24-01 State Highway System

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CHAPTER 24-01STATE HIGHWAY SYSTEM24-01-01. Declaration of legislative intent. Adequate roads and streets provide for thefree flow of traffic; result in low cost of motor vehicle operation; protect the health and safety of the citizens of the state; increase property value; and generally promote economic and social progress of the state. Therefore, the legislative assembly hereby determines and declares that an adequate and integrated system of roads and streets is essential to the general welfare of the state of North Dakota.In designating the highway systems of this state, as hereinafter provided, the legislativeassembly places a high degree of trust in the hands of those officials whose duty it is, within the limits of available funds, to plan, develop, operate, maintain, and protect the highway facilities of this state, for present as well as for future use. To this end, it is the intent of the legislative assembly to make the director of the department, and the department acting through the director, custodian of the state highway system and to provide sufficiently broad authority to enable the director of the department to function adequately and efficiently in all areas of appropriate jurisdiction with specific details to be determined by reasonable rules and regulations which may be promulgated by the director, subject to the limitations of the constitution and the legislative mandate hereinafter imposed.It is recognized that the efficient management, operation, and control of our county roads,city streets, and other public thoroughfares are likewise a matter of vital public interest. Therefore, it is the further intent of the legislative assembly to bestow upon the boards of county commissioners similar authority with respect to the county road system and to local officials with respect to the roads under their jurisdiction.While it is necessary to fix responsibilities for the construction, maintenance, andoperation of the several systems of highways, it is intended that the state of North Dakota shall have an integrated system of all roads and streets to provide safe and efficient highway transportation throughout the state. To this end, it is the intent of the legislative assembly to give broad authority and definite responsibility to the director of the department and to the boards of county commissioners so that working together, free from political pressure and local interests, they may provide for the state an integrated system of state and county highways built upon a basis of sound engineering with full regard to the interest and well-being of the state as a whole.Providing adequate public highway facilities, including rural and urban links, is herebydeclared to be a proper public use and purpose and the legislative assembly hereby determines and declares that chapter 177 of the Session Laws of 1953 is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, and safety, for the promotion of the general welfare, and as a contribution to the national defense.24-01-01.1. Definition of words and phrases. The following words and phrases whenused in this title shall, for the purposes of this title, have the meanings respectively ascribed to them in this chapter:1."Abandonment" means cessation of use of right of way or activity thereon with no intention to reclaim or use again for highway purposes.2."Acquisition or taking" means the process of obtaining right of way.3."Arterial highway" means a general term denoting a highway primarily for through traffic, usually on a continuous route.4."Belt highway" means an arterial highway for carrying traffic partially or entirely around an urban area or portion thereof.5."Capacity" means the ability of a roadway to accommodate traffic.Page No. 16."Commission" means the public service commission of the state of North Dakota.7."Commissioner" means the director of the department of transportation of this state, acting directly or through authorized agents as provided in section 24-02-01.3.8."Consequential damages" means loss in value of a parcel, no portion of which is acquired, resulting from a highway improvement.9."Controlled-access facility" means a highway or street especially designed for through traffic, and over, from, or to which owners or occupants of abutting land or other persons have no right or easement or only a controlled right or easement of access, light, air, or view by reason of the fact that their property abuts upon such controlled-access facility or for any other reason.10."County road system" means the system of secondary highways designated by the county officials, the responsibility for which is lodged with the counties.11."Department" means the department of transportation of this state as provided by section 24-02-01.1.12."Direct compensation" means payment for land or interest in land and improvements actually acquired for highway purposes.13."Director" means the director of the department of transportation of this state, acting directly or through authorized agents as provided in section 24-02-01.3.14."Divided highway" means a highway with separated roadways for traffic in opposite directions.15."Easement" means a right acquired by public authority to use or control property for a designated highway purpose.16."Employee compensation" includes vacation and sick leave.17."Expressway" means a divided arterial highway for through traffic with full or partial control of access and generally with grade separations at intersections.18."Fee simple" means an absolute estate or ownership in property including unlimited power of alienation, except as to any and all lands acquired or taken for highway, road, or street purposes. Where lands are taken for such purposes, "fee simple" shall not be deemed to include any oil, gas, or fluid mineral rights.19."Freeway" means an expressway with full control of access.20."Frontage street or road" means a local street or road auxiliary to and located on the side of an arterial highway for service to abutting property and adjacent areas and for control of access.21."Grade crossing" means the intersection of a public highway and of the track or tracks of any railroad, however operated, on the same plane or level, other than a street railway within the limits of a city.22."Highway, street, or road" means a general term denoting a public way for purposes of vehicular travel, including the entire area within the right of way. A highway in a rural area may be called a "road", while a highway in an urban area may be called a "street".23."Intersection" means a general term denoting the area where two or more highways join or cross.Page No. 224."Interstate system" or "interstate highway system" means that part of the state highway system designated as the North Dakota portion of the national system of interstate and defense highways as provided for in Public Law 85-767 [23 U.S.C. 101 et seq.].25."Local street or local road" means a street or road primarily for access to residence, business, or other abutting property.26."Major street or major highway" means an arterial highway with intersections at grade and direct access to abutting property, and on which geometric design and traffic control measures are used to expedite the safe movement of through traffic.27."Market value" means the highest price for which property can be sold in the open market by a willing seller to a willing purchaser, neither acting under compulsion and both exercising reasonable judgment.28."Median" means the portion of a divided highway separating the traveled ways for traffic in opposite directions.29."Municipal corporation or municipality" means all cities organized under the laws of this state, but does not include any other political subdivisions.30."Outer separation" means the portion of an arterial highway between the traveled ways of a roadway for through traffic and a frontage street or road.31."Partial taking" means the acquisition of a parcel of property.32."Person" means any person, firm, partnership, association, corporation, limited liability company, organization, or business trust.33."Radial highway" means an arterial highway leading to or from an urban center.34."Remainder" means the portion of a parcel retained by the owner after a part of such parcel has been acquired.35."Remnant" means a remainder so small or irregular that it usually has little or no economic value to the owner.36."Right of access" means the right of ingress to a highway from abutting land and egress from a highway to abutting land.37."Right of survey entry" means the right to enter property temporarily to make surveys and investigations for proposed highway improvements.38."Right of way" means a general term denoting land, property, or interest therein, acquired for or devoted to highway purposes and shall include, but not be limited to publicly owned and controlled rest and recreation areas, sanitary facilities reasonably necessary to accommodate the traveling public, and tracts of land necessary for the restoration, preservation, and enhancement of scenic beauty adjacent to the state highway system.39."Right-of-way appraisal" means a determination of the market value of property including damages, if any, as of a specified date, resulting from an analysis of facts.40."Right-of-way estimate" means an approximation of the market value of property including damages, if any, in advance of an appraisal.Page No. 341."Roadside" means a general term denoting the area adjoining the outer edge of the roadway. Extensive areas between the roadways of a divided highway may also be considered roadside.42."Roadway" means in general, the portion of a highway, including shoulders, for vehicular use. In construction specifications, the portion of a highway within limits of construction.43."Severance damages" means loss in value of the remainder of a parcel resulting from an acquisition.44."Shoulder" means the portion of the roadway contiguous with the traveled way for accommodation of stopped vehicles, for emergency use, and for lateral support of base and surface courses.45."State highway system" means the system of state principal roads designated by the director of the department, the responsibility for which is lodged in the department.46."Through street or through highway" means every highway or portion thereof on which vehicular traffic is given preferential right of way, and at the entrances to which vehicular traffic from intersecting highways is required by law to yield right of way to vehicles on such through highways and in obedience to either a stop sign or yield sign, when such signs are erected by law.47."Traffic lane" means the portion of the traveled way for the movement of a single line of vehicles.48."Traveled way" means the portion of the roadway for the movement of vehicles, exclusive of shoulders and auxiliary lanes.24-01-01.2. State highway system - Mileage.The state highway system may notexceed seven percent of the entire road mileage of the state, whether such roads are township, county, or state roads, which may be functionally classified as to service, and in no case may such highway system exceed seven thousand seven hundred miles [12391.95 kilometers] in length.24-01-02. Designation of state highway system. The director is hereby vested withcomplete authority to designate, locate, create, and determine what roads, highways, and streets constitute the state highway system, subject however, to such conditions, requirements, and mileage limits as provided for by law. The total mileage of the state highway system may be increased by not more than fifty miles [80.47 kilometers] in any one calendar year.Indesignating, locating, creating, and determining the several routes of the state highway system, the director shall take into account such factors as the actual or potential traffic volumes, the type of service class, the construction of bypasses and alternate routes, the conservation and development of the state's natural resources, the general economy of the state and communities, and the desirability of fitting such system into the general scheme of the nationwide network of highways.24-01-03. Responsibility for state highway system. The director is responsible for theconstruction, maintenance, and operation of the state highway system and may enter a cooperative agreement with any municipality for the construction, maintenance, or repair of any urban connecting street. The director may not divest the state from responsibility for maintaining the structural integrity of any bridge over a navigable water of this state which is currently maintained by the state unless an agreement is reached with the municipality.The jurisdiction, control, and duty of the state and municipality with respect to such urbanconnecting streets must be as follows:Page No. 41.The director has no authority to change or establish any grade of any such street without approval of the governing body of such municipality.2.The municipality shall maintain at its own expense all underground facilities in such streets and has the right to construct such additional underground facilities as may be necessary in such streets.3.The municipality has the right to grant the privilege to open the surface of any such street, but all damage occasioned thereby must be repaired promptly by said municipality at its direction and without cost to the department.4.The municipality has exclusive right to grant franchises over, beneath, and upon such streets.24-01-03.1. Highway performance classification plan. To the extent possible, thedepartment of transportation shall implement the highway performance classification plan.24-01-04.Municipalities to develop master street plan. Except for a municipalitylocated within a designated metropolitan planning organization, each municipality of over five thousand population in this state, according to the latest available census, shall develop and adopt a master street plan cooperatively between the director and the municipal officials, which must ensure the proper location and integration of the state highway connections in the total city street plan. In selecting and designating the master street plan, the cooperating officials shall take into account the more important principal streets that connect the residential areas with business areas, and the streets that carry the important rural traffic into and across the city, to ensure a system of streets upon which traffic can be controlled and protected, in such a manner as to provide safe and efficient movement of traffic within a municipality.24-01-04.1. Metropolitan planning organizations. Metropolitan planning organizationsshall develop, in cooperation with the state and public transit operators, transportation plans and programs for metropolitan areas which encourage and promote the safe and efficient management, operation, and development of surface transportation systems that will serve the mobility needs of people and freight and foster economic growth and development within and through urbanized areas of this state while minimizing transportation-related fuel consumption, air pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions. The plans and programs for each metropolitan area must provide for the development and integrated management and operation of transportation systems and facilities, including pedestrian walkways and bicycle transportation facilities that will function as an intermodal transportation system for the metropolitan area. A metropolitan planning organization is a political subdivision for purposes of chapter 54-52.24-01-05. Designation of county system - Removal from state highway system.The director may designate, from time to time, those roads selected under section 24-05-16, as the county highway system not exceeding twenty-two thousand five hundred miles [36210.24 kilometers] in length on which federal aid funds must be expended as may be provided by such appropriations. In designating such system, the director may remove from the state highway system those parts which are low in standard of improvement and type of traffic service and which will be released from maintenance agreement or agreements with the federal government. No mileage on the state highway system may be placed on the county road system without the consent of the board of county commissioners of the county in which the road lies. The director may enter into an agreement with the board of county commissioners of any county providing for the transfer of highways from the state highway system to the county road system of such county.24-01-06. Authority to abandon sections of routes. The director has the authority toabandon sections of routes on the state highway system when such abandoned sections are substantially replaced by improvements on new locations serving the area. Such abandonment may be made even though such highway is not placed on any other road system.Page No. 5The abandonment order must be filed with the office of the recorder of each county inwhich the abandonment occurs.24-01-07. Maps of state, county, and municipal systems. The department at all timesshall provide and maintain a map of the state, which must show all the highways which have been designated, located, created, and constituted as part of the state highway system, the county road system, and the municipal arterial street system, and if practical the status of improvement thereof.24-01-08.Uniform marking and erection of signs on highway.Repealed byS.L. 1975, ch. 353, </DIV></DIV></DIV> </DIV>  <DIV></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV></DIV>  <DIV id=footer> <DIV class=container> Copyright © 2012-2022 Laws9.Com All rights reserved.  <A href="/contactus.html">Contact Us</A> | <A href="/aboutus.html">About Us</A> | <A href="/terms.html">Terms</A> | <A href="/privacy.html">Privacy</A> </DIV> </DIV> </BODY></HTML>

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24-01 State Highway System