Details
Type: Operational Notice
Topic or Program: Access Management
Final Number: PD03
Effective Date: 02/03/2015
Updated Date: 02/03/2015
Purpose
To establish general guidance and expectations for implementing access management in the project delivery process with highway improvement projects in the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP). The guidance includes instructions regarding timing, notification, and type of engagement with local jurisdictions and property owners, prior to and during project decision-making in relation to approaches.
Guidance
ORS 374.308 instructs ODOT to balance its interest in protecting the highway with the economic interests of abutting property owners, and includes detailed instructions about the content, form, and timing of engagements with property owners and local jurisdictions when considering access management issues on highway improvement projects.
ORS 374.308 takes its place among the older access management statutes, ORS 374.305, 307, 310 and 312, which continue to allow ODOT to issue approach permits and to address safety problems and preserve the functionality of highways in accordance with the Oregon Highway Plan (OHP). ORS 374.308 simply requires that these functions be balanced with private economic interests.
The new portions of the statute that have direct application to projects are supported by administrative rules primarily as OAR 734-051-5120.
Definitions
- Access Management Strategy (AMStrat)
A project delivery document developed by ODOT, in collaboration with cities, counties and affected real property owners abutting a state highway in the affected area, that identifies the location and type of public and private approaches and other necessary improvements that are planned to occur primarily in the highway right of way and that are intended to improve current conditions on the section of highway by moving in the direction of the objective standards described in ORS 374.311, subject to safety and highway operations concerns.
The Access Management Strategy will inform development of the Official Project Access List (OPAL) which will address all approaches within the project limits.
- Affected Real Property Owner
- An owner of record of real property or property rights whose property abuts the highway and whose highway approach(es) is located within the project limits and whose access may be affected based on the criteria in the draft methodology.
- Collaborative Discussion
- A meeting or series of meetings conducted by ODOT pursuant to the terms of OAR 734-051-5120(7), involving an affected real property owner and other interested parties who may help reach understandings and resolve differences. The other parties may include, but are not limited to, business owners, property tenants, local government representatives and/or any other knowledgeable persons.
- Dispute Review Board
- A process for reaching understandings and resolving differences that is conducted pursuant to OAR 734-051-5120(8). It involves bringing together the ODOT director or a designee of the director, a representative from the local jurisdiction, an independent traffic engineer and a representative of the business sector for a hearing and discussion.
- Draft Methodology
- The documentation that is prepared as an initial step in the development of an Access Management Strategy. It identifies the criteria, including goals and objectives, used for evaluating approaches for possible modification, relocation or closure. The methodology will include how to evaluate and balance the economic development objectives of properties abutting state highways, with the transportation safety and access management objectives of the state highway. The draft methodology is subject to review in a Collaborative Discussion and/or Dispute Review Board if requested by an affected real property owner.
- Exemption Memo
- A document explaining why a STIP project is not going to relocate, modify, or close any approaches within the project limits, and thus is exempt from the requirements of ORS 734.408.
- Finalized Methodology
- The methodology documentation that has been approved and signed by the Region Manager following timely engagement with affected real property owners, cities, counties and any other internal or external stakeholders and after any requested Collaborative Discussions and/or Dispute Review Boards have been completed. Only after the methodology is finalized may development of the Access Management Strategy proceed.
- Highway Improvement Project
- As defined in OAR 734-051-5120(1)(b), a highway improvement project is a project in the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program that proposes to modify, relocate, or remove existing public or private connections to the state highway within project limits.The project may be classified as any type of capital improvement project (e.g., safety, pavement, enhancement) on any portion of the state highway system.
- Official Project Access List (OPAL)
- A project document that lists the location and type of all connections to the highway within the limits of the project and how specific actions are being addressed by the improvement project, as guided by the project’s AMStrat.
General Access Management Strategy Expectations & Guidance
Determining the Level of Access Management Work to Incorporate in a Project and Exemptions
Initiation of project expectations regarding Access Management needs to occur very early in the development process. Generally this should be around the time of scoping and no later than the time a project Charter is being drafted.
Access Management Strategy expectations do not apply to Facility Plans (which are covered under OAR 734 051 7010), or any preliminary project development work which would precede Facility Planning or other more generalized environmental/development type work which will not need specifics regarding access.
One of the first questions to consider is whether or not the project can be exempt. A project is exempt if it is not defined as a Highway Improvement Project under the terms of OAR 734-051-5120(1)(b) because it is not in the STIP or there are no planned approach modifications, relocations or closures, and thus no AMStrat is required. (See Appendix A for what constitutes a modification.) In making decisions about the level and type of access management work to pursue on a project:
- Project representatives must be very deliberate in their initial assessment of project purpose, need, and scope to be absolutely sure there is a need and a priority to pursue consideration of any potential changes in access, that they can clearly articulate the need to do so very effectively by a publicly understandable explanation, and that there is support to do so by adjacent jurisdictional partners (e.g., city, county, USFS).
- There should not be an assumption about needed changes in access based on standards, knowing that changes to any access will need to have a clearly articulated, documented, and supported justification based on specific safety and/or operational concerns created by the presence of the access, either currently or anticipated over the design life of the project.
- It is acceptable to conclude early on that the project will not modify, relocate, or close any existing accesses if it is the right thing to do and we can clearly explain the reasoning. If this is the conclusion, then the project will be exempt, and no AMStrat (and no methodology) will be required.
If, and whenever the determination is made that an AMStrat is not required, an Exemption Memo must be completed explaining why this is the case.
Development of the Methodology
If the project is a Highway Improvement Project in the context of OAR 734-051-5120(1)(b) because it is in the STIP and the project will modify, relocate or remove one or more highway approaches, an AMStrat is required for the project. Work should begin immediately on the steps and required communications which collectively convey the ODOT intention to act transparently and collaboratively in making access management decisions:
OAR 734-051-5120(5) provides an overview of what is required in terms of the public involvement process for access management. It is likely that for many projects general communications about the project can be coordinated with some of the access management requirements. For this reason, project staff should be thinking from the earliest stages how to integrate the access management communications with cities, counties, highway users, and affected real property owners impacted by the project into the PD-12 communications plan for the project.
In establishing the AMStrat, project representatives are required to engage affected real property owners in developing a draft methodology. What “engagement” consists of will vary from project to project depending on the nature of the project, the community and what is proposed generally for community outreach. At the end of the process, project staff must be able to point to specific information that was distributed about the coming project, how potentially affected property owners were engaged, and what type of opportunity for input and comment people had during the period in which the methodology was developed.
OAR 734-051-5120(4)(a)(A) through (J) outlines factors that may or should be considered as a starting point in establishing the methodology. In all projects, the proposed methodology should describe a decision-making process that is consistent with the available local Transportation System Plan (TSP) and any other applicable planning documents, with references. Local agency staff and other local experts on economic development should be able to assist in this work.
For the context of the draft methodology and AMStrat development, project representatives will work with the associated cities, counties, highway users, and affected real property owners to identify the deficiencies and establish the long-term vision for the relevant highway segment(s) that will guide the scope and design of project improvements.
An available TSP and/or facility plan often describes a vision for the given highway segment, including access management. Some sections of state highway have “Segment Designations” as provided in the Oregon Highway Plan, Policy 1B, which designations memorialize agreements between ODOT and the local government about how a section of highway will be managed in an area that is zoned for commercial or mixed uses. In some cases it may be necessary to develop project-specific visioning.
Review of the Methodology
OAR 734-051-5120(6)(7)(8)&(9) give instructions about how affected real property owners may have the methodology reviewed in a Collaborative Discussion and/or Dispute Review Board. Allowances for these processes should be made in the project schedule and they should be incorporated into the PD-12 communications plan for the project.
If a review is not requested or if a review concludes with a Collaborative Discussion, the Region Manager finalizes the methodology by approving and signing. If a review goes onto a Dispute Review Board, the ODOT Director finalizes the methodology by approving and signing.
Development of the AMStrat
After the finalized methodology is established and when the AMStrat is being developed, project representatives will recommend the locations and/or disposition of any approach modifications, relocations, or closures following collaboration with affected real property owners.
The criteria agreed to in the methodology should be applied to each individual approach within the project boundaries to evaluate whether the approach should be closed, relocated or modified, and what the location, size and design of each approach should be. Meetings with individual affected real property owners should be held to ensure that ODOT has a full understanding of property uses, the types and numbers of vehicles that access the site, usage patterns during the day, circulation issues and any other impacts that could arise as a result of proposed changes.
After resolution of all issues involving the AMStrat, the OPAL is prepared. It must list every approach within the project boundaries and how it will be treated during construction.
A final decision to close, modify or relocate an approach must be sent in a notice letter that provides the property owner the option to appeal the decision through a Collaborative Discussion, and/or Dispute Review Board and/or Hearing at the Office of Administrative Hearings.
Other Issues to Consider
- Projects that do not appear in the STIP, but which will involve modification, relocation or closure of a public or private highway approach do not require the development of an AMStrat or methodology. However, property owners must receive notice of the decision and must be given an opportunity to appeal the decision through a Collaborative Discussion, Dispute Review Board or Contested Case Hearing. This includes local jurisdiction projects on state highways. Contact Ann Zeltmann, the ODOT Appeals Coordinator, at 503-986-4379 if you are working on a non-STIP project that will modify, relocate or close a private approach.
- Medians: Development of medians must be consistent with ORS 366.215. Ideally the issue will be addressed in a facility plan but it may occur as part of a project. The median must not appear in the AMStrat as an item to be contested.
Project Development Milestone Related Expectations
For projects requiring an AMStrat, there are a number of Access Management tasks and deliverables which are critical. Descriptions and requirements can be found for these tasks in Appendix B.
- Draft STIP Milestone:
- Access Control Report
- Existing Approaches Status Report
- Access Management Worksheet
- Right of way cost estimate (in relation to access changes)
- Access management scoping report
- Preliminary Engineering (PE) cost estimate (in relation to access changes)
- Schedule of work (for project-development related access management work)
- Design Acceptance Milestone:
- Development of Methodology
- Review of Methodology
- Development of AMStrat
- Official Project Access List
- Access Deficiency List
- Access management element of Design Acceptance Memorandum
- Access modification and closure letters delivered to property owners
- IGA provisions to address local government access issues (if applicable)
- Updated schedule and budget to complete access management work
- Oregon Transportation Commission decision package (if applicable)
- Final Contract Plans/PS&E Milestone:
- Local TSP or Comprehensive Plan amendments
- Oregon Transportation Commission decision/approval action
- Access Management Checklist
- Following Construction – Between 2nd and 3rd Note
- Confirmation of CHAMPS records
A summary description of the access management project tasks listed above may be found in Appendix B.
Roles & Responsibilities
- Area Manager and Project Leader
- Play a key role in determining how to integrate the access management goals and objectives into the project.
- District Permitting Staff
- Produce the Existing Approaches Status Report and issue permits prior to Third Note.
- ODOT Director
- If there is a review of the methodology by a Dispute Review Board, the ODOT Director considers the recommendation of the Dispute Review Board and finalizes the methodology.
- Region Access Management Engineer (RAME) or Project Access Management Engineer
- Analyze the significance of any access management issues located within the proposed project boundaries. The RAME works with the Area Manager and Project Leader to establish which approaches are priorities and require attention during the project.
- Region Manager
- The Region Manager finalizes the methodology if there is no review of the methodology requested. The Region Manager manages the Collaborative Discussion process if there is one and finalizes the methodology if there is no follow-up Dispute Review Board.
- Right of Way/Region
- Prepares cost estimates.
- Right of Way/Technical Services
- Conducts right of way research.
References
Statutes
ORS 374.305, 307, 308, 310 and 312 provide the regulatory framework within which project delivery staff may address access issues.
Policy
Goal 3 of the 1999 Oregon Highway Plan delineates the Department’s principle access management policies and contains the Functional Highway Classification System which may be relied upon for the established vision for the highway if no other plans are in place for a particular highway segment.
Appendix A describes what level of change to a highway approach results in a modification of an approach. Paving projects that are being developed should apply these standards.
Rules
OAR 734-051 is the administrative rule that specifies legal requirements and procedures for access management. Section 5120 sets forth the requirements for treatment of access management issues in a STIP modification project.
ORS 366.215 provides the statutory requirement for development of medians.
Appendices