Title: Express Lanes

Summary: Requiring the Department of Transportation to ensure reasonable and practicably feasible entry and exit points on its express lanes and to undertake efforts to expand reasonable and practicably feasible entry and exit points for certain purposes; requiring a toll charged to be the same for the use of express and general toll lanes under certain circumstances; providing for measurement of the average speed of vehicles, etc.

Full Text:
An act relating to express lanes; amending s. 338.166, F.S.; requiring the Department of Transportation to ensure reasonable and practicably feasible entry and exit points on its express lanes and to undertake efforts to expand reasonable and practicably feasible entry and exit points for certain purposes; prohibiting a toll from being charged on express lanes under certain circumstances; providing for measurement of the average speed of vehicles; amending s. 338.2216, F.S.; requiring the Florida Turnpike Enterprise to ensure reasonable and practicably feasible entry and exit points on its express lanes and to undertake efforts to expand reasonable and practicably feasible entry and exit points for certain purposes; requiring a toll charged to be the same for the use of express and general toll lanes under certain circumstances; providing for measurement of the average speed of vehicles; providing an effective date. Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: Section 1. Present subsections (5) and (6) of section 338.166, Florida Statutes, are renumbered as subsections (6) and (7), respectively, and a new subsection (5) is added to that section, to read: 338.166 High-occupancy toll lanes or express lanes.  (5)  The department shall ensure reasonable and practicably feasible entry and exit points on its express lanes and shall undertake efforts to expand reasonable and practicably feasible entry and exit points to increase accessibility and ease of entry and exit to and from its express lanes while meeting operational performance goals. If the maintained average speed of vehicles traveling in an express lane is equivalent to or less than that of vehicles traveling in adjacent general-use lanes, no toll shall be charged. The average speed of vehicles shall be measured at the middle point between an entry point and an exit point. Section 2. Paragraph (e) is added to subsection (1) of section 338.2216, Florida Statutes, to read: 338.2216 Florida Turnpike Enterprise; powers and authority.  (1) (e) The Florida Turnpike Enterprise shall ensure reasonable and practicably feasible entry and exit points on its express lanes and shall undertake efforts to expand reasonable and practicably feasible entry and exit points to increase accessibility and ease of entry and exit to and from its express lanes while meeting operational performance goals. If the maintained average speed of vehicles traveling in an express lane is equivalent to or less than that of vehicles traveling in adjacent general toll lanes, the toll charged for the express lane must be the same as the toll for the general toll lanes. The average speed of vehicles shall be measured at the middle point between an entry point and an exit point. Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2017.