Senate Bill No. 330
(By Senator Yost)
____________
[Introduced February 23, 1009; referred to the Committee on
Transportation and Infrastructure; and then to the Committee on
Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §17C-3-1 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to requiring the Division of
Highways being required to include distance and speed limits
in kilometers on any traffic control devices that provide a
distance to a certain location in miles or speed limits on
particular rights-of-way that would otherwise have to be
replaced as needed.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §17C-3-1 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3. TRAFFIC SIGNS, SIGNALS AND MARKINGS.
§17C-3-1. Adoption of manual and specifications for uniform system
of traffic-control devices.
(a) The State Road Commission Division of Highways shall adopt a manual and specifications for a uniform system of traffic-control
devices consistent with the provisions of this chapter for use upon
highways within this state. Such uniform system shall correlate
with and so far as possible conform to the system then current as
approved by the American association of state highway officials.
(b) Notwithstanding subsection (a), as the State of West
Virginia is home to significant economic investments from other
nations that use the metric system in the form of businesses and
tourism and to facilitate further investments, the State Division
of Highways shall include in the manual the requirement that any
future traffic-control devices currently providing the distance to
a certain location in miles or appropriate speed limits that would
otherwise be replaced upon rights-of-way under the jurisdiction of
the commissioner, shall provide the distance or speed limits in
both miles and kilometers.
(c) Kilometers as referenced in this section are those units
of measurement derived from the "International System of Units" as
established in 1960 by the "General Conference on Weights and
Measures" and interpreted or modified for the United States by the
secretary of commerce [see Metric Conversion Act of 1975, section
3(1) and section 4(4), and "National Institute of Standards and
Technology Special Publication 814, `Metric System of Measurement;
Interpretation of the International System of Units for the United
States,'" or the Federal Register of December 20, 1990 (FR 90-21913)].
NOTE: This bill shall require the State Division of Highways
to include distance and speed limits in kilometers to all
applicable traffic control devices that would otherwise have to be
replaced.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.