Wyoming Administrative Code › Agency 045 - Transportation, Dept. of › Sub-Agency 0003 - General Agency, Board or Commission Rules › Chapter 13 - ACCESS FACILITIES › Section 13-2 - Definitions

Current through July 13, 2024
(a) "Acceleration lane" means a speed change
				lane that enables vehicles to accelerate and then merge with through
				traffic.
(b) "Access" means an
				entrance or exit to another public roadway or to private or public land from a
				street or highway.
(c) "Access
				permit means a permit allowing direct access to a state highway. The
				constructed access shall conform to WYDOT standards and the permit's terms.
				Permit applications can be obtained from WYDOT district offices.
(d) "Access Review Committee" means a
				committee consisting of the Department right-of-way administrator, the state
				highway safety engineer, and the state traffic engineer. This committee shall
				decide access issues that deviate from these rules and regulations which are
				submitted to the committee by a district engineer. Decisions made by this
				committee are considered final. Appeals of this decision may be made to the
				Transportation Commission of Wyoming as described in Section
				19, Appeals and Hearings.
(e) "Access slope" means the slope of the
				access from the roadway to the highway right-of-way.
(f) "Access width" means the width inside the
				throat of the access at the end of the radii measured perpendicular to the
				access edge.
(g) "Applicant means a
				landowner, easement user, grantee, or any other party that applies for or is
				granted an access.
(h) "Arterial"
				means a major highway or roadway designated to handle high volumes of traffic
				and/or high speeds. Mobility or the safe and efficient movement of people and
				goods is its primary purpose while access is a secondary or minor
				purpose.
(i) "Auxiliary lane" means
				a speed change lane allowing traffic to decelerate away from or accelerate to
				the speed of traffic in the main roadway travel lane(s). An auxiliary lane may
				also be used as a storage lane for right- and left-turning traffic. (See
				"acceleration lane," Section
				2
				[a], and "deceleration lane," Section
				2
				[n]).
(j) "Backage or reverse
				frontage service road" means a street or road running behind businesses,
				industrial areas, commercial areas, or subdivisions and used for direct access
				to these areas.
(k) "Car storage"
				means the necessary queuing space off the highway right-of-way provided for
				vehicles waiting to enter commercial establishments, such as fast food
				restaurants, car washes, and so forth.
(l) "Collector" means a road intended as a
				connector from a local road or system to an arterial. The movement of people
				and goods is still important, but access is becoming significant.
(m) "Commercial access" means an entrance to
				and/or exit from any business, commercial development, cultural or
				institutional complex, public establishment, or any development serving 10 or
				more family residences.
(n)
				"Deceleration lane" means an extra driving lane that enables vehicles traveling
				at high speed to slow to a safe speed without impeding traffic flow before
				turning off the highway.
(o)
				"Department " means the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT).
(p) "District engineer" means a person
				employed by the department who enforces WYDOT and Transportation Commission of
				Wyoming policies and rules and regulations on all state highways within the
				district.
(q) "Field (Minor)
				access" means an entrance to and/or exit from a field or unoccupied property if
				the access is not used daily throughout the year. Daily use for only a few
				weeks a year still qualifies as field access.
(r) "Fore slope" means the slope extending
				from the edge of the access to the bottom of the adjacent ditch.
(s) "Frontage" means that portion of the
				applicant's property lying between the 2 most distant possible lines drawn
				perpendicular from the centerline of the highway to the applicant's abutting
				property.
(t) "Fringe Urban Area"
				means the transitional zone between a defined urban area and a rural high speed
				area. The fringe urban area cannot exceed one mile.
(u) "Frontage or backage service road" means
				a street or road connected to and/or running alongside a highway to provide
				access to property adjacent to the highway.
(v) "Full-controlled access highways" mean
				roads such as interstates that do not allow direct access to abutting land. The
				only way to enter or exit this type of facility is through grade-separated
				interchanges.
(w) "Functional
				classification" means the hierarchy given to a roadway designating how that
				roadway is intended to operate. The main function of principal arterials is to
				move people and goods safely and efficiently; access to abutting property is a
				secondary function. Collector roadways still move people and goods, but access
				becomes more significant. The main purpose of local roads is access to abutting
				property.
(x) "Grantee" means the
				person or persons whose application for an access has been approved.
(y) "Joint access" means an access shared by
				2 or more applicants.
(z)
				"Limited-controlled access facilities" means non-interstate highways or roads
				that allow direct access to abutting land or other highways, streets, or roads
				by means of constructed accesses permitted by WYDOT. All roads and highways
				under WYDOT's jurisdiction are either full-controlled or limited-controlled
				access facilities.
(aa) "Local"
				means a road or street that has mobility as a secondary function while access
				to abutting land is the primary function.
(bb) "Major access" means any access that
				generates more than 50 trip ends in any hour of a typical day or is a public
				street or access.
(cc) "Multilane
				highway" means a highway with 2 or more lanes for each direction of
				travel.
(dd) "Radii" means the
				curved or flared portions of an access that connect the access with the highway
				or street and are designed to accommodate turning movements.
(ee) "Residential access" means an access
				providing entrance to and/or exit from a residential dwelling(s) for the
				exclusive use and benefit of the dwelling's residents.
(ff) "Right-of-way" means a strip of land
				acquired for the exclusive use of constructing and maintaining highways and
				highway appurtenances, such as safety zones, highway signs, and highway
				lighting. The right-of-way also provides clear lines of sight for drivers and
				allows for future roadway expansion.
(gg) "Rural area" means a location outside
				the urban area. Speeds are generally 50 miles per hour or higher.
(hh) "Sight distance" means the distance
				drivers need to stop vehicles in order to avoid striking an unexpected vehicle
				on the roadway.
(ii) "Street" means
				the entire width between the boundary lines of a travel way open to public
				vehicular travel (whether publicly maintained or not).
(jj) "Traffic Impact Study (TIS)" means a
				study documenting the impact that a type of land use or the size of a new
				development has on the transportation infrastructure. Any development or access
				generating 50 or more peak hour trips shall have a TIS as part of the access
				permitting procedure. WYDOT shall also have the discretion to require a TIS for
				any development requesting a new access, changing the use of an existing
				access, or changing the business or type of development within an existing
				access or area. The individual or entity requesting access to a state highway
				shall pay for the TIS and any mitigation measures deemed necessary.
(kk) "Trip end" describes a single vehicle
				movement entering or exiting from an access.
(ll) "Urban area" means an incorporated or
				unincorporated area that has been developed primarily for residential and/or
				business purposes. The speed limit is generally 45 miles per hour or less, and
				the street or highway is normally curbed.