An Act To Allow the Department of Transportation To Recover Costs Incurred by the Department for Allowing Access to a Controlled Access Highway
Maine Legislature, Session 128, LD 1145
Committee: Transportation
Sponsors: LUCHINI
Amends: 23 MRSA §704

Legislative Document
No. 1145
H.P. 808
House of Representatives, March 23, 2017
An Act To Allow the Department of Transportation To Recover 
Costs Incurred by the Department for Allowing Access to a 
Controlled Access Highway
Reference to the Committee on Transportation suggested and ordered printed.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative LUCHINI of Ellsworth.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  23 MRSA §704, sub-§6, as amended by PL 2013, c. 220, §1, is further 
amended to read: 
6.  Access denied.  Notwithstanding any other provision of this Title and except as 
provided in subsection 10, the Department of Transportation and the municipalities shall 
deny ingress to and egress from property abutting a controlled access highway established 
by the department pursuant to chapter 7, except that the Commissioner of Transportation 
may allow access for the development of state and state aid highways and may allow 
access upon a determination by the commissioner that such access will not adversely 
affect public safety and will not have a significant negative impact on the mobility of 
through-travelers.  The commissioner may approve or deny a relocation of an existing 
break in a control of access consistent with the rules adopted pursuant to subsection 2.  
When the department allows access under this subsection, it may recover from the 
applicant costs incurred by the department to allow access, plus the lesser of the amount 
the department determines was paid to the landowner to extinguish rights of access on the 
portion of land to be used to gain access to the highway, adjusted by the percentage 
increase in the Consumer Price Index, and the difference between the appraised value of 
the affected property without the access and the appraised value of the affected property 
with the access. 
Sec. 2.  23 MRSA §704, sub-§10, as enacted by PL 2005, c. 188, §1, is amended 
to read: 
10.  Requirements waived.  The department may waive the requirements of rules 
adopted pursuant to this section and may issue a permit for a driveway when the property 
abuts no other road affording vehicular access to a person's property and the property is 
outside the compact area of an urban compact municipality.  The department may not 
deny a person the right to build on or to have vehicular access to property owned by that 
person unless the access is determined inconsistent with access management safety 
standards.  When the department allows access under this subsection, it may recover from 
the applicant costs incurred by the department to allow access and any costs associated 
with maintaining the mobility of through-travelers, plus the lesser of the amount the 
department determines was paid to the landowner to extinguish rights of access on the 
portion of land to be used to gain access to the highway, adjusted by the percentage 
increase in the Consumer Price Index, and the difference between the appraised value of 
the affected property without the access and the appraised value of the affected property 
with the access. 
SUMMARY 
This bill provides that, when the Department of Transportation allows access onto a 
controlled access highway because the access will not adversely affect public safety and 
will not have a significant negative impact on the mobility of through-travelers, the 
department may recover from the applicant costs incurred by the department to allow 
access and any costs associated with maintaining the mobility of through-travelers, plus 
the lesser of the amount the department determines was paid to the landowner to 
extinguish rights of access on the portion of land to be used to gain access to the highway, 
adjusted by the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index, and the difference 
between the appraised value of the affected property without the access and the appraised 
value of the affected property with the access. 
The bill also provides that, when the department allows access onto a controlled 
access highway when the property abuts no other road affording vehicular access to the 
applicant's property, the department may recover from the applicant costs incurred by the 
department to allow access and any costs associated with maintaining the mobility of 
through-travelers, plus the lesser of the amount the department determines was paid to the 
landowner to extinguish rights of access on the portion of land to be used to gain access 
to the highway, adjusted by the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index, and the 
difference between the appraised value of the affected property without the access and the 
appraised value of the affected property with the access.