2 Colo. Code Regs. § 601-1-1

Current through Register Vol. 47, No. 11, June 10, 2024

Section 2 CCR 601-1-1 - Introduction

1.1Authority:

(1) This Code is promulgated pursuant to section 43-2-147(4), C.R.S. which directs the Transportation Commission of Colorado to adopt a State Highway Access Code applicable on all state highways. Section 43-2-147(1), C.R.S., authorizes the Department of Transportation and local governments to regulate vehicular access to or from any public highway under their respective jurisdiction from or to property adjoining a public highway.

1.2Purpose:

(1) Colorado's state highway system constitutes a valuable resource and a major public and private investment. It is the purpose of the Code to provide procedures and standards to aid in the management of that investment and to protect the public health, safety and welfare, to maintain smooth traffic flow, to maintain highway right-of-way drainage, and to protect the functional level of state highways while considering state, regional, and local transportation needs and interests.

(2) The Code recognizes that the State of Colorado, "State", must execute these prescribed duties within an environment where population growth will undoubtably increase traffic volumes and operational pressures on the general street system. The Code establishes access criteria for each functional level of highway that recognize this increase in traffic volumes and operational pressures while meeting the intent and purposes of the Act.

(3) Property owners have the right of reasonable access to the general street system. It is recognized that an access management system can influence decisions concerning the use of property. An affective access management system must recognize and consider its impacts on public and private land use decisions while meeting the intent and purposes of the Act.

(4) Local governments control and operate streets and roads that are not a part of the state highway system. An effective access management system must consider the role that local streets and roads play in the overall transportation network.

(5) All users of the state highway system should have the ability to move freely, to travel on a safe highway system, and to expect the efficient expenditure of public funds. An effective access management system can promote these expectations through appropriate control of access frequency, spacing, operation and design.

(6) An effective access management system strives to protect the safety, traffic operations and the assigned functional purpose of the state highways while considering the access needs of the various elements of the general street system. Determining the best overall solution to access and circulation patterns is especially critical at locations where significant changes to the transportation system and/or adjacent land use have occurred or are proposed.

(7) Through the administration of the State Highway Access Code, it is the intent of the Department of Transportation to work closely with property owners and local governments to provide reasonable access to the general street system that is safe, enhances the movement of traffic, and considers the vision and values that local communities have established for themselves.

1.3Organization of Code

(1) Section One describes the authority, purposes and structure of the Code, and defines those words that are technical or have specific definitions for the purposes of the Code. Section Two describes the administrative procedures for implementing the Code including the assignment of access categories. Section Three defines eight categories of highways based on function and provides criteria for determination of allowable access to the highway system. Section Four provides standards for the design and construction of all accesses. These standards are based upon criteria and specifications necessary to ensure the public health, welfare, and safety.

1.4Implementation:

(1) After August 31, 1981, no person, shall construct any access providing direct vehicular movement to or from any state highway from or to property in close proximity or abutting a state highway without an access permit issued by the designated issuing authority with the written approval of the Department. Within those jurisdictions where the local authority has returned issuing authority to the Department, the Department has sole authority to issue state highway access permits.

(2) Access permits shall be issued only when the application is found to be in compliance with the Code. The issuing authority and the Department are authorized to impose terms and conditions as necessary and convenient to meet the requirements of the Code. In no event shall an access permit be issued or authorized if it is detrimental to the public health, welfare, and safety.

(3) Direct access from a subdivision to the highway shall be permitted only if the proposed access meets the purposes and requirements of the Code. Local traffic from a subdivision abutting a state highway shall be served by an internal street system of adequate capacity, intersecting and connecting with state highways in a manner that is safe as well as consistent with the assigned access category (Code Section Three) and design requirements (Code Section Four). All new subdivision of property should provide access consistent with the standards of Sections Three and Four of the Code. The Department will work with appropriate local authority in the review of subdivision plats and other divisions of property to ensure that future access requirements of divided property are consistent with the purposes and standards of the Code and Act. The issuance of any permit, agreement, plat, subdivision, plan or correspondence shall not abrogate or limit the regulatory powers of the Department or issuing authority exercised in the protection of the public's health, safety and welfare.

1.5Definitions and Abbreviations

These definitions and abbreviations are provided to explain certain technical words, phrases and abbreviations found in the Code. If a word is not further defined herein, it may be assumed that it is the common and acceptable meaning of the word found in any widely accepted English language dictionary.

(1) "AADT" means the annual average two-way daily traffic volume. It represents the total traffic on a section of roadway for the year, divided by 365. It includes both weekday and weekend traffic volumes.

(2) "Acceleration lane" means a speed-change lane, including tapered areas, for the purpose of enabling a vehicle entering a roadway to increase its speed to a rate at which it can more safely merge with through traffic. [§ 42-1-102(1), C.R.S.]

(3) "Access" means any driveway or other point of entry and/or exit such as a street, road or highway that connects to the general street system. Where two public roadways intersect, the secondary roadway shall be considered the access.

(4) "Access category" means one of eight categories described in Section Three of the Code, and determines the degree to which access to a state highway is controlled. Categories as they are assigned to specific highway segments are listed in the State Highway Access Category Assignment Schedule, 2 CCR 601-1 A.

(5) "Access control plan" means a roadway design plan which designates preferred access locations and their designs for the purpose of bringing those portions of roadway included in the access control plan into conformance with their functional classification to the extent feasible. [§ 43-2-147(8)(a), C.R.S.]

(6) "Access operation" means the utilization of an access for its intended purpose, and includes all consequences or characteristics of that process, including access volumes, type of access traffic, access safety, time of the access activity, and the effect of such access on the state highway system.

(7) "Act" means § 43-2-147, C.R.S.

(8) "Administrative Procedure Act" means Article 4, Title 24, C.R.S.

(9) "Appellant" means the person(s) who submit an appeal to the Transportation Commission pursuant to subsection 2.9 of the Code. Appellants may include the applicant or the permittee.

(10) "Applicant" means any person, corporation, entity or agency applying for an access permit.

(11) "Appropriate local authority" means the board of county commissioners if the driveway is to be located in the unincorporated area of a county, and the governing body of the municipality if the driveway is to be located within an incorporated municipality. [§ 43-2-147(8)(b), C.R.S.] Also referred to as the local authority, and local government.

(12) "Auxiliary lane" means any additional special purpose lane such as, speed change lanes, hill climbing lanes, and turning lanes.

(13) "AWD" means the daily average of weekday traffic volumes for a five day week expressed in the number of vehicles for a specific highway segment or access.

(14) "Bandwidth" means the time in seconds or the percent of traffic signal cycle between a pair of parallel speed lines which delineate a progressive movement on a time-space diagram. It is a quantitative measurement of the through traffic capacity of a signal progression system. The greater the percentage of bandwidth, the higher the roadway capacity.

(15) "Barrier Curb" means a raised vertical faced curb 6 inches to 9 inches high. Curbs are placed at the edge of the roadway to prevent vehicles from encroaching onto the roadside area. Barrier curbs may also be placed somewhere between the parking areas or internal driving areas and the highway to prevent vehicles from accessing the highway at locations that are not permitted and to help direct vehicles to the proper access locations.

(16) "Capacity" means the ability of the highway to provide service to the volume of vehicles seeking to use the highway. Capacity is most often considered the maximum amount of traffic that can be accommodated by a highway during the peak hours of demand. Sometimes it refers to the entire roadway, and sometimes to a single lane.

(17) "Chief Engineer" means the person who carries the official title of Chief Engineer of the Department.

(18) "Clear Zone" means the total roadside border area, starting at the edge of the traveled way, available for safe use by errant vehicles. This area may consist of a shoulder, a recoverable slope, a nonrecoverable slope, and/or a clear run-out area. The desired width is dependent upon traffic volume, speeds, and roadway and roadside geometry.

(19) "Code" means this State Highway Access Code, also known as chapter 2, Code of Colorado Regulations, section 601-1, also known as, 2 CCR 601-1.

(20) "Commission" means the Transportation Commission of Colorado.

(21) "Controlled-access highway" means every highway, street, or roadway in respect to which owners or occupants of abutting lands and other persons have no legal right of access to or from the same except at such points only and in such manner as may be determined by the public authority having jurisdiction over such highway, street, or roadway. [§ 42-1-102(18), C.R.S.]

(22) "Control of access" means the condition in which the right of owners or occupants of land abutting or adjacent to a roadway is controlled by public authority.

(23) "Cross-pan" means a concrete gutter across an access.

(24) "Cross-street" or "cross-road" means the lower function roadway that crosses the main higher function facility.

(25) "Curb-cut" means a depressed section of curbing to provide access to the abutting property. The most common type of private access in urban areas.

(26) "Date of issue" means the date when the authorized Department official signs CDOT permit form 101.

(27) "Date of Transmittal" means the date the Department forwards to the applicants, by U.S. mail or personal service, a permit for signature or a letter of denial. This date marks the end of the review period pursuant to the Act, § 43-2-147(5)(a), C.R.S.

(28) "Day" means a calendar day, unless specifically stated otherwise in the applicable text of the Code. (See subsection 1.6)

(29) "Deceleration lane" means a speed-change lane, including tapered areas, for the purpose of enabling a vehicle that is to make an exit to turn from a roadway to slow to the safe speed on the ramp ahead after it has left the mainstream of faster-moving traffic. [§ 42-1-102(23), C.R.S.]

(30) "Department" means the Department of Transportation, State of Colorado. Also referred to as CDOT.

(31) "Design Hourly Volume" ("DHV") means an hourly traffic volume determined for use in the geometric design of highways. It is the 30th highest hour vehicular volume experienced in a one year period.

(32) "Divided highway" means a highway with separated roadways usually for traffic moving in opposite directions, such separation being indicated by depressed dividing strips, raised curbings, traffic islands, or other physical barriers so constructed as to impede vehicular traffic or otherwise indicated by standard pavement markings or other official traffic control devices as prescribed in the state traffic control manual. [§ 42-1-102(25), C.R.S.]

(33) "Driveway" means an access that is not a public street, road, or highway.

(34) "Field approach" or "Field access" means an access to undeveloped or agricultural property that has a yearly average use of less than one vehicle per day (2 vehicle trips).

(35) "Freeway" means a state highway that has been designated by the Commission as a freeway in accordance with § 43-3-101, C.R.S.

(36) "Frontage Road" means a public roadway auxiliary to and generally alongside and parallel to the main highway, constructed for the purposes of providing direct property access, maintaining local road continuity and the controlling of direct access to the main highway.

(37) "Functional classification" means a classification system that defines a public roadway according to its purposes in the local or statewide highway plans. [§ 43-2-147(8)(c), C.R.S.]

(38) "General street system" means the interconnecting network of city streets, county roads, and state highways in an area. [§ 43-2-147(8)(d), C.R.S.]

(39) "Grade separation" means a crossing of two roadways, or a roadway and a railroad, or a roadway and a pedestrian walkway, at different elevations.

(40) "Gradient" or "grade" means the rate or percent change in slope, either ascending or descending from or along the highway. It is to be measured along the centerline of the roadway or access.

(41) "Grandfathered" means a condition that existed prior to June 21, 1979 when section 43-2-147, C.R.S., was first signed into law, or a condition that was legal and conforming to an earlier Code edition or statute, where such conditions and use have not changed since the effective date of the change in law that made the condition non-conforming with current law.

(42) "Highway" means the entire width between the boundary lines of every way publicly maintained when any part thereof is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel or the entire width of every way declared to be a public highway by any law of this state. [§ 42-1-102(43), C.R.S.] "Highway" includes bridges on the roadway and culverts, sluices, drains, ditches, waterways, embankments, retaining walls, trees, shrubs, and fences along or upon the same and within the right-of-way. [§ 43-1-203(1), C.R.S.]

(43) "Highway Classification" means the classification of the highway for planning and management purposes as indicated on the current Colorado Highway Functional Classification Map as adopted by the Transportation Commission pursuant to Commission authority under article 1 of title 43 C.R.S.

(44) "Ingress" means to leave the highway and enter upon the abutting property or intersecting roadway.

(45) "Interchange" means a facility that grade separates intersecting roadways and provides directional ramps for access movements between the roadways. The structures and the ramps are considered part of the interchange.

(46) "Interchange management plan" means a plan similar in nature to an access control plan but limited to the immediate influence area of an interchange for the protection of its functional integrity.

(47) "Issuing authority" means the entity which issues access permits and includes the board of county commissioners, the governing body of a municipality, and the department of transportation. [§ 43-2-147(8)(e), C.R.S.]

(48) "Lane" means the portion of a roadway for the movement of a single line of vehicles. [§ 42-1-102(46), C.R.S.]

(49) "Level of service" means a measure describing the operational conditions within a stream of traffic. The measure uses factors including speed, travel time, ability to maneuver, traffic interruptions, safety, waiting time periods (delay), and driver comfort and convenience.

(50) "Local government" means the board of county commissioners if the highway section is located in an unincorporated area of a county or the governing body of the municipality if the highway section is located within an incorporated municipality.

(51) "Local road" means a county road, as provided in sections 43-2-108 and 43-2-109. [§ 43-2-147(8)(f), C.R.S.]

(52) "Local street" means a municipal street, as provided in sections 43-2-123 and 43-2-124. [§ 43-2-147(8)(f), C.R.S.]

(53) "Median" means that portion of a highway separating the opposing traffic flows.

(54) "MPH" means a rate of speed measured in miles traveled per hour.

(55) "MPO" means a metropolitan planning organization as defined under the federal "Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964" (Public Law 88-365, 49 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.).

(56) "M.U.T.C.D." means the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices and the Colorado supplement thereto.

(57) "National Highway System", (NHS) means a portion of highway that has been designated as a part of the National Highway System in accordance with 23 United States Code, § 103(b).

(58) "Non-use" means the absence or lack of any significant purposeful and ongoing physical or economic activity on, or use of, a property or access by the owner or authorized persons, taking into account the nature, circumstances, zoning, and past use of the property or access. Non-use includes the occasional and inconsequential presence upon such property or access when not associated with any significant purposeful and ongoing physical or economic activity on, or use of, the property or access.

(59) "Peak Hour Volume" means, only for the purposes of the Code, the same as design hour volume (DHV).

(60) "Permittee(s)" means any person, unit of government, public agency or any other entity that owns a fee interest in the property served, to whom an access permit is issued. The permittee is responsible for fulfilling all the terms and conditions of the permit.

(61) "Person" means every natural person, corporation, association, firm, partnership, limited liability company or other entity.

(62) "Potential for signalization" means a determination, using a 20-year projection, that indicates the access volumes would be within 25 percent of those required for a M.U.T.C.D. Traffic Signal Volume Warrant.

(63) "Prima facie" means a fact presumed to be true unless disproved by some evidence to the contrary (Latin).

(64) "Property owner" means a person who holds a fee simple title to the property for which access to the state highway is being sought.

(65) "Public Way" means a highway, street or road, open for use by the general public and under the control or jurisdiction of the appropriate local authority or Department and includes private roads open to the public.

(66) "Right-of-Way" means the entire width between the boundary lines of every way publicly maintained when any part thereof is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel or the entire width of every way declared to be a public highway by any law of this state.

(67) "Roadside" means that area between the outside shoulder edge of the roadway and the right-of-way limits. May also mean the area between two roadways when the roadways are well separated and landscaped such as a freeway median area.

(68) "Roadway" means that portion of a highway improved, designed, or ordinarily used for vehicular travel, exclusive of the sidewalk, berm, or shoulder even though such sidewalk, berm, or shoulder is used by persons riding bicycles or other human-powered vehicles and exclusive of that portion of a highway designated for exclusive use as a bicycle path or reserved for the exclusive use of bicycles, human-powered vehicles, or pedestrians. In the event that a highway includes two or more separate roadways, "roadway" refers to any such roadway separately but not to all such roadways collectively. [§ 42-1-102(85), C.R.S.]

(69) "Sight distance" means the distance visible to the driver of a passenger vehicle measured along the normal travel path of a roadway from a designated location and to a specified height above the roadway when the view is unobstructed by traffic.

(70) "Signal" means a traffic control signal.

(71) "Signalization" means a traffic control signal. When used in a predictive (future) sense, it means an access (intersection) location that is predicted to meet any of the warrants for a traffic signal as defined by the M.U.T.C.D.

(72) "Signal progression" means the progressive movement of traffic, at a planned rate of speed without stopping, through adjacent signalized locations within a traffic control system.

(73) "Single unit vehicle" means a single frame vehicle, longer than a passenger car, as described dimensionally by American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials as a single unit design vehicle. Generally, these are motorized vehicles including delivery trucks, haul vehicles, camping and recreational vehicles, and motor homes, having a single frame and an overall length of greater than 19 feet with two or three axles.

(74) "Slope" means the relative steepness of the terrain expressed as a ratio or percentage. Slopes may be categorized as positive or negative and as parallel, cross or side slopes in relation to the direction of traffic.

(75) "Speed change lane" means a separate lane for the purpose of enabling a vehicle entering or leaving a roadway to increase or decrease its speed to a rate at which it can more safely merge or diverge with through traffic. Acceleration and deceleration lanes are speed change lanes.

(76) "State highway" means a highway that is a part of the state highway system under the jurisdiction of the Commission.

(77) "State plan" means the comprehensive statewide transportation plan formed by the Commission pursuant to the provisions of section 43-1-1103(5), C.R.S.

(78) "Stopping sight distance" means the distance required by a driver of a vehicle, traveling at a given speed, to bring the vehicle to a stop after an object on the roadway becomes visible. It includes the distance traveled during driver perception and reaction times and the vehicle braking distance.

(79) "Storage lane length" means the length of a portion of an auxiliary lane required to store the maximum number of vehicles likely to accumulate in the lane during a peak hour period.

(80) "Subdivide" means to divide land into two or more smaller lots, tracts or parcels of land.

(81) "Subdivision" means a tract of land which has been subdivided in accordance with the laws of the state usually with appropriate streets, dedications and other facilities for the development or sale of industrial, commercial or residential land.

(82) "Taper" means the widening of pavement to allow the redirection and transition of vehicles around or into an auxiliary lane. There are two different types of tapers. Redirect tapers necessary for the redirection of vehicles along the traveled way (table 4-9), and transition tapers for auxiliary lanes (table 4-6) that allow the turning vehicle to transition from or to the traveled way, to or from an auxiliary lane.

(83) "Time-space diagram" means a chart on which the distance between signals and signal timing is plotted against time. The chart indicates signal progression, efficiency, bandwidth and speed of traffic. Efficiency is the width of the through band expressed as a fraction of the entire signal cycle. A 50% efficiency means that 30 seconds of a 60 second signal cycle is devoted to the movement of through traffic.

(84) "TPR" means Transportation Planning Region. A region of the state established pursuant to section 43-1-1103(5), C.R.S. Each TPR has a Regional Planning Commission formed under the provisions of section 30-28-105, or 43-1-1103, C.R.S.

(85) "Traversable slope" means a slope from which a motorist will be unlikely to steer back to the roadway but may be able to slow and stop safely.

(86) "Traversable median" means a median that by its design does not physically discourage or prevent vehicles from entering upon or crossing over it. Such medians include painted medians and continuous two-way left-turn lanes.

(87) "Traveled way" means that portion of roadway for the through movement of vehicles, exclusive of shoulders, gutters, and auxiliary lanes.

(88) "Trip" means a single or one-direction vehicle movement with either the origin or the destination inside a study area. A vehicle leaving the highway and entering a property is one trip. Later when the vehicle leaves the property it is a second trip.

(89) "Under construction" means a sustained effort reflected by construction activity likely to result in the completion of access improvements in a timely manner.

(90) "VPH" means the number of vehicles per hour and usually is referring to the vehicles in a peak hour unless otherwise modified by the text.

(91) "Warrant(s)" means the criteria by which the need for a safety treatment or highway improvement can be determined.

(92) "Working day" means any day that the permittee can perform a normal day of work exclusive of delays which result from inclement weather, labor disputes and material shortages. It does not include weekends and legal holidays.

1.6Computation of Time

All time periods referred to and allowed by these rules and the Act shall be computed in accordance with Colorado Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 6(a).

1.7Incorporation by Reference

(1) The following nationally recognized standard is hereby incorporated by reference into the Code: Trip Generation, Sixth edition, Institute of Transportation Engineers, Washington, D.C. 1997. [525 School Street, S.W., Suite 410, Washington D.C. 20024-2729, phone (202)554-8050]. Copies of the incorporated material is available for public inspection during regular business hours from the Access Program Administrator, Department of Transportation, Transportation Safety and Traffic Engineering Branch, 4201 East Arkansas Avenue, Denver, Colorado, 80222-3400. Information concerning how the incorporated material may be obtained or examined will be provided by the Access Program Administrator upon request. Later editions of "Trip Generation" may not be relied upon. The incorporated material may be examined at any state publication depository library.

2 CCR 601-1-1