West Virginia Code 7-27-8 – Application to Commissioner of Highways for approval of road construction project plans
(a) Review of applications. – The Commissioner of Highways shall review all proposed road construction project plans for conformity to statutory and regulatory requirements, the reasonableness of the project's budget, and the timetable for completion using the following criteria:
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 7-27-8
- Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
- Business: means any activity engaged in by any person, or caused to be engaged in by any person, with the object of direct or indirect economic gain, benefit or advantage, and includes any purposeful revenue generating activity in a county of this state that imposes transportation sales and use taxes pursuant to this article. See West Virginia Code 7-27-3
- Commissioner of Highways: means the chief executive officer of the Division of Highways of the Department of Transportation provided in section one, article two-a, chapter . See West Virginia Code 7-27-3
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Road: means a public highway, road, bridge, tunnel, or overpass to be used for the transportation of persons or goods including bicycle and pedestrian facilities. See West Virginia Code 7-27-3
- Road construction project: means and includes any road construction project included in a road construction project plan that is adopted by a county commission pursuant to this article and approved by the Commissioner of Highways as provided in this article. See West Virginia Code 7-27-3
- State: when applied to a part of the United States and not restricted by the context, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories, and the words "United States" also include the said district and territories. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
(1) The quality of the proposed road construction project and how it addresses transportation problems in the area in which the road construction project will be located;
(2) Whether there is credible evidence that, unless county transportation sales and use tax revenues are used to finance the road construction project, in whole or in part, the project would not otherwise be feasible in the time line proposed by the county commission;
(3) Whether the county transportation sales and use tax revenues will leverage or be the catalyst for the effective use of state or federal funding that is available;
(4) Whether there is substantial and credible evidence that the proposed road construction project is likely to be started and completed in a timely fashion;
(5) Whether the proposed project will, directly or indirectly, improve transportation in the area where the road construction project will occur, thereby benefitting county residents and facilitating commercial business development and expansion in the county;
(6) Whether the proposed road construction project will, directly or indirectly, assist in the creation of additional long-term employment opportunities in the area and the quality of jobs created to include, but not be limited to, wages and benefits;
(7) Whether the proposed road construction project will fulfill a pressing transportation need for the county, or part of the county, in which the road construction project would be located;
(8) Whether the county commission has a strategy for road construction in the county and whether the proposed road construction project is consistent with that strategy;
(9) Whether the road construction project is consistent with the goals of this article;
(10) Whether the road construction project is economically and fiscally sound using recognized business standards of finance and accounting; and
(11) Any other additional criteria established by the Commissioner of Highways by legislative rule.
(b) Decision of Commissioner of Highways. – Within sixty days after receipt of the county commission’s proposed road construction project plan or an amendment to a previously approved project plan, the Commissioner of Highways shall either (1) approve the plan as submitted, in whole or in part; (2) reject the plan as submitted, in whole or in part; or (3) return the plan to the county commission for further development or review in accordance with instructions from the Commissioner of Highways. The decision of the commissioner is final and is not subject to judicial review.
(c) Certification of road construction project. – If the Commissioner of Highways approves a county's road construction project application, in whole or in part, the commissioner shall issue to the county commission a written certificate evidencing approval of each approved project.
(d) Assignment of project plan and individual projects. – Upon approval of a road construction project plan or an amendment to an existing project, the Commissioner of Highways shall:
(1) Assign a name to the road construction project for identification purposes, which name may include a geographic or other designation; and
(2) Assign each project within the road construction project plan a project number that begins with the federal information processing (FIPS) code number for the county, followed by a hyphen and a consecutive number beginning with the number “01," with each additional road construction project in the plan being assigned the next consecutive number.
(e) Rules. – The Commissioner of Highways may propose rules for legislative approval in accordance with article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code to implement the county road construction project application approval process and to further identify and describe the criteria and procedures he or she has established in connection therewith.