Guardrail modernization; Department of Transportation to identify and conduct replacement, report.

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide information on the specific amount of funding available or the industry's capacity to meet the replacement schedule.

Guardrail Modernization Report

This bill requires Virginia's Department of Transportation to identify, prioritize, and replace guardrails that do not meet current safety standards, maintain a public inventory of non-compliant systems, create a five-year upgrade schedule, and submit annual reports on progress.

What This Bill Does

• Requires the Department of Transportation to find and fix guardrails that don't follow modern safety rules.
• Tells the department to use state and federal money for this work and ask for more if needed.
• Needs the department to make a public list of all outdated guardrails.
• Asks the department to plan how they will replace these guardrails over five years.
• Requires annual reports on progress to transportation committee leaders.

Who It Names or Affects

• Virginia's Department of Transportation
• Drivers and passengers who use Virginia roads

Terms To Know

MASH

Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware, a set of safety standards for highway equipment.

Virginia Highway Safety Improvement Program

A program that provides funding to improve road safety in Virginia.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify how much money will be available for guardrail replacements.
• It is unclear if there are enough industry resources to meet the replacement schedule.

Official Summary Text

Department of Transportation; guardrail modernization; report.
Requires the Department of Transportation (the Department) to identify, prioritize, and conduct the replacement of guardrail systems and end treatments that do not meet current Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware (MASH) safety standards. The bill requires the Department to (i) identify and use any state or federal funds available to the Department for such purposes and, as necessary, apply for other grant funds; (ii) create and maintain a public inventory of non-compliant guardrail systems and end treatments; (iii) create a five-year upgrade schedule for the replacement of non-compliant guardrail systems and end treatments; and (iv) submit an annual report to the Chairs of the House and Senate Committees on Transportation.

Current Bill Text

A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered
33.2-274.2
, relating to Department of Transportation; guardrail modernization; report.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That the Code of Virginia is amended by adding a section numbered
33.2-274.2
as follows:

§
33.2-274.2
.
Guardrail modernization
; report
.

The Department shall

identify, prioritize, and
conduct
the replacement of guardrail systems and end treatments that
do not
meet current
safety standards contained in the Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware

(MASH)
as published by the American As
sociation of State Highway and Transportation Officials.

The Department shall identify and use
any state or federal funds available to the Department for
the
purposes
of this section
, including any funds
the
Board
may provide from the Virginia Highway Safety Improvement Program created pursuant to
§
33.2-373
,
and,
as necessary,
apply for any other grant funds that may be used for
such
purposes
.

The Department shall create and maintain a
public
inventory of such non-compliant guardrail systems and end treatments
. The Department shall
create

a five-year upgrade schedule for
the replacement of such non-compliant guardrail systems and end treatments
.

The Department shall submit an annual report o
n
the status of comp
liance
of guardrail systems and end treatments
with MASH safety standards, funding needs
for such efforts
, and
any
impacts
of
industry

capacity
on
such efforts
to the
Chairs of
the

House and Senate Committees on Transportation no later than December 1
.