AS Title 19, Chapter 5: Administration

Chapter 05. Administration. Article 1. Department of Transportation and Public Facilities. Sec. 19.05.010. Department to supervise highway system. The department is responsible for the planning, construction, maintenance, protection, and control of the state highway system. Sec. 19.05.020. Regulations. The department shall adopt regulations necessary to carry out the purpose of AS 19.05 — AS 19.25 . The regulations may not conflict with AS 36.30 (State Procurement Code) or regulations adopted by the Department of Administration to implement that chapter. Sec. 19.05.030. Duties of department. The department has the following duties: (1) direct approved highway planning and construction and maintenance, protection, and control of highways; (2) employ assistants and employees; (3) certify and approve vouchers; (4) provide a program of highway research; (5) prepare a budget; (6) review the annual highway program; (7) develop and implement an avalanche control plan to protect persons who use public highways; (8) review and respond to recommendations regarding the statewide transportation improvement program that are made by the Alaska Marine Highway Operations Board established under AS 19.65.110 ; (9) report, in a manner that is easily available to the public and the media, including on the department's Internet website, on the progress of the Alaska marine highway system in meeting the performance goals established by the Alaska Marine Highway Operations Board under AS 19.65.011 . Sec. 19.05.040. Powers of department. The department may (1) acquire property; (2) exercise the power of eminent domain; (3) take immediate possession of real property, or any interest in real property under a declaration of taking or by other lawful means; (4) acquire rights-of-way for present or future use; (5) control access to highways; (6) regulate roadside development; (7) preserve and maintain the scenic beauty along state highways; (8) dispose of property acquired for highway purposes; (9) accept and dispose of federal funds or property available for highway construction, maintenance, or equipment; (10) enter into contracts or agreements relating to highways with the federal government, municipalities, a political subdivision, or with a foreign government, if the contract is approved by the federal government; (11) establish, levy, and collect tolls, fees, charges, and rentals for the use of state roads, highways, bridges, tunnels, crossings, and causeways; (12) award and administer grants authorized by appropriation by the legislature; and (13) exercise any other power necessary to carry out the purpose of AS 19.05 — AS 19.25 . Sec. 19.05.043. Child safety device loan program. (a) There is established a child safety device loan program in the highway safety planning agency in the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities. (b) The director of the highway safety planning agency shall design the child safety device loan program to work in conjunction with private and federal programs operating in the state and shall (1) provide to every hospital and birthing center in the state, subject to the availability of funds, child safety devices for infants and children to be loaned to the public at nominal fees; (2) disseminate materials, printed advertisements, and radio and television messages to educate the public about the risks of injury to and death of unrestrained infants and children in motor vehicles and to explain to the public the provisions of AS 28.05.095 . (c) A peace officer who stops a driver for an alleged violation of AS 28.05.095 shall inform the driver about the loan program. Sec. 19.05.045. Relocation payments. [Repealed, § 2 ch 60 SLA 1969.] Sec. 19.05.046. Accounting and disposition of receipts from nonstate entities. [Repealed, § 28 ch 90 SLA 1991.] Sec. 19.05.050. Roads in tourist and trailer camps. The department may adopt regulations governing the use of roads in tourist, trailer, and other camps when public and private roads in or through the camps are used by, or are open to, the general public. Sec. 19.05.060. Sale of obsolete equipment and material. The department may sell, exchange, or otherwise dispose of obsolete machinery, equipment, and material no longer needed, required, or useful for construction or maintenance purposes. Money derived from the sale of the property shall be credited to the funds from which the purchase was originally made. Sec. 19.05.070. Vacating and disposing of land and rights in land. (a) The department may vacate land, or part of it, or rights in land acquired for highway purposes, by executing and filing a deed in the appropriate recording district. Upon filing, title to the vacated land or interest in land inures to the owners of the adjacent real property in the manner and proportion considered equitable by the commissioner and set out in the deed. (b) If the department determines that land or rights in land acquired by the department are no longer necessary for highway purposes the department may (1) transfer the land or rights in land to the Department of Natural Resources for disposal; or (2) sell, contract to sell, lease, or exchange land or rights in land according to terms, standards, and conditions established by the commissioner. (c) Proceeds received from disposal of land or rights in land as authorized by this section shall be credited to the funds from which the purchase of the land was made originally. Article 2. Acquisition of Property. Sec. 19.05.080. Acquisition of land, easements, and materials by purchase or eminent domain. The department on behalf of the state and as part of the cost of constructing or maintaining a highway may purchase in the open market, acquire, take over, or condemn under the right and power of eminent domain land in fee simple or easements that it considers necessary for present public use, either temporary or permanent, or that it considers necessary and reasonable for the public use. By the same means, the department may obtain material, including clay, gravel, sand, or rock, or the land necessary to obtain material, including access to it. The department may acquire the land or materials notwithstanding the fact that title to it is vested in the state or a department, agency, commission, or institution of the state. Acquisition of materials by purchase in the open market under this section is governed by AS 36.30 (State Procurement Code). Sec. 19.05.090. Declaration of taking. A declaration of taking in the form of an order signed by the commissioner, or by a designee of the commissioner within the department, declaring that the real property, or interest in it, or an easement, is necessary for the public use of the state vests title in the state. However, a declaration of taking is not effective until eminent domain proceedings have been instituted in the proper court, and a copy of the declaration of taking has been recorded in the office of the recorder in the district where the land is located. The department shall pay from the appropriate fund into court the amount it considers represents a reasonable valuation for the land, easement, or materials taken. Sec. 19.05.100. Acquisition of excess land. When a part of a parcel of land is taken and the remainder is in a shape or condition that is of little value to its owner, or gives rise to claims or litigation concerning severance or other damage, the department may acquire the whole parcel and may sell the remainder or exchange it for other property needed for state highway rights-of-way. Sec. 19.05.110. Authority to condemn property for purpose of exchange for public land. When property that is devoted to or held for another public use for which the power of eminent domain may be exercised is taken for highway purposes, the department may, with the consent of the person or agency in charge of the other public use, condemn real property to be exchanged with such person or agency for the real property so taken. This section does not limit the authorization of the department to acquire, other than by condemnation, property for that purpose in any other manner. Sec. 19.05.120. Authority to purchase property for the purpose of exchange. When the commissioner formally declares that it is in the best public interest of the state to do so, the department may acquire by purchase or otherwise privately or publicly owned land or an interest in it for the purpose of exchanging it for privately or publicly owned land which the department is authorized by law to acquire. Sec. 19.05.122. Utility corridor and railroad right-of-way for extension of the Alaska Railroad. [Repealed, § 2 ch 45 SLA 2004. For related provisions, see AS 42.40.460 — 42.40.465.] Sec. 19.05.123. Fairbanks — Seward Peninsula transportation and utility corridor. (a) Subject to legislative appropriation, the department shall identify and delineate a proposed transportation and utility corridor between Fairbanks and the western end of the Seward Peninsula. (b) In performing the work required by (a) of this section, (1) the railroad alignment and identification of a railroad right-of-way of not less than 500 feet, together with adjacent sites that can be developed for necessary construction materials, shall guide the identification and delineation of the corridor; and (2) the department shall consider the following factors: (A) grade and alignment standards that are commensurate with rail and road construction standards; (B) availability of construction materials; (C) safety; (D) impacts on and service to adjacent communities; (E) environmental concerns; (F) use of public land to the maximum degree possible; (G) minimization of probable construction costs; (H) the location of, and the opportunity to obtain access to, identified natural resources that could contribute significantly to the state's economic development; and (I) prior and established traditional uses. (c) Within 90 days after receiving a report transmitting the work of the department under (a) of this section, the commissioner shall, in conformity with AS 44.62 (Administrative Procedure Act), if necessary, adopt a regulation approving, modifying, or rejecting the proposed corridor. (d) If the commissioner approves or modifies the proposed corridor when presented under (c) of this section, (1) the Department of Natural Resources shall promptly classify, or reclassify, and reserve any state land within the corridor and at adjacent sites that can be developed for necessary construction materials for use as a corridor; and (2) the department shall (A) subject to legislative appropriation, exercise its authority under AS 19.05.040 to acquire rights-of-way across land within the corridor that is subject to the state's power of condemnation; and (B) work with federal officials to secure reclassification and withdrawal of federal land in the corridor for reservations and rights-of-way across the federal land for use as a corridor. (e) The requirements of AS 38.05 (Alaska Land Act) relating to classification and reclassification of land are inapplicable to actions taken under this section. (f) To complete the work required by this section, the commissioner may accept any legal gifts and grants and may enter into contracts or other transactions or agreements relating to it with the federal government, an agency or instrumentality of the state, a municipality, or a private organization. (g) In this section, “corridor” means the transportation and utility corridor required to be identified and delineated by (a) of this section. Article 3. General Provisions. Sec. 19.05.125. Purpose. The purpose of AS 19.05 — AS 19.25 is to establish a highway department capable of carrying out a highway planning, construction, and maintenance program that will provide a common defense to the United States and the state, a network of highways linking together cities and communities throughout the state (thereby contributing to the development of commerce and industry in the state, and aiding the extraction and utilization of its resources), and otherwise improve the economic and general welfare of the people of the state. Sec. 19.05.130. [Renumbered as AS 19.59.001 .] Sec. 19.05.140. [Renumbered as AS 19.59.002 .]