H. B. 4308
(By Delegate Warner)
[Introduced January 30, 2002; referred to the
Committee on Roads and Transportation then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section eight, article two-a, chapter
seventeen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to requiring the
commissioner of highways to provide unisex bathrooms at each
rest area on interstate highways in West Virginia.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section eight, article two-a, chapter seventeen of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2A. WEST VIRGINIA COMMISSIONER OF HIGHWAYS.
§17-2A-8. Powers, duties and responsibilities of commissioner.
In addition to all other duties, powers and responsibilities
given and assigned to the commissioner in this chapter, the commissioner may:
(1) Exercise general supervision over the state road program
and the construction, reconstruction, repair and maintenance of
state roads and highways;
(2) Determine the various methods of road construction best
adapted to the various sections and areas of the state and
establish standards for the construction and maintenance of roads
and highways therein;
(3) Conduct investigations and experiments, hold hearings and
public meetings and attend and participate in meetings and
conferences within and without the state for purposes of acquiring
information, making findings and determining courses of action and
procedure relative to advancement and improvement of the state road
and highway system;
(4) Enter private lands to make inspections and surveys for
road and highway purposes;
(5) Acquire, in name of the department, by lease, grant, right
of eminent domain or other lawful means, all lands and interests
and rights in lands necessary and required for roads,
rights-of-way, cuts, fills, drains, storage for equipment and
materials and road construction and maintenance in general;
(6) Procure photostatic copies of any or all public records on
file at the state capitol of Virginia which may be deemed
considered necessary or proper in ascertaining the location and
legal status of public road rights-of-way located or established in
what is now the state of West Virginia, which photostatic copies,
when certified by the commissioner, may be admitted in evidence, in
lieu of the original, in any of the courts of this state;
(7) Plan for and hold annually a school of good roads, of not
less than three or more than six days' duration, for instruction of
his or her employees, which school shall be is held in conjunction
with West Virginia University and may be held at the university or
at any other suitable place in the state;
(8) Negotiate and enter in reciprocal contracts and agreements
with proper authorities of other states and of the United States
relating to and regulating the use of roads and highways with
reference to weights and types of vehicles, registration of
vehicles and licensing of operators, military and emergency
movements of personnel and supplies and all other matters of
interstate or national interest;
(9) Classify and reclassify, locate and relocate, expressway,
trunkline, feeder and state local service roads, and designate by number the routes within the state road system;
(10) Create, extend or establish, upon petition of any
interested party or parties or on the commissioner's own
initiative, any new road or highway as may be found necessary and
proper;
(11) Exercise jurisdiction, control, supervision and authority
over local roads, outside the state road system, to the extent
determined by him or her to be expedient and practicable;
(12) Discontinue, vacate and close any road or highway, or any
part thereof, the continuance and maintenance of which are found
unnecessary and improper, upon petition and hearing or upon
investigation initiated by the commissioner;
(13) Close any state road while under construction or repair
and provide a temporary road during the time of such the
construction or repair;
(14) Adjust damages occasioned by construction, reconstruction
or repair of any state road or the establishment of any temporary
road;
(15) Establish and maintain a uniform system of road signs and
markers;
(16) Fix standard widths for road rights-of-way, bridges and approaches thereto and fix and determine grades and elevations
therefor;
(17) Test and standardize materials used in road construction
and maintenance, either by governmental testing and standardization
activities or through contract by private agencies;
(18) Allocate the cost of retaining walls and drainage
projects, for the protection of a state road or its right-of-way,
to the cost of construction, reconstruction, improvement or
maintenance;
(19) Acquire, establish, construct, maintain and operate, in
the name of the department, roadside recreational areas along and
adjacent to state roads and highways;
(20) Exercise general supervision over the construction and
maintenance of airports and landing fields under the jurisdiction
of the West Virginia state aeronautics commission, of which the
commissioner is a member, and make a study and general plan of a
statewide system of airports and landing fields;
(21) Provide traffic engineering services to municipalities of
the state upon request of the governing body of any such
municipality and upon such terms as may be agreeably arranged;
(22) Institute complaints before the public service commission or any other appropriate governmental agency relating to freight
rates, car service and movement of road materials and equipment;
(23) Invoke any appropriate legal or equitable remedies to
enforce his or her orders, to compel compliance with requirements
of law and to protect and preserve the state road and highway
system or any part thereof;
(24) Make and promulgate rules and regulations for the
government and conduct of personnel, for the orderly and efficient
administration and supervision of the state road program and for
the effective and expeditious performance and discharge of the
duties and responsibilities placed upon him or her by law;
(25) Delegate powers and duties to his or her appointees and
employees who shall act by and under his or her direction and be
responsible to him or her for their acts;
(26) Designate and define such any construction and
maintenance districts within the state road system as may be found
expedient and practicable;
(27) Contract for the construction, improvement and
maintenance of the roads;
(28) Have authority to comply with provisions of present and
future federal aid statutes and regulations, including execution of contracts or agreements with and cooperation in programs of the
United States government and any proper department, bureau or
agency thereof relating to plans, surveys, construction,
reconstruction, improvement and maintenance of state roads and
highways;
(29) Prepare budget estimates and requests;
(30) Establish a system of accounting covering and including
all fiscal and financial matters of the department;
(31) Have authority to establish and advance a right-of-way
acquisition revolving fund, a materials revolving fund and an
equipment revolving fund;
(32) Enter into contracts and agreements with and cooperate in
programs of counties, municipalities and other governmental
agencies and subdivisions of the state relating to plans, surveys,
construction, reconstruction, improvement, maintenance and
supervision of highways, roads, streets and other travel ways when
and to the extent determined by the department to be expedient and
practical;
(33) Report, as provided by law, to the governor and the
Legislature;
(34) Purchase materials, supplies and equipment required for the state road program and system;
(35) Dispose of all obsolete and unusable and surplus supplies
and materials, which cannot be used advantageously and beneficially
by the department in the state road program, by transfer thereof to
other governmental agencies and institutions by exchange, trade or
sale thereof;
(36) Investigate road conditions, official conduct of
department personnel and fiscal and financial affairs of the
department and hold hearings and make findings thereon or on any
other matters within the jurisdiction of the department;
(37) Establish road policies and administrative practices;
(38) Fix and revise from time to time tolls for transit over
highway projects constructed by the division of highways after the
first day of May, one thousand nine hundred ninety-nine, that have
been authorized by the provisions of section five-b, article
seventeen-a of this chapter; and
(39) Take actions necessary to alleviate such any conditions
as the governor may declare to constitute an emergency, whether or
not the emergency condition affects areas normally under the
jurisdiction of the department of highways; and
(40) To provide unisex bathrooms at all rest areas along interstate highways in this state.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to
require the commissioner
of highways to provide unisex bathrooms at each rest area on
interstate highways in West Virginia.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.