Iowa Code 306D.2 – Statewide scenic highways program — objectives and agency duties
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1. The state department of transportation shall prepare a statewide, long-range plan for the protection, enhancement, and identification of highways and secondary roads which pass through unusually scenic areas of the state as identified in section 306D.1. The department of natural resources, the economic development authority, private organizations, county conservation boards, city park and recreation departments, and the federal agencies having jurisdiction over land in the state shall be encouraged to assist in preparing the plan. The plan shall be coordinated with the state’s open space plan if a state open space plan has been approved by the general assembly. The plan shall include, but is not limited to, the following elements:
a. Preparation of a statewide inventory of scenic routes and ranking of relative uniqueness for each route. The degree to which these routes suffer from negative visual intrusions shall be documented.
b. Recommended techniques for preserving and enhancing the scenic qualities associated with each route.
c. Forecasts of significant changes in traffic volumes and environmental, social, and economic impacts if scenic routes are publicly identified and promoted as tourism attractions.
d. Recommended techniques for incorporating scenic highway routes in state and local tourism development and marketing programs.
e. Landscape management needs including maintenance, rehabilitation, and improvements to scenic areas.
f. Funding levels needed to accomplish the statewide scenic highway program.
g. Recommendations of how federal and state transportation programs can be modified or developed to assist the state’s scenic highway program.
Terms Used In Iowa Code 306D.2
- Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
- Department: means the state department of transportation. See Iowa Code 321H.2
- following: when used by way of reference to a chapter or other part of a statute mean the next preceding or next following chapter or other part. See Iowa Code 4.1
- highway: means the entire width between property lines of every way or place of whatever nature when any part thereof is open to the use of the public, as a matter of right, for purposes of vehicular travel, except in public areas in which the boundary shall be thirty-three feet each side of the center line of the roadway. See Iowa Code 321I.1
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Program: means an informal dispute settlement procedure established by a manufacturer which mediates and arbitrates motor vehicle warranty disputes arising in this state. See Iowa Code 322G.2
- state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories, and the words "United States" may include the said district and territories. See Iowa Code 4.1
2. The preparation of the plan is subject to an appropriation by the general assembly for that purpose. The plan shall be submitted to the general assembly by January 15, 1988. Prior to submission of the plan to the general assembly, the department shall request comments on the proposed plan from state agencies, federal agencies, and private organizations with interests in scenic highways. The comments shall be submitted to the general assembly.