Appendix D to Subpart A of Part 470 - Guidance Criteria for Evaluating Requests for Modifications to the National Highway System
23:1.0.1.5.13.1.1.9.18 : Appendix D
Appendix D to Subpart A of Part 470 - Guidance Criteria for
Evaluating Requests for Modifications to the National Highway
System
Section 103(b), of title 23, U.S.C., allows the States to
propose modifications to the National Highway System (NHS) and
authorizes the Secretary to approve such modifications provided
that they meet the criteria established for the NHS and enhance the
characteristics of the NHS. In proposing modifications under 23
U.S.C. 103(b), the States must cooperate with local and regional
officials. In urbanized areas, the local officials must act through
the metropolitan planning organization (MPO) designated for such
areas under 23 U.S.C. 134. The following guidance criteria should
be used by the States to develop proposed modifications to the
NHS.
1. Proposed additions to the NHS should be included in either an
adopted State or metropolitan transportation plan or program.
2. Proposed additions should connect at each end with other
routes on the NHS or serve a major traffic generator.
3. Proposals should be developed in consultation with local and
regional officials.
4. Proposals to add routes to the NHS should include information
on the type of traffic served (i.e., percent of trucks,
average trip length, local, commuter, interregional, interstate) by
the route, the population centers or major traffic generators
served by the route, and how this service compares with existing
NHS routes.
5. Proposals should include information on existing and
anticipated needs and any planned improvements to the route.
6. Proposals should include information concerning the possible
effects of adding or deleting a route to or from the NHS might have
on other existing NHS routes that are in close proximity.
7. Proposals to add routes to the NHS should include an
assessment of whether modifications (adjustments or deletions) to
existing NHS routes, which provide similar service, may be
appropriate.
8. Proposed modifications that might affect adjoining States
should be developed in cooperation with those States.
9. Proposed modifications consisting of connections to major
intermodal facilities should be developed using the criteria set
forth below. These criteria were used for identifying initial NHS
connections to major intermodal terminals. The primary criteria are
based on annual passenger volumes, annual freight volumes, or daily
vehicular traffic on one or more principal routes that serve the
intermodal facility. The secondary criteria include factors which
underscore the importance of an intermodal facility within a
specific State.
Primary Criteria Commercial Aviation Airports
1. Passengers - scheduled commercial service with more than
250,000 annual enplanements.
2. Cargo - 100 trucks per day in each direction on the principal
connecting route, or 100,000 tons per year arriving or departing by
highway mode.
Ports
1. Terminals that handle more than 50,000 TEUs (a volumetric
measure of containerized cargo which stands for twenty-foot
equivalent units) per year, or other units measured that would
convert to more than 100 trucks per day in each direction. (Trucks
are defined as large single-unit trucks or combination vehicles
handling freight.)
2. Bulk commodity terminals that handle more than 500,000 tons
per year by highway or 100 trucks per day in each direction on the
principal connecting route. (If no individual terminal handles this
amount of freight, but a cluster of terminals in close proximity to
each other does, then the cluster of terminals could be considered
in meeting the criteria. In such cases, the connecting route might
terminate at a point where the traffic to several terminals begins
to separate.)
3. Passengers - terminals that handle more than 250,000
passengers per year or 1,000 passengers per day for at least 90
days during the year.
Truck/Rail
1. 50,000 TEUs per year, or 100 trucks per day, in each
direction on the principal connecting route, or other units
measured that would convert to more than 100 trucks per day in each
direction. (Trucks are defined as large single-unit trucks or
combination vehicles carrying freight.)
Pipelines
1. 100 trucks per day in each direction on the principal
connecting route.
Amtrak
1. 100,000 passengers per year (entrainments and detrainments).
Joint Amtrak, intercity bus and public transit terminals should be
considered based on the combined passenger volumes. Likewise, two
or more separate facilities in close proximity should be considered
based on combined passenger volumes.
Intercity Bus
1. 100,000 passengers per year (boardings and deboardings).
Public Transit
1. Stations with park and ride lots with more than 500 vehicle
parking spaces, or 5,000 daily bus or rail passengers, with
significant highway access (i.e., a high percentage of the
passengers arrive by cars and buses using a route that connects to
another NHS route), or a major hub terminal that provides for the
transfer of passengers among several bus routes. (These hubs should
have a significant number of buses using a principal route
connecting with the NHS.)
Ferries
1. Interstate/international - 1,000 passengers per day for at
least 90 days during the year. (A ferry which connects two
terminals within the same metropolitan area should be considered as
local, not interstate.)
2. Local - see public transit criteria above.
Secondary Criteria
Any of the following criteria could be used to justify an NHS
connection to an intermodal terminal where there is a significant
highway interface:
1. Intermodal terminals that handle more than 20 percent of
passenger or freight volumes by mode within a State;
2. Intermodal terminals identified either in the Intermodal
Management System or the State and metropolitan transportation
plans as a major facility;
3. Significant investment in, or expansion of, an intermodal
terminal; or
4. Connecting routes targeted by the State, MPO, or others for
investment to address an existing, or anticipated, deficiency as a
result of increased traffic.
Proximate Connections
Intermodal terminals, identified under the secondary criteria
noted above, may not have sufficient highway traffic volumes to
justify an NHS connection to the terminal. States and MPOs should
fully consider whether a direct connection should be identified for
such terminals, or whether being in the proximity (2 to 3 miles) of
an NHS route is sufficient.