Bill Text: SC H3254 | 2011-2012 | 119th General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Department of Transportation/Summerville
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2012-04-11 - Act No. 136 [H3254 Detail]
Download: South_Carolina-2011-H3254-Amended.html
AS PASSED BY THE SENATE
March 14, 2012
H. 3254
S. Printed 3/14/12--S.
Read the first time January 19, 2011.
A BILL
TO AMEND SECTION 57-23-815, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO ROADSIDE VEGETATION MANAGEMENT AT EXIT 199 ALONG INTERSTATE HIGHWAY 26 IN BERKELEY COUNTY, SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT BOTH THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION AND THE TOWN OF SUMMERVILLE MAY MOW BEYOND THIRTY FEET FROM THE PAVEMENT ROADSIDE VEGETATION ADJACENT TO INTERSTATE 26 AT THIS LOCATION.
Amend Title To Conform
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. Section 57-23-800 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 57-23-800. (A) The Department of Transportation shall conduct vegetation management of the medians, roadsides, and interchanges along the interstate highway system in accordance with the following requirements:
(1) a median of not more than sixty eighty feet in width shall have its mowable area mowed in its entirety. A median wider than sixty eighty feet shall only be mowed within thirty forty feet from the edges of the pavement.
(2) a roadside shall be mowed thirty feet from the edge of the pavement. If fill slopes or back slopes are steep, one swath of the mower or not less than five feet shall be mowed on these slopes.
(3) an interchange shall be mowed in the same manner as a roadside, provided that the distance from the pavement required to be mowed may be increased to address any safety concerns involved.
(B) The mowing widths provided in subsection (A) may be increased when necessary to provide adequate visibility for signs erected by the department., when the department determines that increasing the widths is in the public interest, or upon request of the governing body of a county or municipality.
(C) The vegetation management activities conducted by the department shall not interfere in any way with the visibility of any outdoor advertising sign.
(D) If the Department of Natural Resources makes an assessment and written determination that vegetation management pursuant to this section causes an increase in safety risks because of the attraction of wildlife to a specific area along the highway, then the department may increase the distance from the pavement required to be mowed.
(E) Upon the written approval of the Department of Transportation, a county or municipality, at its own expense, may itself conduct vegetation management activites beyond vegetation management widths provided in subsection (A) if the department declines to conduct vegetation management in those areas."
SECTION 2. Sections 57-23-810, 57-23-815, 57-23-820, 57-23-825, 57-23-830, 57-23-835, 57-23-840, and 57-23-850 of the 1976 Code are repealed.
SECTION 3. The repeal or amendment by this act of any law, whether temporary or permanent or civil or criminal, does not affect pending actions, rights, duties, or liabilities founded thereon, or alter, discharge, release or extinguish any penalty, forfeiture, or liability incurred under the repealed or amended law, unless the repealed or amended provision shall so expressly provide. After the effective date of this act, all laws repealed or amended by this act must be taken and treated as remaining in full force and effect for the purpose of sustaining any pending or vested right, civil action, special proceeding, criminal prosecution, or appeal existing as of the effective date of this act, and for the enforcement of rights, duties, penalties, forfeitures, and liabilities as they stood under the repealed or amended laws.
SECTION 4. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
