Code of Maine Rules › 17 - DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION › 229 - DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION - GENERAL › Chapter 103 - RULES FOR THE SENSIBLE TRANSPORTATION POLICY ACT › Subchapter I - Maine Department of Transportation › Section 229-103-I-3 - DEFINITIONS

Current through 2024-29, July 17, 2024
The following definitions will apply to the terms used in
					 this rule:
Abbreviations.
The following abbreviations are
					 used in the text of this rule:
FHWA Federal Highway Administration
MaineDOT Maine Department of Transportation
MPO Metropolitan Planning Organization
MRSA Maine Revised Statutes Annotated
MTA Maine Turnpike Authority
NEPA National Environmental Policy Act
RC(s) Regional Council(s) per MRSA Title 30-A §
					 2302
TIP Transportation Improvement Program
USC United States Code
Alternatives.
See Strategies
Auxiliary Lane
. The portion of the roadway
					 adjoining the traveled way for parking, speed change, turning, storage for
					 turning, passing, truck climbing, and other purposes supplementary to
					 through-traffic movement.
Capacity.
The maximum sustainable flow rate at
					 which persons or vehicles can reasonably be expected to traverse a point or
					 uniform segment of a lane or roadway during a specified time period under given
					 roadway, geometric, traffic, location and control conditions; usually expressed
					 as vehicles per hour, passenger cars per hour, or persons per hour.
Capital Improvement Project
. A project which
					 requires expenditure to provide new facilities or to increase the value of an
					 existing fixed asset by increasing its capacity, efficiency or extending its
					 original useful life.
Community Enhancements
. Enhancements that
					 improve environmental quality above and beyond any project mitigation
					 requirements. They ensure the project is designed and built with minimal
					 disruption to the community, incorporating safe and technically sound solutions
					 that add value for both the user and the community.
Comprehensive or Long Range Land Use Plan
. A
					 Comprehensive or Long Range Land Use Plan is one that has been adopted by a
					 municipality or a multimunicipal region within the past five years and that has
					 been found by the State Planning Office to be consistent with the Comprehensive
					 Planning and Land Use Regulation Act and by the MaineDOT to be consistent with
					 the applicable sections of the Sensible Transportation Policy Act and their
					 respective rules.
Context Sensitive Solutions (CSS)
. Solutions
					 that result from a collaborative, interdisciplinary approach involving all
					 stakeholders in developing a transportation facility that compliments its
					 physical, cultural and social setting and preserves scenic, aesthetic, and
					 natural resources while maintaining safety and mobility.
Efficient or Efficiently
: For purposes of this
					 rule, theses terms relate to public or private actions that avoid or minimize
					 negative effects on the transportation system, the state economy or the state's
					 natural and cultural resources. In addition, these terms relate to actions that
					 prolong the life of existing transportation infrastructure.
Environmental Quality
. For purposes of
					 transportation and land use planning, environmental quality means avoiding,
					 minimizing or mitigating impacts to the physical, cultural, social, scenic,
					 aesthetic, and natural environment.
Interchange.
A system of interconnecting
					 roadways with one or more grade separations that provide for the movement of
					 traffic between roadways on different levels. Interchanges include related
					 bridges, overpasses, underpasses, ramps, and associated controlled access roads
					 to the nearest state highway as defined by
					  23 M.R.S.A.
					 §53.
Life Cycle Costs
. The expected costs of
					 building and maintaining a facility over the design life of that facility.
					 These traditionally include:
(1)
				  Initial capital cost of construction;
(2) Future capital costs of rehabilitation
				  (overlays, reconstructions, etc.);
(3) Maintenance costs recurring through
				  design period;
(4) Salvage at end
				  of design life (a "negative cost");
(5) Engineering and administration;
				  and
(6) Costs of
				  investment.
Long-Range Transportation Plans
. These plans
					 include the long-range multimodal statewide transportation plan and its
					 mid-range transportation improvement plan. The long-range plan may be one
					 document or may consist of individual planning documents included by
					 reference.
Maintenance.
The preservation and repair of
					 vehicles, machinery, equipment, and transportation facilities to their designed
					 or accepted standards. It may be scheduled, planned, progressive, or periodic
					 (preventive maintenance), or it may be unscheduled or corrective.
Major distribution areas
. Major distribution
					 areas are highway interchanges, major routes and arterials. The criteria used
					 to determine whether a highway is a major route or arterial will include land
					 use, relative annual daily traffic, trip length, network configuration and
					 continuity, and route spacing.
Minor addition of a Through Travel Lane
. A non
					 incremental, localized project which does not connect major distribution areas
					 and which does not require an Environmental Impact Statement or Environmental
					 Assessment pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA),
					 42 U.S.C.
					 §4321
et seq
.
Multimunicipal Region
. Two or more adjoining
					 municipalities that have formally joined together for transportation and land
					 use planning purposes.
Preference.
To choose to fund and implement
					 Reasonable Transportation Strategies before physically increasing the capacity
					 of a transportation facility. Preference requires MaineDOT to give weighted
					 consideration to those strategies that are cost-effective and that adequately
					 respond to the purpose and need for the transportation project. For the
					 purposes of Chapter III, preference means to choose to fund and implement
					 transportation strategies in communities where the land use management system
					 complements the functions of the affected transportation system.
Reasonable Transportation Strategies
.
					 Strategies that adequately respond to the identified deficiency or need in the
					 transportation network, are cost effective, and are capable of being
					 implemented within a reasonable time period necessary to meet the
					 transportation deficiency or need are considered reasonable. Reasonable
					 transportation strategies must be easily accessible, affordable to the general
					 public, available during high use hours and serve to reduce congestion on the
					 highways. Reasonable Transportation Strategies may also include land use
					 management tools adopted, implemented and enforced at the local level.
Regional Councils (RCs)
include Regional
					 Planning Commissions and Councils of Governments and Economic Development
					 Districts.
Significant Transportation Projects
. Maine
					 Turnpike Authority, State or Federally Funded projects that increase carrying
					 capacity by constructing:
(1) One or
				  more through travel lanes that connect major distribution areas;
(A minor addition of a through travel lane is not a
					 significant transportation project.)
(2) A new highway on new location;
(Minor relocation of highway is not new location.)
(3) A new bridge on new location;
(Minor relocation of a bridge is not new location.)
(4) Other public investments that
				  create new capacity.
For purposes of this rule, Significant Transportation
					 Projects only include projects that increase carrying capacity that rely fully
					 or partially on Maine Turnpike Authority, state or federal funds.
Strategies.
For the purposes of this rule,
					 strategies are transportation and land use solutions used on their own or in
					 combination to achieve a desired and agreed upon outcome.
Substantial Public Interest Projects
.
					 Projects where one or more affected communities through their municipal
					 officials formally request MaineDOT to deem the project a Substantial Public
					 Interest Project. Such formal requests must outline specific public interest
					 considerations.
System Preservation
. Capital project actions
					 intended to retain the existing value of an asset and its ability to perform in
					 its current configuration or as constructed.
Through Travel Lanes
. Portions of a roadway
					 designated for the movement of vehicles traveling through an area, exclusive of
					 shoulders and auxiliary lanes.
Transportation Corridor
. Transportation
					 system elements that interconnect communities; a corridor includes highways,
					 rail lines, bicycle or pedestrian trails and/or any ancillary support
					 facilities (park and ride lots, rail stations, etc.), or any combination of
					 these facilities.
Transportation Demand Management
. The use of
					 techniques designed to change travel behavior in order to improve performance
					 of transportation facilities and to reduce need for providing additional
					 highway capacity. Methods may include, but are not limited to, ride-sharing and
					 vanpool programs, trip-reduction incentives and congestion mitigation pricing.
					 These methods will generally be evaluated on a regional basis rather than a
					 project by project basis. Transportation Demand Management methods may also
					 include local and or regional land use planning and regulatory activities that
					 promote compact mixed patterns of development that reduce the need for
					 additional highway capacity.
Transportation Mode
. A particular form of
					 travel such as traveling by foot, bicycle, automobile, bus, passenger and
					 freight intercity rail, urban light rail, waterborne passenger and freight
					 vessels, and air transport.
Transportation System Management Options
.
					 Techniques for increasing the efficiency, safety, capacity or level of service
					 of a transportation facility. Examples include, but are not limited to, traffic
					 signal improvements, traffic control devices including installing medians,
					 parking removal, channelization, limiting the number and location of access
					 points, ramp metering and restriping for high occupancy vehicle
					 lanes.