Online Sunshine Logo
Official Internet Site of the Florida Legislature
November 22, 2024
Text: 'NEW Advanced Legislative Search'
Interpreter Services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Go to MyFlorida House
Go to MyFlorida House
Select Year:  
The Florida Statutes

The 2024 Florida Statutes

Title XXVI
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
Chapter 334
TRANSPORTATION ADMINISTRATION
View Entire Chapter
F.S. 334.03
334.03 Definitions.When used in the Florida Transportation Code, the term:
(1) “Arterial road” means a route providing service which is relatively continuous and of relatively high traffic volume, long average trip length, high operating speed, and high mobility importance. In addition, every United States numbered highway is an arterial road.
(2) “Bridge” means a structure, including supports, erected over a depression or an obstruction, such as water or a highway or railway, and having a track or passageway for carrying traffic as defined in chapter 316 or other moving loads.
(3) “City street system” means all local roads within a municipality, and all collector roads inside that municipality, which are not in the county road system.
(4) “Collector road” means a route providing service which is of relatively moderate average traffic volume, moderately average trip length, and moderately average operating speed. Such a route also collects and distributes traffic between local roads or arterial roads and serves as a linkage between land access and mobility needs.
(5) “Commissioners” means the governing body of a county.
(6) “Consolidated metropolitan statistical area” means two or more metropolitan statistical areas that are socially and economically interrelated as defined by the United States Bureau of the Census.
(7) “Controlled access facility” means a street or highway to which the right of access is highly regulated by the governmental entity having jurisdiction over the facility in order to maximize the operational efficiency and safety of the high-volume through traffic utilizing the facility. Owners or occupants of abutting lands and other persons have a right of access to or from such facility at such points only and in such manner as may be determined by the governmental entity.
(8) “County road system” means all collector roads in the unincorporated areas of a county and all extensions of such collector roads into and through any incorporated areas, all local roads in the unincorporated areas, and all urban minor arterial roads not in the State Highway System.
(9) “Department” means the Department of Transportation.
(10) “Functional classification” means the assignment of roads into systems according to the character of service they provide in relation to the total road network using procedures developed by the Federal Highway Administration.
(11) “Governmental entity” means a unit of government, or any officially designated public agency or authority of a unit of government, that has the responsibility for planning, construction, operation, or maintenance or jurisdiction over transportation facilities; the term includes the Federal Government, the state government, a county, an incorporated municipality, a metropolitan planning organization, an expressway or transportation authority, a road and bridge district, a special road and bridge district, and a regional governmental unit.
(12) “Limited access facility” means a street or highway especially designed for through traffic, and over, from, or to which owners or occupants of abutting land or other persons have no right or easement of access, light, air, or view by reason of the fact that their property abuts upon such limited access facility or for any other reason. Such highways or streets may be facilities from which trucks, buses, and other commercial vehicles are excluded; or they may be facilities open to use by all customary forms of street and highway traffic.
(13) “Local governmental entity” means a unit of government with less than statewide jurisdiction, or any officially designated public agency or authority of such a unit of government, that has the responsibility for planning, construction, operation, or maintenance of, or jurisdiction over, a transportation facility; the term includes, but is not limited to, a county, an incorporated municipality, a metropolitan planning organization, an expressway or transportation authority, a road and bridge district, a special road and bridge district, and a regional governmental unit.
(14) “Local road” means a route providing service which is of relatively low average traffic volume, short average trip length or minimal through-traffic movements, and high land access for abutting property.
(15) “Metropolitan area” means a geographic region comprising as a minimum the existing urbanized area and the contiguous area projected to become urbanized within a 20-year forecast period. The boundaries of a metropolitan area may be designated so as to encompass a metropolitan statistical area or a consolidated metropolitan statistical area. If a metropolitan area, or any part thereof, is located within a nonattainment area, the boundaries of the metropolitan area must be designated so as to include the boundaries of the entire nonattainment area, unless otherwise provided by agreement between the applicable metropolitan planning organization and the Governor.
(16) “Metropolitan statistical area” means an area that includes a municipality of 50,000 persons or more, or an urbanized area of at least 50,000 persons as defined by the United States Bureau of the Census, provided that the component county or counties have a total population of at least 100,000.
(17) “Nonattainment area” means an area designated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, pursuant to federal law, as exceeding national primary or secondary ambient air quality standards for the pollutants carbon monoxide or ozone.
(18) “Periodic maintenance” means activities that are large in scope and require a major work effort to restore deteriorated components of the transportation system to a safe and serviceable condition, including, but not limited to, the repair of large bridge structures, major repairs to bridges and bridge systems, and the mineral sealing of lengthy sections of roadway.
(19) “Person” means any person described in s. 1.01 or any unit of government in or outside the state.
(20) “Right of access” means the right of ingress to a highway from abutting land and egress from a highway to abutting land.
(21) “Right-of-way” means land in which the state, the department, a county, or a municipality owns the fee or has an easement devoted to or required for use as a transportation facility.
(22) “Road” means a way open to travel by the public, including, but not limited to, a street, highway, or alley. The term includes associated sidewalks, the roadbed, the right-of-way, and all culverts, drains, sluices, ditches, water storage areas, waterways, embankments, slopes, retaining walls, bridges, tunnels, and viaducts necessary for the maintenance of travel and all ferries used in connection therewith.
(23) “Routine maintenance” means minor repairs and associated tasks necessary to maintain a safe and efficient transportation system. The term includes: pavement patching; shoulder repair; cleaning and repair of drainage ditches, traffic signs, and structures; mowing; bridge inspection and maintenance; pavement striping; litter cleanup; and other similar activities.
(24) “State Highway System” means the interstate system and all other roads within the state which were under the jurisdiction of the state on June 10, 1995, and roads constructed by an agency of the state for the State Highway System, plus roads transferred to the state’s jurisdiction after that date by mutual consent with another governmental entity, but not including roads so transferred from the state’s jurisdiction. These facilities shall be facilities to which access is regulated.
(25) “State Park Road System” means roads embraced within the boundaries of state parks and state roads leading to state parks, other than roads of the State Highway System, the county road systems, or the city street systems.
(26) “State road” means a street, road, highway, or other way open to travel by the public generally and dedicated to the public use according to law or by prescription and designated by the department, as provided by law, as part of the State Highway System.
(27) “Structure” means a bridge, viaduct, tunnel, causeway, approach, ferry slip, culvert, toll plaza, gate, or other similar facility used in connection with a transportation facility.
(28) “Sufficiency rating” means the objective rating of a road or section of a road for the purpose of determining its capability to serve properly the actual or anticipated volume of traffic using the road.
(29) “Transportation corridor” means any land area designated by the state, a county, or a municipality which is between two geographic points and which area is used or suitable for the movement of people and goods by one or more modes of transportation, including areas necessary for management of access and securing applicable approvals and permits. Transportation corridors shall contain, but are not limited to, the following:
(a) Existing publicly owned rights-of-way;
(b) All property or property interests necessary for future transportation facilities, including rights of access, air, view, and light, whether public or private, for the purpose of securing and utilizing future transportation rights-of-way, including, but not limited to, any lands reasonably necessary now or in the future for securing applicable approvals and permits, borrow pits, drainage ditches, water retention areas, rest areas, replacement access for landowners whose access could be impaired due to the construction of a future facility, and replacement rights-of-way for relocation of rail and utility facilities.
(30) “Transportation facility” means any means for the transportation of people or property from place to place which is constructed, operated, or maintained in whole or in part from public funds. The term includes the property or property rights, both real and personal, which have been or may be established by public bodies for the transportation of people or property from place to place.
(31) “Urban area” means a geographic region comprising as a minimum the area inside the United States Bureau of the Census boundary of an urban place with a population of 5,000 or more persons, expanded to include adjacent developed areas as provided for by Federal Highway Administration regulations.
(32) “Urban minor arterial road” means a route that generally interconnects with and augments an urban principal arterial road and provides service to trips of shorter length and a lower level of travel mobility. The term includes all arterials not classified as “principal” and contain facilities that place more emphasis on land access than the higher system.
(33) “Urban place” means a geographic region composed of one or more contiguous census tracts that have been found by the United States Bureau of the Census to contain a population density of at least 1,000 persons per square mile.
(34) “Urban principal arterial road” means a route that generally serves the major centers of activity of an urban area, the highest traffic volume corridors, and the longest trip purpose and carries a high proportion of the total urban area travel on a minimum of mileage. Such roads are integrated, both internally and between major rural connections.
(35) “Urbanized area” means a geographic region comprising as a minimum the area inside an urban place of 50,000 or more persons, as designated by the United States Bureau of the Census, expanded to include adjacent developed areas as provided for by Federal Highway Administration regulations. Urban areas with a population of fewer than 50,000 persons which are located within the expanded boundary of an urbanized area are not separately recognized.
(36) “511” or “511 services” means three-digit telecommunications dialing to access interactive voice response telephone traveler information services provided in the state as defined by the Federal Communications Commission in FCC Order No. 00-256, July 31, 2000.
(37) “Interactive voice response” means a software application that accepts a combination of voice telephone input and touch-tone keypad selection and provides appropriate responses in the form of voice, fax, callback, e-mail, and other media.
History.s. 2, ch. 29965, 1955; ss. 1, 2, ch. 57-318; ss. 1, 2, ch. 63-27; s. 1, ch. 67-43; ss. 23, 35, ch. 69-106; s. 105, ch. 71-377; ss. 5, 17, ch. 77-165; s. 1, ch. 79-357; s. 136, ch. 79-400; s. 1, ch. 83-52; s. 9, ch. 84-309; s. 6, ch. 85-180; s. 9, ch. 88-168; s. 1, ch. 88-224; s. 3, ch. 90-136; s. 2, ch. 93-164; s. 52, ch. 94-237; s. 119, ch. 99-13; s. 6, ch. 99-256; s. 76, ch. 99-385; s. 38, ch. 2003-286; s. 22, ch. 2012-174.