SB33INTRODUCED
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CXORWQ-1
By Senator Livingston
RFD: County and Municipal Government
First Read: 07-Mar-23
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5 CXORWQ-1 01/30/2023 THR (L) cr 2023-257
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SYNOPSIS:
Under existing law, a municipality is
responsible for setting speed limits on streets within
its corporate limits.
This bill would provide that a municipality may
not set speed limits on county-maintained streets
within its corporate limits.
This bill would also make nonsubstantive,
technical revisions to update the existing code
language to current style.
A BILL
TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
Relating to motor vehicles and traffic; to amend
Sections 11-49-4, 32-5A-173, and 32-5A-176, Code of Alabama
1975; to prohibit a municipality from setting speed limits on
county-maintained streets within its corporate limits; and to
make nonsubstantive, technical revisions to update the
existing code language to current style.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA:
Section 1. Sections 11-49-4, 32-5A-173, and 32-5A-176,
Code of Alabama 1975, are amended to read as follows:
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"§11-49-4
(a) Except as otherwise provided in this Code, the
several cities and towns in this state each municipality shall
fix by ordinance the speed at which motor vehicles may be
operated within their respective its corporate limits and
shall fix the punishment for any violation of such ordinance
within the limits of fine and imprisonment or either as now
authorized or required by in accordance with state law.
(b) Notwithstanding subsection (a), a municipality may
not fix the speed at which motor vehicles may be operated on a
county-maintained street, as defined in Section 11-49-80,
located within the corporate limits of the municipality. "
"§32-5A-173
(a) Whenever Except as provided in subsection (f),
whenever local authorities in their respective jurisdictions
determine on the basis of an engineering and traffic
investigation that the maximum speed permitted under this
article is greater or less than is reasonable and safe is
unreasonable under the conditions found to exist upon a
highway or part of a highway, the local authority may
determine and declare set a reasonable and safe maximum limit
thereon which:
(1) Decreases the limit at intersections;
(2) Increases the limit within an urban district but
not to more than the maximum rate of speed that may be
prescribed by the Governor under subdivision (6) of consistent
with Section 32-5A-171;
(3) Decreases the limit on any street, unpaved road, or
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highway under the jurisdiction and control of any county
commission; or
(4) Increases the limit on any street, unpaved road, or
highway under the jurisdiction and control of any county
commission but not to more than the maximum rate of speed that
is prescribed under subdivision (3) or by the Governor under
subdivision (6) of consistent with Section 32-5A-171.
(b) Local authorities in their respective jurisdictions
shall determine by an engineering and traffic investigation
the proper maximum speed for all arterial streets and shall
declare a reasonable and safe maximum limit thereon which may
be greater or less than the maximum speed permitted under this
chapter for an urban district .
(c) Any altered limit established as hereinabove
authorized shall according to this section may be effective at
all times, or during hours of darkness , or at other times as
may be determined when appropriate signs giving notice thereof
are erected upon the street or highway.
(d) Any alteration of maximum limits on state highways
or extensions thereof in a municipality by local authorities
shall not be effective until the alteration has been approved
by the Department of Transportation.
(e)(1) Not more than six alterations as hereinabove
authorized pursuant to this section shall be made per mile
along a street or highway, except in the case of reduced
limits at intersections , and the .
(2) The difference between adjacent limits shall not be
more than 10 miles per hour.
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(f) A municipality may not fix the speed at which motor
vehicles may be operated on a county-maintained street, as
defined in Section 11-49-80, located within the corporate
limits of the municipality. "
"§32-5A-176
(a) No person shall drive a vehicle over any bridge or
other elevated structure constituting a part of a highway at a
speed which that is greater than the maximum speed which that
can be safely maintained with safety to on such bridge or
structure, when such the bridge or structure is signposted as
provided in this section.
(b) The Except as provided in subsection (d), the
Department of Transportation and local authorities on highways
under their respective jurisdictions may conduct an
investigation of any bridge or other elevated structure
constituting a part of a highway, and if it shall thereupon
find that such the department or local authority finds that
the bridge or structure cannot with safety to itself safely
withstand vehicles traveling at the speed otherwise
permissible under this chapter, the Department of
Transportation or local authority shall determine and declare
the set a maximum vehicle speed of vehicles which such that
the structure can safely withstand, and shall cause or permit
suitable signs stating such the maximum speed to be erected
and maintained before each end of such the structure.
(c) Upon the trial of any person charged with a
violation of this section, proof of the determination of the
maximum speed by the Department of Transportation and the
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existence of the signs shall constitute conclusive evidence of
the maximum speed which that can be safely maintained with
safety to such on the bridge or structure.
(d) A municipality may not fix the speed at which motor
vehicles may be operated on a county-maintained street, as
defined in Section 11-49-80, located within the corporate
limits of the municipality. "
Section 2. This act shall become effective on the first
day of the third month following its passage and approval by
the Governor, or its otherwise becoming law.
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