Senate bill 1100 amends existing law to revise the definition of highways to include certain public transportation and pedestrian infrastructure.
The reason for this legislation is that the current definition of highways does not incorporate the current roadway design features for many of the highways in Idaho.
Idaho has hundreds of roadways that have incorporated bicycle facilities and public transportation infrastructure facilities into their highways.
The purpose of this legislation is to change the definition of Highways to incorporate these current practices when traffic conditions warrant the inclusion of these features in a roadway design.
The proposed legislation eliminates the mandatory obligation to include all statutory designated features and gives the highway jurisdiction the ability to include the design features only when they are necessary and warranted based upon existing traffic conditions.
The fiscal note states that the legislation does not require any highway district to expend any funds. There will be no negative impact to the state general fund, and it may positively impact highway district budgets by eliminating the mandatory obligation to include certain features.
On Thursday the bill passed in the Senate on a 34-0-1 vote and is on to the House.