Bill Text: CA SB960 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Transportation: planning: complete streets facilities: transit priority facilities.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-0)
Status: (Enrolled) 2024-08-29 - Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 31. Noes 9.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. [SB960 Detail]
Download: California-2023-SB960-Amended.html
Amended
IN
Senate
April 16, 2024 |
Introduced by Senator Wiener (Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Friedman) |
January 23, 2024 |
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
This bill would define “transit priority project” as a roadway design, operations, and enforcement action, treatment, or project that helps transit buses and other transit vehicles avoid traffic congestion, reduce signal delays, and move more predictably and reliably, as
specified. The bill would require the Director of Transportation to adopt a policy on transit priority projects for state and local highways. The bill would require the department to take certain actions to streamline the approval of transit priority projects, as specified. The bill would require the department to approve, deny, or make a determination on an application for a transit priority project or an encroachment permit for a transit priority project within specified time periods. The bill would prohibit the department from denying or delaying by more than 60 days the implementation of a transit priority project to do a detailed traffic analysis, as specified.
The bill would require the department to establish 4-year and 10-year targets for the fast and reliable movement of transit vehicles on state highways. The bill would require the targets to be designed to measure progress on specified objectives and to encourage a minimum 20% improvement for each
objective for each 4-year cycle. The bill would require the department to incorporate the targets into the State Highway System Management Plan and to account for local plans in identifying transit priority projects, as specified.
The bill would require the department to establish a process to streamline the approval of pedestrian facilities, traffic calming improvements, bicycle facilities, and transit priority projects at locations where a local highway is above, below, or otherwise intersects with, a conventional state highway, as specified.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NOBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares the following:SEC. 2.
Section 14526.4 of the Government Code is amended to read:14526.4.
(a) The department, in consultation with the commission, shall prepare a robust asset management plan to guide selection of projects for the state highway operation and protection program required by Section 14526.5. The asset management plan shall be consistent with any applicable state and federal(d)The department, in consultation with the commission, shall
update the asset management plan and use it to guide the selection of transit priority projects, as described in Article 3.9 (commencing with Section 159) of Chapter 1 of Division 1 of the Streets and Highways Code, for the state highway operation and protection program, commencing with the project delivery report that is due on or before November 15, 2026, pursuant to Section 14526.5.
(e)
SEC. 3.
Section 14526.6 of the Government Code is amended to read:14526.6.
(a) The department shall report to the commission quarterly, for projectsSEC. 4.
Section 14526.8 is added to the Government Code, to read:14526.8.
(a) Commencing with the 2026 state highway operation and protection program,(3)Complete streets projects should prioritize underserved communities that have been historically harmed and segmented by the transportation network, and public engagement for these projects shall include specific outreach targeted to the most underserved areas. For purpose of this paragraph, underserved communities include both the following:
(A)Low-income communities, as defined in Section 39713 of the Health and Safety Code.
(B)Equity priority communities based on the transportation equity index established by the department.
(4)
(b)(1)Except as provided in paragraph (2), this section shall not apply to projects on state highways or other facilities that are closed, by law, to use by pedestrians, bicyclists, and other nonmotorized users, and that do not include a current or future transit route.
(2)If a project includes improvements to highway entrances and exits that interact with local highways, the department shall consider bicycle, pedestrian, and transit improvements to the entrance and exit intersections within the project in consultation with the appropriate city, county, or transit agency.
(c)
For purposes of this article, the following definitions apply:
(a)“Design exception” means an exception to the design standards specified in the Highway Design Manual, including, but not limited to, an exception to a lane width, signage, or striping requirement.
(b)“Highway” has the same meaning as provided in Section 360 of the Vehicle Code.
(c)“Performance measure” means an analytical planning tool that is used to quantitatively evaluate transportation improvements and to assist in determining effective implementation actions, considering all transportation modes and strategies.
(d)“Rider delay” means transit delay weighted by the number of transit riders experiencing the delay.
(e)“Transit delay” means the additional time that a transit rider spends on a segment of a state highway relative to the time required to travel the same segment during free-flow traffic conditions.
(f)“Transit priority project” means a roadway design, operations, and enforcement action, treatment, or project that helps transit buses and other transit vehicles avoid traffic congestion, reduce signal delays, and move more predictably and reliably, including all of the following:
(1)Bus stop or station placements and physical configurations, such as level boarding and bus bulbs, that are designed to maximize boarding, align efficiency, and reduce delays, and sidewalks and crosswalks that are designed to provide safe access to and from transit stops and stations.
(2)Payment systems that reduce boarding times.
(3)Turn restrictions and exceptions designed to minimize disruption to transit movements or to give transit vehicles and emergency vehicles special privileges to make otherwise restricted turns.
(4)Strategic enforcement designed to minimize vehicles blocking transit stops and transit routes.
(5)Queue jump lanes to help transit vehicles move to the front of traffic waiting at a signal.
(6)Transit signal priority, retiming, and preemption that adjusts traffic signal timing in real time to minimize transit vehicle delays. This may include, but is not limited to, reducing the length of a red light for a transit vehicle or extending an existing green light for an approaching transit vehicle.
(7)Dedicated lanes reserved for the exclusive use of transit vehicles and emergency vehicles.
(g)“Transit travel time reliability” means the amount of variability in the time required to travel a segment of the state highway during a given time of day.
(a)The department shall establish 4-year and 10-year targets for the fast and reliable movement of transit vehicles on state highways that also operate on local highways. The targets shall be designed to measure progress on all of the following:
(1)Improvement in transit travel time reliability.
(2)Increased average transit travel speed.
(3)Increased average transit travel speed relative to automobile travel speed.
(4)Reduced transit delay.
(5)Reduced rider delay.
(6)Improved rider throughput.
(7)Improved accessibility of stops, stations, and boarding facilities.
(b)The department’s targets shall be set to encourage a minimum of 20-percent improvement for each of the measures described in subdivision (a) for each 4-year cycle, relative to existing conditions.
(c)The department’s targets shall be incorporated into the State Highway System Management Plan (SHSMP), commencing with the 2027 SHSMP.
(d)The department shall take into account local plans in identifying transit priority projects but shall primarily base its transit priority investment priorities and selection criteria on the objective performance measures developed pursuant to this
section.
(a)On or before January 1, 2026, the director shall adopt a policy on transit priority projects for state and local highways.
(b)Beginning January 1, 2026, the department shall make a determination on an application for a transit priority project on state highways within 90 business days of receiving the application.
(c)The department, in consultation with transit operating agencies, shall establish a list of automatic and expedited design exceptions, and a process to streamline the approval of transit priority projects on state highways where transit buses routinely experience significant delays. The streamlining process shall be adopted on or before December 31, 2025, and
shall enable the department to make a determination on a transit priority project within 90 business days of receiving an application.
(d)On or before December 31, 2025, the department, in consultation with transit operating agencies, shall establish and adopt a process to streamline the approval of changes to occupancy requirements and hours of enforcement on corridors where transit buses operate either in a high-occupancy vehicle lane or a high-occupancy transit lane on a state highway.
(e)Beginning January 1, 2026, the department shall not deny, nor shall it delay by more than 60 days, the implementation of a transit priority project to do a detailed traffic analysis unless the traffic analysis directly relates to achieving the desired transit performance targets or the traffic analysis relates to a potential safety risk.
(f)Beginning January 1, 2026, the department shall approve or deny an application for an encroachment permit for a transit priority project within 60 days of receiving the application.
The department, in consultation with local jurisdictions, shall establish a process to streamline the approval of pedestrian facilities, traffic-calming improvements, bicycle facilities, and transit priority projects at locations where a local highway is above, below, or otherwise intersects with, a conventional state highway. The streamlining process shall be adopted on or before December 31, 2025.