Resolve, Directing the Department of Transportation To Incorporate Transportation Demand Management Strategies in Its Rules Pertaining to Traffic Movement Permits

Sec. 1. Formation of stakeholder group. Resolved: That the Commissioner of Transportation shall form a stakeholder group to review Chapter 305 of the Department of Transportation's rules pertaining to the traffic movement permit process established in the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 23, section 704-A.

Sec. 2. Traffic movement permit recommendations. Resolved: That the stakeholder group under section 1 shall develop and evaluate recommendations for incorporation into the traffic movement permit process of the following:

1. Feasible transportation demand management strategies that must be considered when analyzing the widening of roadways;

2. A requirement that all applicants for a traffic movement permit analyze all modes of transportation reasonably related to a project, including but not limited to modes such as vehicle, pedestrian, bicycle, transit and trail use; and

3. Standards to be used by applicants for a traffic movement permit to evaluate the impacts on each mode of transportation reasonably related to a project and strategies to mitigate those impacts, including thresholds for applying those standards to a project and allowing an entity proposing a project that does not meet the thresholds to opt in to using those standards.

Sec. 3. Rulemaking. Resolved: That the Commissioner of Transportation shall submit major substantive rules amending the traffic movement permit process under the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 23, section 704-A, based on the findings and recommendations of the stakeholder group under section 2, no later than February 1, 2020.

Sec. 4. Authorization to introduce a bill. Resolved: That the Commissioner of Transportation shall identify and recommend to the Joint Standing Committee on Transportation any provision in law that may need to be amended to achieve the recommendations of the stakeholder group under section 2. The joint standing committee may introduce a bill amending the provisions of law identified by the commissioner during the Second Regular Session of the 129th Legislature.