_______________________________________________
SENATE
BILL 5005
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AS
AMENDED BY THE HOUSE
Passed
Legislature - 1999 Regular Session
State of Washington 56th
Legislature 1999 Regular Session
By
Read first time 01/11/1999.
Referred to Committee on Transportation.
Allowing
signing of safer routes to tourist-oriented businesses.
AN
ACT Relating to highway information signs; and amending RCW 47.36.320 and
47.36.330.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE
LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec.
1. RCW
47.36.320 and 1986 c 114 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
The
department is authorized to erect and maintain specific information panels
within the right of way of both the primary system and the scenic system to
give the traveling public specific information as to gas, food, recreation, or
lodging available off the primary or scenic highway accessible by way of
highways intersecting the primary or scenic highway. Such specific information
panels and tourist-oriented directional signs shall be permitted only at
locations within the corporate limits of cities and towns and areas zoned for
commercial or industrial uses where there is adequate distance between
interchanges to ensure compliance with the provisions of Title 23 C.F.R. Secs.
655.308(a) and 655.309(a). Specific information panels shall include the words
"GAS," "FOOD," "RECREATION," or
"LODGING" and directional information and may contain one or more
individual business signs maintained on the panel. The erection and
maintenance of specific information panels along primary or scenic highways
shall conform to the national standards promulgated by the United States
secretary of transportation pursuant to sections 131 and 315 of Title 23 United
States Code and rules adopted by the state department of transportation
including the manual on uniform traffic control devices for streets and
highways. A motorist service business located within one mile of a state
highway shall not be permitted to display its name, brand, or trademark on a
specific information panel unless its owner has first entered into an agreement
with the department limiting the height of its on-premise signs at the site of
its service installation to not more than fifteen feet higher than the roof of
its main building.
The
department shall adopt rules for the erection and maintenance of tourist-oriented
directional signs with the following restrictions:
(1)
Where installed, they shall be placed in advance of the "GAS,"
"FOOD," "RECREATION," or "LODGING" specific
information panels previously described in this section;
(2)
Signs shall not be placed to direct a motorist to an activity visible from the
main traveled roadway;
(3)
Premises on which the qualified tourist-oriented business is located must be
within fifteen miles of the state highway except as provided in RCW
47.36.330(3) (b) and (c), and necessary supplemental signing on local roads
must be provided before the installation of the signs on the state highway.
The department shall charge reasonable fees for the display of
individual business signs to defray the costs of their installation and
maintenance.
Sec.
2. RCW
47.36.330 and 1985 c 142 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
(1)
Not more than six business signs may be permitted on specific information
panels authorized by RCW 47.36.310 and 47.36.320.
(2)
The maximum distance that eligible service facilities may be located on either
side of an interchange or intersection to qualify for a business sign are as
follows:
(a)
On fully-controlled, limited access highways, gas, food, or lodging activities
shall be located within three miles. Camping activities shall be within five
miles.
(b)
On highways with partial access control or no access control, gas, food,
lodging, or camping activities shall be located within five miles.
(3)(a)
If no eligible services are located within the distance limits prescribed in
subsection (2) of this section, the distance limits shall be increased until an
eligible service of a type being considered is reached, up to a maximum of
fifteen miles.
(b)
The department may erect and maintain signs on an alternate route that is
longer than fifteen miles if it is safer and still provides reasonable and
convenient travel to an eligible service.
(c) The department may erect and maintain signs on a route up to
a maximum of twenty miles if it qualifies as an eligible service and is within
a distressed area under the criteria of chapter 43.165 RCW.
