Flagging rules

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A Brief History of Maine Roads
plus Federal and State Urban areas, state aid,
highway classifications/jurisdictions/responsibili
ties, URIP, route numbers
by Peter Coughlan, P.E. Director, Maine Local
Roads Center
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Tah
THEN
MUD
Macadam
State Aid
Snow Reimbursement

• unimproved state aid

Town Road Improvement Program
Federal Aid
Dirt roads
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MPOs
TODAY
Sensible Transportation Policy Act
Urban compacts
State Aid roads
Anti-icing
URIP
Natl Highway System
Federal Urban boundaries
Federal Aid

• Rural Road Initiative

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Topics

• History of Maine roads
• Where did state aid come from ?
• Inventory of all public road miles
• Fedl Functional Classification vs Jurisdiction
• Urban areas Federal vs state compacts
• Maintenance responsibilities
• Capital improvement responsibilities
• Roads that fall thru the cracks
• TRIP to LRAP to URIP funding
• Comparison to other NE states

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History

• 1901 -- Gov Hill declared a need for a system
• State began reimbursing towns for main roads
• 1907 State aid law passed where state funds
  are sent to each town based on vals.
• 1913 3 classes created State Highway, State
  Aid, 3rd class
• 1931 Highway Fund established

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History

• 1941 1101 miles of unimproved State Aid miles
  out of 5,867 miles
• 1945 Town Road Improvement Program started with
  mud money
• 1955 state aid fund started to provide aid to
  towns in completing unimproved gaps
• 1957 983 miles of unimproved State Aid miles
  out of 7829 miles

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History

• 1970 each town gets TRIP to improve townways
• 1975 criteria for classification established
• 1981 noting excessive miles of State Aids, LRAP
  created and thousands of miles reclassified
• 1981 additional criteria for classification
• 1997 discussion started on State Aid/minor
  collectors
• 2000 LRAP transformed to URIP

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Public Miles
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Federal Functional Classification

• The process by which roads are grouped into
  classes according to the character of service
  they provide

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Federal Functional Classification

• it reflects a highways balance between providing
  land access versus mobility

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Federal Functional Classification

• Arterials Interstate, principal, other
  principal, minor
• Collectors major (urban) and minor
• Locals
• See yellow page for details

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Maine Highway Jurisdictions

• State Highways maintained yearround by DOT
• State Aid highways DOT roads that are
  plowed/sanded/salted by Maine towns and cities
• Townways maintained yearround by towns/cities
• Except in urban compact areas

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Linking Federal FFC and State Jurisdictions
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Maines urban areas

• FEDERAL URBAN AREAS
• STATE URBAN AREAS aka urban compacts
• Some towns/cities are both, some are just one,
  and others are just the other
• Maine Service centers is yet another term used
  by State Planning Office geared around market
  areas

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Maines FEDERAL urban areas

• FEDERAL URBAN AREAS
• Determined by dicennial US Census
• Set by population density per census block
• Used for planning purposes or for ordinances
• Have no connection to who-maintains-what
• 46 Towns/cities are included
• 9 of them are NOT state urban
• Ellsworth was only Maine community to drop off
  the list in 2000

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Maines state urban compact areas

• URBAN COMPACT AREAS
• Determined by state statute and DOT staff
• Must be either 1) 7500 pop., or 2) between 2500
  7500 with w/r ratio of 1.0 and opts in
• "Compact" or "Built-up sections" means a section
  of the highway where structures are nearer than
  200 feet apart for a distance of 1/4 of a mile,
  unless otherwise defined
• Used to define MAINTENANCE changes along with
  authority over entrance permits, highway openings
• 43 towns/cities are included
• 14 more towns are winter compacts only
• 20 of them are NOT Federal urban
• No changes happened after 2000 Census
• Some rural towns MAY become UC after 2010 Census

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CUL
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Do FEDERAL and STATE urban lines coincide?

• Yes
• In some towns, they are indeed the same
• They even may be the same as the town line
• No
• More often than not, they are different
• Fedl line could be inside the CUL
• CUL could be inside the Fedl line
• In same town, it can go back and forth

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• Insert map

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Maintenance responsibilities

• RURAL AREAS
• Governed by jurisdiction title of State Highway,
  State Aid, and townway
• STATE URBAN COMPACT AREAS
• Governed by where the CUL is on the State Highway
  and State Aid roads
• WINTER COMPACTS
• Only applies to certain State Highway sections

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Maintenance responsibilities

• RURAL AREAS
• State Highway yearround by DOT
• State Aid yearround by DOT except that ALL
  winter plowing/sanding/salting done by each
  town/city
• Townway -- yearround by each town/city

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Maintenance responsibilities

• WINTER COMPACT AREAS
• State Highways only yearround by DOT except
  that ALL winter plowing/sanding/salting done by
  each town/city
• An old, leftover standard that needs to be
  revisited as it breeds confusion
• Usually NO CUL signs at all
• Applies to only 14 towns

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Capital Improvement responsibilities

• RURAL AREAS
• Governed by Federal Classifications of arterials,
  major collectors, and minor collectors
• FEDERAL URBAN AREAS
• Small urban areas, or
• 4 MPO Regions who prioritize their roadways

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Capital responsibilities

• RURAL AREAS
• arterials DOT and FHWA
• major collectors DOT and FHWA
• minor collectors only program is Rural Road
  Initiative (RRI) where towns 1/3 matches DOTs
  2/3 match----- zero Fedl

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Capital responsibilities

• URBAN AREAS
• arterials DOT and FHWA
• major collectors DOT and FHWA
• minor collectors NA
• If MPO area, then MPO handles all planning,
  funding, etc.

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Roads that fall thru the cracks

• Misclassified roads
• State highway/minor collectors only 14 Miles
  left
• Severe problem 10 years ago but worked with 20
  Towns with 80 miles to eliminate decades-old
  mismatches
• Roads caught between Fedl and state urban lines
• If minor collector is inside urban compact, its
  not eligible for RRI

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Roadway Funding

• Town Road Improvement Program, Snow
  Reimbursement, and State Aid Program replaced in
  1981 by Local Road Assistance Program (LRAP)
• LRAP replaced by Urban/Rural Initiative Program
  (URIP) in 2000

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LRAP to URIP in 2000

• URIP annual funding floats with DOT Budget
  rather than being static
• Joint MMA/DOT effort to level the playing field
• RRI (1/3 2/3 matches) created under URIP to
  finally provide a CIP funding mechanism for minor
  collectors

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Urban/Rural Initiative Program

• Rates are per lane-mile
• Urban compact rates are much higher than rural
  roads
• Must be used for capital improvements to local
  roads and/or state aid/minor collectors
• Urban funds can be used for maintenance, if
  desired
• Some very rural towns have no townways
• Many towns are hold harmless meaning they are
  receiving more than they mathematically should

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URIP Lane-mile Rates
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URIP Studies

• Legislatively-directed in 2005 delivered
  January 2006 from MMA to Transp. Committee
• Recommendations unanimous that
• URIP are being equitably distributed
• Limitations on use of are acceptable
• Program is appropriately funded

• OPEGA study in July 2007
• Program is well-managed
• Belief that majority of are being spent as
  intended
• Need to collect data on fund use

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Route Numbers

• Two types
• US Routes
• Governed by AASHTO
• Application process to make any changes
• Examples 1, 2, 201, 202, 302, I-95, etc
• Primarily on NHS and arterials

• State Routes
• Governed by MaineDOT
• Typically black-on-white rectangular
• Evolved over decades
• Examples 3, 4, 5, 100, 155, 222, up to 238
• MUCH overlap
• On all highways including 784 miles of minor
  collectors

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Other nearby States

• All use Federal Classification system
• Most have other jurisdiction systems like State
  roads and local roads and compact areas
• Most do NOT have shared maintenance duties
  similar to Maines state aid system of
  DOT/summer and town/winter
• Most state roads are responsibility of state
  yearround
• Most local roads are responsibility of towns
  yearround