HB 601 amends Kentucky law governing limited access highways and other limited access facilities. The bill clarifies that the Transportation Cabinet, county highway authorities, and city highway authorities may design limited access facilities and regulate, restrict, or prohibit access as needed for traffic flow and facility purpose. It also restates the authority to divide roadways with physical barriers and to mark separate roadways with signs, markers, stripes, and other traffic control devices.
The bill further provides that property owners do not have a right of ingress or egress to limited access facilities except at designated access points and under terms set by the relevant highway authority. A new provision specifies that when access is granted, the highway authority may not require the property owner to compensate the state or local authority for any increase in the property's value attributable to the new access, based on before-and-after appraisals.
Impact
HB 601 would update KRS 177.240, affecting the Transportation Cabinet and county and city highway authorities that manage limited access roads. Its main legal effect is to reinforce public control over access to highways while limiting the ability of highway authorities to seek compensation from property owners for value increases caused by newly granted access. The bill would therefore affect property owners adjacent to limited access facilities, access permitting practices, and appraisal-based compensation disputes.
Sentiment
The available voting history suggests strong support for the bill, with the House overriding a veto by a 91-3 vote. No committee discussion is available, but the vote indicates broad agreement on the need to clarify highway access authority and the compensation rule. The limited recorded opposition suggests the measure was generally well received.
Contention
The likely point of contention is the new restriction on compensation: the bill bars highway authorities from requiring property owners to pay for increased property value resulting from access, which may be viewed as protecting landowners but limiting agency leverage in access negotiations. More broadly, the bill preserves broad discretion for the Transportation Cabinet and local highway authorities over access decisions, which could raise concerns among affected property owners about reduced bargaining power and limited rights of ingress and egress.