734-051-4030 Benefit to the State Highway System (1) General Requirements. A benefit to the state highway system is a determination requiring the professional judgment of a professional engineer employed by the department and: (a) Will be found only where the department determines that an approach will provide an immediate and long-term benefit to the state highway system; (b) Is evaluated for a period of not less than twenty (20) years from the date of application; and (c) For an application for a grant of access, the benefit to the highway must be greater than the benefit associated with the mitigation needed to offset the traffic operations and safety impacts of the proposed approach. (2) Criteria for Determination of Benefit to the State Highway System. The determination of the existence of a benefit to the state highway system must meet the following criteria in subsections (a) and (b) below: (a) The department determines that the proposal results in improved access management of the highway by controlling, combining, or eliminating existing or planned approaches; and improving: (A) Approach spacing standards; (B) Public approach spacing; or (C) Intersection sight distance; and (b) The department determines that one or more of the conditions identified in paragraphs (A) through (F) below will occur without degradation of any of the conditions in paragraphs (A) through (E), as follows: (A) Highway mobility standards improve; (B) Safety improves; (C) Specific safety concerns in the general vicinity are eliminated because of closure of an existing approach; (D) Operations in the general vicinity improve as a result of connectivity, traffic diversions, or other traffic engineering techniques; (E) The applicant demonstrates that off-system connectivity improves and reduces demand to the state highway system without creating operational or safety concerns elsewhere, and: (i) Off-system connectivity must occur immediately; or (ii) Off-system connectivity must be committed for construction as evidenced by the local government’s adopted capital improvement plan; and (F) The department determines that other circumstances result in a benefit to the state highway system. (3) Private Approach on an Urban Area Expressway. For an application for a private approach to an expressway in an urban area, the department may determine that a benefit to the state highway system exists if the requirements of subsection (a), (b) or (c) of this section are met: (a) Where a change of use occurs, approaches to the expressway are combined or eliminated resulting in a net reduction in the number of approaches to the expressway, and the applicant demonstrates an improvement to: (A) Private approach spacing; (B) Public approach spacing; or (C) Intersection sight distance standards. (b) The department determines that an improvement in safety occurs on the section of the expressway where an approach is requested and the provisions of paragraphs (A) and (B) of this subsection are met: (A) Only one approach to the expressway is requested, and: (i) Where a new approach is requested, no approach to the site currently exists; or (ii) Where a change of use occurs, only one private approach to the site currently exists; and (B) An improvement in safety occurs on the expressway primarily and on other state highways secondarily and includes: (i) A decrease in the total number of existing conflict points; (ii) Elimination of existing left turns; (iii) Elimination of an existing overlap of left turn movements; (iv) The addition of a left turn lane where existing conditions meet the department’s installation criteria; and/or (v) Provision of adequate sight distance at the alternate approach or the subject approach where existing sight distance is deficient. (c) The region access management engineer determines that the approach results in a benefit to the state highway system due to other circumstances. (4) Procedure. The department determines whether a benefit to the highway system occurs, as follows: (a) The region access management engineer will make a determination on those applications for an approach to an urban expressway; and (b) The department’s technical services manager will make a determination on those applications for a grant of access. Statutory/Other Authority: ORS 184.616, 184.619, 374.310–374.314, 374.345 & 374.355 Statutes/Other Implemented: ORS 374.300–374.360, §27, ch. 330 & OL 2011 History: HWD 8-2012, f. 6-27-12, cert. ef. 6-29-12 HWD 16-2011(Temp), f. 12-22-11, cert. ef. 1-1-12 thru 6-29-12