33.1-223 - Fund for access roads and bikeways to public recreational areas and historical sites; construction, maintenance, etc., of such facilities.
§ 33.1-223. Fund for access roads and bikeways to public recreational areasand historical sites; construction, maintenance, etc., of such facilities.
A. The General Assembly finds and declares that there is an increasing demandby the public for more public recreational areas throughout the Commonwealth,therefore creating a need for more access to these areas. There are also manysites of historical significance to which access is needed.
The General Assembly hereby declares it to be in the public interest thataccess roads and bikeways to public recreational areas and historical sitesbe provided by using funds obtained from motor fuel tax collections on motorfuel used for propelling boats and ships and funds contained in the highwayportion of the Transportation Trust Fund.
B. The Commonwealth Transportation Board shall, from funds allocated to theprimary system, secondary system, or urban system of state highways, setaside the sum of $3 million initially. This fund shall be expended by theBoard for the construction, reconstruction, maintenance or improvement ofaccess roads and bikeways within counties, cities and towns. At the close ofeach succeeding fiscal year the Board shall replenish this fund to the extentit deems necessary to carry out the purpose intended, provided the balance inthe fund plus the replenishment does not exceed the aforesaid $3 million.
C. Upon the setting aside of the funds as herein provided, the CommonwealthTransportation Board shall construct, reconstruct, maintain or improve accessroads and bikeways to public recreational areas and historical sites upon thefollowing conditions:
1. When the Director of the Department of Conservation and Recreation hasdesignated a public recreational area as such or when the Director of theDepartment of Historic Resources has determined a site or area to be historicand recommends to the Commonwealth Transportation Board that an access roador bikeway be provided or maintained to that area;
2. When the Commonwealth Transportation Board pursuant to the recommendationfrom the Director of the Department of Conservation and Recreation declaresby resolution that the access road or bikeway be provided or maintained;
3. When the governing body of the county, city or town in which the accessroad or bikeway is to be provided or maintained passes a resolutionrequesting the road; and
4. When the governing body of the county, city or town in which the bikewayis to be provided or maintained adopts an ordinance pursuant to Article 7 (§15.2-2280 et seq.) of Chapter 22 of Title 15.2.
No access road or bikeway shall be constructed, reconstructed, maintained orimproved on privately owned property.
D. Any access road constructed, reconstructed, maintained or improvedpursuant to the provisions of this section shall become part of the primarysystem of state highways, the secondary system of state highways or the roadsystem of the locality in which it is located in the manner provided by law,and shall thereafter be constructed, reconstructed, maintained and improvedas other roads in such systems. Any bikeway path constructed, reconstructed,maintained, or improved pursuant to the provisions of this section which isnot situated within the right-of-way limits of an access road which hasbecome, or which is to become, part of the primary system of state highways,the secondary system of state highways, or the road system of the locality,shall, upon completion, become part of and be regulated and maintained by theauthority or agency maintaining the public recreational area or historicalsite. It shall be the responsibility of the authority, agency, or localityrequesting that a bicycle path be provided for a public recreational orhistorical site to provide the right-of-way needed for the construction,reconstruction, maintenance, or improvement of the bicycle path if such is tobe situated outside the right-of-way limits of an access road.
To maximize the impact of the Fund, not more than $400,000 of recreationalaccess funds may be allocated for each individual access road project to orwithin any public recreational area or historical site operated by a stateagency and not more than $250,000 for each individual access road project toor within a public recreational area or historical site operated by alocality or an authority with an additional $100,000 if supplemented on adollar-for-dollar basis by the locality or authority from other than highwaysources. Not more than $75,000 of recreational access funds may be allocatedfor each individual bikeway project to a public recreational area orhistorical site operated by a state agency and not more than $60,000 for eachindividual bikeway project to a public recreational area or historical siteoperated by a locality or an authority with an additional $15,000 ifsupplemented on a dollar-for-dollar basis by a locality or authority fromother than highway sources.
The Commonwealth Transportation Board, with the concurrence of the Directorof the Department of Conservation and Recreation, is hereby authorized tomake regulations to carry out the provisions of this section.
(Code 1950, § 33-136.3; 1966, c. 484; 1968, c. 221; 1970, c. 322; 1975, c.362; 1982, c. 643; 1984, c. 739; 1989, cc. 305, 656; 1990, c. 689; 1992, c.108; 1996, cc. 101, 131; 2005, cc. 25, 453.)