California Assembly Bill AB1193 Amended / Bill

 BILL NUMBER: AB 1193AMENDED BILL TEXT AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 18, 2014 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JANUARY 23, 2014 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JANUARY 6, 2014 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 25, 2013 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 16, 2013 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 21, 2013 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Ting (  Coauthor:   Assembly Member   Gatto   Coauthors:  Assembly Members   Bloom,   Gatto,   Lowenthal,   and Wieckowski  ) FEBRUARY 22, 2013 An act to amend Sections 890.4  , 890.6,  and 891  of, to add Section 885.1 to, and to repeal Section 891.1  of  ,  the Streets and Highways Code, relating to bikeways. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 1193, as amended, Ting. Bikeways.  Existing   (1)     Existing  law defines "bikeway" for certain purposes to mean all facilities that provide primarily for bicycle travel. Existing law categorizes bikeways into 3 classes of facilities. This bill would additionally provide for  a classification of  Class IV bikeways,  also known as cycle tracks or separated bikeways,  as specified.  Existing   (2)     Existing  law requires the Department of Transportation, in cooperation with county and city governments, to establish  and update  minimum safety design criteria for the planning and construction of bikeways, and requires the department to establish uniform specifications and symbols regarding bicycle travel and bicycle traffic related matters. Existing law requires all city, county, regional, and other local agencies responsible for the development or operation of bikeways or roadways where bicycle travel is permitted to utilize all  of those  minimum safety design criteria and uniform specifications and symbols  for signs, markers, and traffic control devices established pursuant to that law  . This bill would require the department, in cooperation with local agencies, to establish minimum safety design criteria for  Class IV bikeways.   each class of bikeways, with consideration for the safety of vulnerable populations, as specified. The bill would require all city, county, regional, and other local agencies to utilize the uniform specifications and symbols for signs, markers, and traffic control devices established by the department and would authorize those agencies to utilize the minimum safety design criteria.   (3) Existing law requires the Department of Transportation to establish, by June 30, 2013, procedures for cities, counties, and local agencies to be granted exceptions from the requirement to use design criteria and uniform specifications for purposes of research, experimentation, testing, evaluation, or verification. Existing law requires the department, by November 1, 2014, to report to the transportation policy committees of both houses of the Legislature the steps that the department has taken to implement those requirements, including, but not limited to, information regarding requests received and granted by the department from July 1, 2013, to June 30, 2014, inclusive, for those exceptions, and the reasons the department rejected any requests for those exceptions.   This bill would repeal those requirements. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:  SECTION   1   .   The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:   (a) It is the goal of the state to increase the number of trips Californians take by bicycle and other forms of active transportation in order to help meet the state's greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals, improve Californians' health by helping more people be active, and stimulate the economy.   (b) Protected bikeways are proven to attract many more people to bicycling and to reduce collision rates compared to unimproved streets or streets with typical bike lanes.   (c) Property and businesses adjacent to protected bikeways experience increases in real estate values and sales compared to unimproved streets.   (d) Bicycling accounts for 2,000,000 trips every day in California, showing growth in all groups, in particular among people of color.   (e) Safe street-level bikeways are proven to reduce bike riding on the sidewalk, wrong-way riding, and other illegal or unsafe bicycling practices.   (f) It is the objective of the state to encourage the planning, design, and construction of protected bikeways in a manner that improves safety for all users, including motorists, transit users, pedestrians, and persons with disabilities, with special attention to the needs of visually impaired persons.  SEC. 2.   Section 885.1 is added to the   Streets and Highways Code   , to read:   885.1. This chapter shall be known, and may be cited, as the Protected Bikeways Act of 2014.   SECTION 1.   SEC. 3.  Section 890.4 of the Streets and Highways Code  ,  is amended to read: 890.4. As used in this article, "bikeway" means all facilities that provide primarily for bicycle travel. For purposes of this article, bikeways shall be categorized as follows: (a) Class I bikeways, also known as "bike paths" or "shared-use paths," which provide a completely separated right-of-way designated for the exclusive use of bicycles and pedestrians with crossflows by motorists minimized. (b) Class II bikeways, also known as "bike lanes," which provide a restricted right-of-way designated for the exclusive or semiexclusive use of bicycles with through travel by motor vehicles or pedestrians prohibited, but with vehicle parking and crossflows by pedestrians and motorists permitted. (c) Class III bikeways, also known as onstreet or offstreet "bike routes," which provide a right-of-way designated by signs or permanent markings and shared with pedestrians and motorists. (d) Class IV bikeways, also known as  "cycletracks"   "cycle tracks   "  or  "protected bike lanes,"   "separated   bikeways,   "  which provide a right-of-way designated exclusively for bicycle travel within a roadway and which are protected from  other vehicle traffic with devices, including, but not limited to,   vehicular traffic. Types of separation include, but are not limited to,  grade separation, flexible posts, inflexible physical barriers, or  parked cars   on-street parking  .  SEC.   4.   Section 890.6 of the   Streets and Highways Code   is amended to read:  890.6. The department, in cooperation with county and city governments, shall establish minimum safety design criteria for the planning and construction of  bikeways   each class   of bikeway identified in Section 890.4  and roadways where bicycle travel is permitted. The criteria shall include, but not be limited to, the design speed of the facility, minimum widths and clearances, grade, radius of curvature, pavement surface, actuation of automatic traffic control devices, drainage, and general safety  ,   with consideration for the safety of vulnerable populations, such as children, seniors, persons with impaired vision, and persons of limited mobility  . The criteria shall be updated biennially, or more often, as needed.  SEC. 2.   SEC. 5.  Section 891 of the Streets and Highways Code is amended to read: 891.  (a)    All city, county, regional, and other local agencies responsible for the development or operation of bikeways or roadways where bicycle travel is permitted  shall  may  utilize  all   the  minimum safety design criteria  established pursuant to Section 890.6  and  shall utilize the  uniform specifications and symbols for signs, markers, and traffic control devices established pursuant to  Sections 890.6 and 890.8, except as provided in subdivision (b).   (b) The department shall establish procedures to permit exceptions to the requirements of subdivision (a) for purposes of research, experimentation, testing, evaluation, or verification.   (c)     The department, in cooperation with local agencies, shall establish minimum safety design criteria for Class IV bikeways, as designated in Section 890.4.   Section 890.8.   SEC.   6.   Section 891.1 of the   Streets and Highways Code   is repealed.   891.1. (a) The department shall, by November 1, 2014, submit a report to the transportation policy committees of both houses of the Legislature that describes the steps the department has taken to implement the requirements of subdivision (b) of Section 891 related to permitting exceptions to the requirements of subdivision (a) of Section 891. The report shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following: (1) The number of requests the department has received from cities, counties, and local agencies from July 1, 2013, to June 30, 2014, inclusive. (2) The number of exceptions the department granted during that year. (3) If any requests were rejected, the reasons why those requests were not approved. (b) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2015, and, as of January 1, 2016, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2016, deletes or extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.