Brief ⁽¹⁾

HB 2045, as amended, pertains to railroad crossings on public highways and streets. The bill would:

• Require the vertical profile or alignment of the centerline of the highway, road, or street through a railroad crossing to comply with the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) design manual, entitled A Policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets, as published and in effect January 1, 2001;
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• Require planking or other material used between and for a distance of one foot outside the rails to be a length equal to the roadway width;
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• Make it the duty of the county engineer or road supervisor, upon complaint from the public, to restore crossings;
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• Make it the duty of the county engineer or road supervisor who makes the complaint to report to the county attorney any failures to restore a railroad crossing.

Background

HB 2045 was requested by Kansas Railroads and the Kansas Association of Counties. The spokesperson for Kansas Railroads testified that the bill, as introduced, would eliminate ambiguous language which makes compliance with present law difficult.

The Assistant Secretary and State Transportation Engineer, Kansas Department of Transportation, proposed an amendment which would reference only the vertical profile AASHTO requirement. He also recommended restoring the term "public highways" and adding "streets" in connection to railroad crossings to ensure that all public highways were included in railroad crossing applications.

The Saline County Engineer also favored restoring the term "public highway." He also suggested changing the effective date of the AASHTO publication to ensure that the publication would not at a future time be outdated. He further suggested an amendment requiring railroads to comply with the act and a fine for violations. Finally, the Saline County engineer stated that county engineers and road supervisors do not have the authority to require a railroad to comply with the act. As a result, he recommended language to relieve them from legal responsibility.

The representative of Myers-Pottroff-Ball Law Firm favored adopting other parts of the AASHTO standards.

The spokesperson of Loumiet Association, Inc., expressed support for the adoption of the AASHTO standards. He also was in general agreement with other conferees on the restoration of the term "public highway," changing the reference date of the AASHTO publication, and adopting other AASHTO design issues. In addition, the conferee favored a mechanism to resolve potential jurisdictional conflicts in those cases where a railroad may wish to modify a crossing but cannot get state approval. Finally, the conferee suggested defining the term "crossings" because, in his view, railroads sometimes argue that a crossing only covers the area between the rails and that their responsibility ends at their right-of-way boundaries.

The House Transportation Committee amended the bill by restoring the term "public highways," adding "streets" in connection to railroad crossing applications, and adopting the vertical profile portion of the AASHTO design standard.

The Kansas Department of Transportation states there would be no fiscal effect to the state as a result of passage of HB 2045.

1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/fulltext.cgi