Texas Administrative Code › Title 43 - TRANSPORTATION › Part 1 - TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION › Chapter 21 - RIGHT OF WAY › Subchapter M - QUARRY AND PIT SAFETY › Section 21.702 - Definitions

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
The following words and terms, when used in this
					 subchapter, shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly
					 indicates otherwise.
(1)
				  Abandoned--Having relinquished all right, title, claim, and possession with the
				  intent of never again claiming a future right or title or resuming
				  possession.
(2) Act--The Texas
				  Aggregate Quarry and Pit Safety Act, Natural Resources Code, Chapter 133, and
				  this subchapter.
(3) Active quarry
				  or pit--A quarry or pit that has ongoing aggregate extraction activity or that
				  shows evidence of aggregate extraction activity within the preceding 180-day
				  period whether or not equipment or a plant is at the site.
(4) Aggregates--Any commonly recognized
				  construction material originating from a quarry or pit by the disturbance of
				  the surface, including dirt, soil, rock asphalt, clay, granite, gravel, gypsum,
				  marble, sand, shale, stone, caliche, limestone, dolomite, rock, riprap, or
				  other similar substance.
(5)
				  Barrier--An object of substantial construction that will obstruct, restrain,
				  and prevent the normal passage of persons or vehicular traffic.
(6) Berm--A ridge of refuse, overburden, or
				  other material in a lengthened elevation designed to act as a dike or barrier,
				  capable of moderating or limiting the force of a vehicle in order to impede the
				  passage of the vehicle.
(7)
				  Commission--Texas Transportation Commission.
(8) Department--Texas Department of
				  Transportation.
(9) Director--The
				  director of the Maintenance Division of the department, or the director's
				  designee.
(10) Division--The
				  Maintenance Division of the department.
(11) In hazardous proximity to a public
				  road--That distance beginning 200 feet from the outer edge of a roadway to the
				  pit perimeter.
(12) Inactive quarry
				  or pit--A site that includes an industrial aggregate extraction plant or any
				  portion of a site that includes an industrial aggregate extraction plant, that
				  although previously in aggregate production, is not currently being quarried by
				  any ownership, lease, joint venturer, or some other legal
				  arrangement.
(13) Operator--Any
				  person, partnership, firm, or corporation engaged in and responsible for the
				  physical operation and control of the extraction of aggregates.
(14) Overburden--All materials displaced in
				  an aggregate extraction operation that are not or reasonably would not be
				  expected to be removed from the affected area. The term includes the material
				  that must be removed to access the aggregate that is to be extracted.
(15) Owner--Any person, partnership, firm, or
				  corporation having title, in whole or in part, to the land on which an
				  aggregate operation exists or has existed.
(16) Pit--An open excavation not less than
				  five feet below the adjacent and natural ground level from which aggregates
				  have been or are being extracted.
(17) Public road or right of way--Every way
				  publicly maintained or any part thereof as defined by Transportation Code,
				  §
										541.302, and the
				  decisions thereunder.
(18)
				  Quarry--A site where aggregates are being or have been removed or extracted
				  from the earth to form a pit, including the entire excavation, stripped areas,
				  haulage ramps, the land immediately adjacent thereto upon which a plant if
				  required for processing the raw materials is located, exclusive of any land
				  owned or leased by the responsible party that is not being currently used in
				  the production of aggregates.
(19)
				  Quarrying--The current and ongoing surface excavation and development without
				  shafts, drafts, or tunnels, with or without slopes, for the extraction of
				  aggregates from natural deposits occurring in the earth.
(20) Refuse--All waste material directly
				  connected with the production, cleaning, or preparation of aggregates that have
				  been produced by quarrying.
(21)
				  Responsible party--The current operator of the quarry or pit, or if no operator
				  exists, the owner of the land in which the pit exists.
(22) Ridge--A lengthened elevation of
				  overburden created in the aggregate production process.
(23) Roadway--The part of the public road
				  intended for normal vehicular traffic that consists of an improved driving
				  surface constructed of concrete, asphalt, compacted soil, rock, or other
				  material.
(24) Site--The tract of
				  land on which a pit is located, including the immediate area on which the plant
				  used in the extraction of aggregates is located.
(25) Unacceptable unsafe location--A
				  condition where the edge of a pit is located within 200 feet of a public
				  roadway intersection in a manner that the department determines:
(A) presents a significant risk of harm to
				  motorists by reason of the proximity of the pit to the roadway intersection and
				  has no naturally occurring or artificially constructed barrier or berm between
				  the road and pit that would likely prevent a motor vehicle from entering the
				  pit as the result of a motor vehicle collision at or near the intersection;
				  or
(B) is at any other location
				  constituting a substantial dangerous risk to the driving public, which
				  condition can be rectified by the placement of berms, barriers, guardrails, or
				  other devices as required by this subchapter.