on the metropolitan planning organization; and

(2) one member of the house of representatives who is elected from a district, of which more than 50 percent is located within the metropolitan area, and who is designated by the speaker of the house of representatives; a person who is designated to serve as a member of the policy board of a metropolitan planning organization under this paragraph may not receive compensation for service on the metropolitan planning organization.

(c) The governor may appoint an additional voting member to the policy board of a metropolitan planning organization that is subject to (a) of this section to represent a private entity that administers or operates a major mode of transportation within the metropolitan area.

(d) The governor may appoint additional nonvoting members to the policy board of a metropolitan planning organization that is subject to (a) of this section, if the additional nonvoting members are authorized in the agreement between the governor and the participating local governments that designates the metropolitan planning organization.