A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to require the Department of Transportation to develop design and construction standards specific to greenways.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.(a)  The Department of Transportation shall develop no later than December 31, 2013, design and construction standards appropriate for greenways, bikeways, and other linear transportation projects not intended to accommodate mechanized vehicles.
SECTION 1.(b)  The Department shall use the standards required by this section in exercising any project approval and oversight required by the Surface Transportation Program of the Federal Highway Administration for greenways, bikeways, and other linear transportation projects not intended to accommodate mechanized vehicles (other than lightweight maintenance vehicles) and that are built by a metropolitan planning organization member jurisdiction using direct attributable funds. The Department may use the standards developed under this act for project approval and oversight under any other program providing support for the construction, maintenance, or repair of greenways, bikeways, or other linear transportation projects not intended to accommodate mechanized vehicles (other than lightweight maintenance vehicles).
SECTION 2.  The Department shall report on its implementation of this act to the Fiscal Research Division and to the Joint Legislative Transportation Oversight Committee prior to the convening of the 2014 Regular Session of the 2013 General Assembly.
SECTION 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law.