ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Phoenix, Arizona
light rail safety; ADOT
oversight
Requires the Arizona
Department of Transportation (ADOT) to establish, implement and enforce minimum
safety standards for light rail systems in a county with a population of more
than 1,500,000 persons and provides ADOT with immunity for this purpose.
The Federal Transit
Administration’s (FTA) New Starts program is the federal government’s primary
financial resource for supporting rail fixed guideway capital investments. Projects eligible for New Starts funding
include any fixed guideway system, which may include light, heavy or rapid
rail, monorail or trolley, that utilizes and occupies separate right-of-way, or
rail line, or uses a fixed catenary system and a right-of-way usable by other
forms of transportation, for the exclusive use of mass transportation. New Starts funding is available for the
design, construction, and testing of new rail transit systems and extensions to
existing systems. The FTA selects those
projects for funding that have demonstrated the greatest potential for
improving urban mobility.
New Starts systems must meet
a variety of requirements in the preliminary engineering, final design and
construction phases to become fully operational. Traditionally, these requirements have focused on environmental,
mobility and financial obligations. However,
with the passage of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act,
states with New Starts projects must now meet the FTA’s state safety oversight
requirements (49 Code of Federal Regulations Part 659).
The FTA’s final rule for
state safety oversight requires each state with a rail fixed guideway system
operating within its borders to designate an oversight agency with sufficient
legal authority and technical capacity to comply with the minimum requirements
established in 49 CFR 659. S.B. 1337
designates ADOT as the agency to oversee the safety of the light rail transit system
currently being implemented in Maricopa County. The first segment of the light rail line will run from Mesa to
Phoenix.
There is no anticipated fiscal impact associated
with this legislation.
1. Requires ADOT to establish, implement and enforce minimum safety standards for light rail systems in a county with a population of more than 1,500,000 persons.
2. Extends absolute immunity to ADOT for the establishment, implementation and enforcement of minimum safety standards for light rail systems.
3. Requires ADOT to report light rail transit safety violations in writing to the FTA.
4. Allows the Director of ADOT to keep certain information related to the safety oversight of the light rail transit system confidential if, in consultation with the FTA, the Director determines the release of that information could threaten the safety and security of the public.
5. Requires the light rail system’s operator to include safety oversight in the operator’s risk management and reimburse ADOT for administrative costs related to the safety oversight.
6. Makes technical and conforming changes.
7. Provides for a general effective date.
Prepared by Senate Staff
February 7, 2002