| |
| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to the authority of the Texas Transportation Commission to |
|
|
establish variable speed limits. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Section 545.353, Transportation Code, is amended |
|
|
by adding Subsection (k) to read as follows: |
|
|
(k) The commission by rule may establish a variable speed |
|
|
limit program to allow the temporary lowering of a prima facie speed |
|
|
limit to address inclement weather, congestion, road construction, |
|
|
or any other condition that affects the safe and orderly movement of |
|
|
traffic on a roadway for which the commission has the authority to |
|
|
establish a speed limit. Notice of a speed limit established under |
|
|
the program may be displayed using a stationary or portable |
|
|
changeable message sign, as defined by Section 544.013. The |
|
|
program may not authorize the lowering of a speed limit to divert |
|
|
traffic to a toll road for the purpose of increasing revenue from |
|
|
toll charges. A speed limit that is established under the program: |
|
|
(1) must be based on an engineering and traffic |
|
|
investigation; |
|
|
(2) may be effective for all or a designated portion of |
|
|
the highway and may be effective for any period of the day or night, |
|
|
as the Texas Department of Transportation determines necessary; |
|
|
(3) may not be less than 10 miles per hour below the |
|
|
prima facie speed limit on the portion of the highway to which it |
|
|
applies; and |
|
|
(4) is effective only when the speed limit is posted |
|
|
and only if a sign notifying motorists of the change in speed limit |
|
|
is posted not less than 500 feet but not more than 1,000 feet before |
|
|
the point at which the speed limit begins. |
|
|
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives |
|
|
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as |
|
|
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this |
|
|
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this |
|
|
Act takes effect September 1, 2023. |