ADMINISTRATION BOARD

[Filed November 4, 2025, 1:59 p.m., effective December 5, 2025]

Effective Date of Rule: Thirty-one days after filing.

Purpose: Amending WAC 136-60-070 to make changes to the standard of good practice for maintenance of county road logs. Amending chapter 136-070 WAC to make changes to the standard of good practice for pavement management system requirements for county arterial preservation program eligibility. Amending WAC 136-100-050 to an out-of-date for the source of rural land area.

Citation of Rules Affected by this Order: Amending WAC 136-60-070, 136-70-040, 136-70-050, 136-70-080, and 136-100-050.

Statutory Authority for Adoption: RCW 36.78.070.

Adopted under notice filed as WSR 25-18-019 on August 21, 2025.

Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

Number of Sections Adopted at the Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's own Initiative: New 0, Amended 5, Repealed 0.

Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Clarify, Streamline, or Reform Agency Procedures: New 0, Amended 5, Repealed 0.

Number of Sections Adopted using Negotiated Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Pilot Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Other Alternative Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

Date Adopted: October 23, 2025.

AMENDATORY SECTION(Amending WSR 24-22-084, filed 10/31/24, effective 12/1/24)

WAC 136-60-070Traffic study update frequency.

Any traffic counts used to validate that a segment has an ADT over 5,000 or has more than 4,000,000 tons of freight annually shall be updated by December 31, 2025. After December 31, 2025, traffic counts for ADT over 5,000 validation shall be updated a minimum of every ((two))four years and a minimum of every four years for annual freight tonnage more than 4,000,000 tons.

AMENDATORY SECTION(Amending WSR 14-17-035, filed 8/13/14, effective 9/13/14)

WAC 136-70-040Pavement management system requirements.

Each county's PMS shall meet the following minimum standards:

(1) All county jurisdiction paved collectors and arterials, as defined by the most recently approved county road log as described in chapter 136-60 WAC, shall be surveyed for visual pavement distress at least biennially. Distress rating information must be keyed to the county road log by both road number and mileposts.

While not required, counties are encouraged to survey for visual distress on all paved local roads every four years.

(2) All visual distresses (or defects) for both flexible and rigid pavements, both in severity and extent, shall be as defined within the "Pavement Surface Condition Rating Manual" (March 1992, produced by the Washington state transportation center in cooperation with the northwest pavement management systems users group and the Washington state department of transportation). ((Only those distresses noted as "core program defect" are required to be surveyed.)) Measurement may be at the project, segment, or sample unit level. ((Measurement for each distress will be by one of the following:

(a) Selection of the most predominant severity and extent combination; or

(b) Determination of the extent percent of each level of severity.))

Measurement may be by a manual or automated visual condition rating process. The distress information ((will))shall be converted to a pavement condition rating ((in accordance with a standard deduct matrix or continuous deduct value curves as provided by the county road administration board. Alternate deduct matrices may be used by a county for internal management analyses. Alternate distress determination and evaluation methodologies may be used if approved by the county road administration board in accordance with WAC 136-70-050))or index. The PMS shall provide for the recording and storage of pavement resurfacing, rehabilitation and reconstruction history data, including surfacing and base layer types and thicknesses, and year of application. ((Counties will not be required to determine such information for any work done prior to the county's implementation date.))

(3) The PMS shall include a future pavement condition prediction model that uses the periodic pavement condition distress data to forecast future pavement condition and to determine an estimate of service life.

(4) The PMS shall provide for annual ((downloading))submittal to the county road administration board of one of the following for all paved collectors and arterials surveyed for pavement condition in the previous twelve months:

(a) The individual pavement distresses;

(b) The resultant pavement condition rating ((based on the standard deduct matrix provided by the county road administration board; or

Such downloading))numerical value and a rating of good, fair, or poor. The good, fair, or poor methodology shall be reviewed and approved by the county road administration board prior to implementation by a county. The annual submittal shall be called the pavement condition data file. It shall be keyed to the county road log, and shall be transmitted in the electronic medium and format specified by the county road administration board, along with the annual road log update required by chapter 136-60 WAC.

AMENDATORY SECTION(Amending WSR 99-01-021, filed 12/7/98, effective 1/7/99)

WAC 136-70-050((Alternative))Demonstration and approval of pavement management system ((requirements)).

((Alternative))Any PMS distress determination and evaluation methodologies, processes or systems may be used if they yield pavement condition ratings comparable to the process described in WAC 136-70-040(((2))). Counties ((intending to use an alternative process)) must satisfactorily demonstrate to the county road administration board that ((the alternative))their county's chosen process is based on sound pavement engineering principles and is comparable in quality and scale ((thorough))through research results, documented conversion equations, statistical sampling, or other methods.

AMENDATORY SECTION(Amending WSR 14-17-035, filed 8/13/14, effective 9/13/14)

WAC 136-70-080County road administration board assistance.

To assist each county to meet its eligibility requirements, the county road administration board shall a provide PMS software((, application))option and training for that option. Should a county utilize an alternative PMS software option, the county road administration board will not offer training in the use of that alternative PMS software.

AMENDATORY SECTION(Amending WSR 11-05-005, filed 2/3/11, effective 3/6/11)

WAC 136-100-050Apportionment of RATA funds to regions.

RCW 36.79.040 sets forth the apportionment formula to be used in distributing RATA funds to the five regions. Following are the computations used in the apportionment formula:

(1) Computation of land area ratio. The ratio that the total county rural land area of each region bears to the total rural land area of all counties of the state shall be computed from information provided by the ((office of financial management as of July 1, 1993, and each two years thereafter))most current U.S. census.

(2) Computation of road mileage ratio. The ratio that the mileage of county arterials and collectors in rural areas of each region bears to the total mileage of county arterials and collectors in all rural areas of the state shall be computed from information shown in the county road log maintained by the county road administration board as of July 1st of each odd-numbered year.