LEGISLATIVE ALERT – Ask House Conferees to Remove Section 7 from House Bill 44
The House and Senate must resolve differences between their versions of House Bill 44 . Section 7 of the Senate’s version of the bill would prohibit “road diets” under certain conditions without consideration of exceptions. This provision was NOT in the House version. The bill language is overly prescriptive and may in effect reduce a community’s ability to optimize safety and congestion relief in a comprehensive manner:
Would the pedestrian and cycling safety improvements been permitted on the flagship Hillsborough Street in Raleigh under condition (ii) above – the road currently may be a Level C, and Level D- at peak times. How about College Street in Asheville shown above?
If criteria is legislated, DOT should be given flexibility in the decision making process rather than a strict prohibition.
The House conferees will be – Lambeth (chair), Conrad, Ross, McGrady, Hanes, Bell, and Stam, so advocates can contact these House Representatives and express how unwise it would be for this language to remain in the bill. You could also contact Speaker Moore’s office to request that Section 7 of the bill be removed. We will let you know who the Senate conferees are as soon as we hear.
FHWA Safety Engineer talks about how Level of Service is only one of many measures and there should be considerable design flexibility to achieve community goals on streets and for road diets (9:30 to 12:30 mark of webinar). This illustrates how the H44 Level of Service elements are counter to FHWA guidance.
