DE HB220 | 2011-2012 | 146th General Assembly
Status
June 29 2011 - Introduced and Assigned to Transportation/Land Use and Infrastructure Committee in House
Pending: House Transportation/Land Use and Infrastructure Committee
Text: Latest bill text (Draft #1) [HTML]
Pending: House Transportation/Land Use and Infrastructure Committee
Text: Latest bill text (Draft #1) [HTML]
Summary
This bill begins with the assumption that the Regulations of the Department of Transportation for Subdivsion Streets and Highway Access is basically a good and complete document. This is the internal DelDOT document that spells out the requirements and consequences for a traffic impact study. The bill provides for a few improvements to weak areas that public complaints have brought to light. The proponents of this bill have identified what they see as a problem in the interaction between DelDOT and New Castle County Land Use that divests DelDOT of authority they believe it must retain in order to be good stewards of the highways. The 2008 Memorandum of Agreement between the two agencies contained sections exempting such projects as redevelopments, work force housing, developments located in a WILMAPCO TID (traffic investment districts), and economic development in general. The exemptions and options for not doing a traffic impact study—especially when a rezoning is involved--are not acceptable to the public. This bill requires that the Memorandum of Agreement be amended by the two agencies within 90 days and sent through a public hearing. The bill sets a bottom standard for requiring a traffic impact study in what the Department calls developed or developing areas—not rural roads. That is 120 vehicles per hour (two every minute) in and out of a commercial site or 400 per day. For residential developments, 400 vehicles per day in and out of a site with entrances on 2 different roads and 200 per day for those with one. The standard is lower where a rezoning is involved—150 vehicles per day or 25 per hour will trigger one. That is because in New Castle County, a rezoning is the only chance residents have to stop a use they think will be harmful to their area, and one of the major factors is traffic. It requires a project that cannot be redeveloped without sending the road and intersection into failure to wait if the engineer cannot figure out a way to improve the situation by designing something different. For the developers, the bill requires the Department to do an internal analysis to see how they can speed up the TIS process "in house." Residents of New Castle County are insisting that the Planning Board and Land Use Dept. get the traffic study data before a rezoning hearing, so the developer will have to start that before filing for it with the County. Two recent situations have inspired a requirement for DelDOT to tweak its Regulations. One is the fact that in spite of their clear rule, the engineers for developers are taking traffic counts in August when school is out. The other is that DelDOT is not paying attention to crash and safety data when deciding on traffic signals. They are required to review them to see if they can be improved with the addition of some consequences for violations of requirements. A serious safety hazard has been created by exempting work force housing from a TIS out in Mill Creek. Because no safety analysis was done, they are currently building the entrance and exit on a major federal highway where loaded trucks come barreling over a hill within a few dozen feet of the entrance at 55 mph or more. Some things can be waived for 1,000 new jobs, and the Department is told to do a TIS for them in a hurry, but the public wants the Department to be firm about requiring a TIS for significant developments no matter what the County is willing to ignore.
Title
An Act To Amend Title 17 Of The Delaware Code Relating To Traffic Studies In Counties With A Population Greater Than 500,000.
Sponsors
History
| Date | Chamber | Action |
|---|---|---|
| 2011-06-29 | Introduced and Assigned to Transportation/Land Use and Infrastructure Committee in House |
