CHAPTER 256

An Act to amend the Code of Virginia by adding in Title 38 thereof new
sections numbered 88-85.1 through 38-85.7, relating to the allocation
of urban funds, payments to cities and towns therefrom, the matching
of federal highway funds, the use of allocated funds by cities and
towns and the location and character of certain urban highway signs;
and to repeal §§ 83-118, 38-118.1, 88-118.2, as amended, 88-114, as
amended, 88-114.1 and $8-1 15, as ‘amended, of the Code of Virginia,
relating to the same subject.

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Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That the Code of Virginia be amended by adding in Title 33 thereof
the following sections numbered 33-35.1 through 33-35.7:

§ 33-35.1. Allocation of funds for urban highways.—The State High-
way Commission shall allocate during each year from all funds made
available for highway purposes such sum as it may deem reasonable and
necessary for the best interests of the several cities and towns of the
State and of the State at large to be expended in the maintenance and
improvement, including construction and reconstruction, of urban streets
and highways; provided, however, that the funds allocated by this section
to be spent on urban streets and highways shall not be less than fourteen
per centum of all funds available to the State Highway Commission, ex-
clusive of any federal funds made available for the Interstate System.

The funds allocated under this section shall be used to make payments
to cities and towns pursuant to §§ 33-35.2 and 33-35.4. The balance of the
allocated funds shall be used as the State’s portion of urban construction
cost and be apportioned among the cities and towns of the State in an
equitable manner taking into account State-wide urban construction needs.

The State Highway Commission is authorized to apportion the urban
construction funds in a manner which will permit a city to accumulate
credits for the undertaking of major highway construction projects.

§ 33-35.2. Selection of connecting streets and roads in certain in-
corporated towns and cities; payments for maintenance from State high-
way funds.—The State Highway Commissioner, subject to the approval of
the State Highway Commission, shall select such streets and roads, or
portions thereof, in incorporated towns and cities having more than thirty-
five hundred inhabitants according to the last preceding United States
census, and in all towns situated within one mile of the corporate limits
of a city of the first class and having a population in excess of thirty-five
hundred inhabitants according to the census of nineteen hundred and
thirty, and in all cities operating under a charter designating them as
cities notwithstanding the number of inhabitants, and in all towns having a
population in excess of thirty-five hundred inhabitants according to the
last preceding United States census through which passes any primary
road in the State Highway System directly connecting and over which
moves a substantial portion of the traffic between two cities of the State
each of which has a population in excess of forty thousand inhabitants
according to the said census, aS may in his judgment be best for the
handling of traffic in such towns and cities, from or to any road in the
State Highway System, and from time to time make such changes in the
selection thereof as may be reasonable and proper. If such streets and
roads, or portions thereof, in such towns or cities so selected by the
Commissioner shall, in the opinion of the Commission, be maintained up
to the standard of maintenance of the State Highway System adjoining
such town or city, the Commissioner shall cause to be paid to such town
or city, for the streets and roads selected under this section, to be used
by it in the maintenance and improvement, including construction and
reconstruction, of streets, roads and bridges within such town or city,
subject to the approval of the Commission, the sum of ten thousand dol-
lars annually for each mile of such streets and roads or portions thereof.

Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section, in any county
having a population of more than fourteen thousand eight hundred sixty-
five but less than fourteen thousand nine hundred according to the last
preceding United States census, and which county entirely surrounds any
town therein, such towns shall share in the distribution herein provided
for towns having a population of more than thirty-five hundred. The
Commissioner shall be shown evidence that the population of such town
CH. 256] ACTS OF ASSEMBLY 459

exceeds thirty-five hundred before the provisions of this paragraph shall
apply.

Allocations and payments made pursuant to this section to such cities
and incorporated towns shall be paid by the Commissioner to the governing
bodies of such cities and towns from funds allocated under § 33-35.1.

Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section, any incorporated
town which shows to the Commission by satisfactory evidence that its
population has increased to thirty-five hundred inhabitants, or more, since
the last preceding United States census, shall be included in the provisions
of this section.

Plans and specifications for construction and reconstruction shall be
approved by the Commissioner.

The fund allotted by the Commission shall be paid in equal sums in
each quarter of the fiscal year, and no payment shall be made without the
approval of the Commission.

The town or city receiving such fund shall make quarterly reports ac-
counting for all expenditures, and certifying that none of the money
received has been expended for other than the maintenance, improvement,
construction or reconstruction of the roads and streets in such town or

§ 33-35.3. Incorporation into State Highway System of connecting
streets and roads in certain other towns and cities; maintenance, etc.,
costs.— The State Highway Commission may, by and with the consent of
the Governor and the governing body of any incorporated town or city
having a population of thirty-five hundred inhabitants or less, incorporate
in the State Highway System such streets and roads or portions thereof
in such incorporated town or city as may in its judgment be best for the
handling of traffic through such town or city from or to any road in the
State Highway System and may, in its discretion, eliminate any of such
roads or streets or portions thereof from the State Highway System.
Every such action of the State Highway Commission incorporating any
such road or street or portion thereof in the State Highway System or
eliminating it therefrom, shall be recorded in its minutes.

Any such road or street or portion thereof in any such city or town so
incorporated in the State Highway System shall be subject to the rules,
regulations and control of the State road authorities as are other roads in
the State Highway System. But such town or city shall be obligated to
pay the maintenance and construction and reconstruction costs of such
roads or streets or portions thereof so incorporated in the State Highway
system in excess of the amounts authorized to be spent by the State
Highway Commissioner on such roads or streets.

Every provision in the charter of any such town or city insofar as it is
in conflict with this section is hereby repealed.

The State Highway Commissioner may in his diseretion permit such
town or city to maintain any such road or street, or portion thereof, in-
corporated in the State Highway System, and reimburse such city or town
up to such amount as he is authorized to expend on the maintenance of
such road or street, or portion thereof.

§ 33-35.4. Payments to certain cities and towns for maintenance,
etc., of streets not a part or extension of State highway primary system.—
The State Highway Commission is authorized and empowered to allocate
and pay to all cities and incorporated towns having a population of thirty-
five hundred or more according to the last United States census for which
population figures are available, and to all towns situated within one mile
of the corporate limits of a city of the first class and having a population
in excess of thirty-five hundred inhabitants according to the census of
nineteen hundred and thirty, for maintenance, improvement, construction
or reconstruction of streets which are not a part or an extension of the
State highway primary system in the corporate limits of such cities and
incorporated towns, the sum of eight hundred dollars per mile annually,
if such streets and roads or portions thereof be maintained up to a stand-
ard satisfactory to the Commission. However, with the exception of streets
or portions thereof located within territory annexed or incorporated since
July one, nineteen hundred fifty, or hereafter, which streets a portion
thereof (1) have been paved and have constituted parts of the secondary
system of State highways prior to such annexation or incorporation, or
(2) have constituted parts of the secondary system of State highways prior
to such annexation or incorporation and are paved to a minimum width of
sixteen feet subsequent to such annexation or incorporation and with the
further exception of streets or portions thereof which nave previously been
maintained under the provisions of § 33-50.1 or § 33-50.4, or which have
been eligible for maintenance payments under § 33-50.2, no such allocation
of payments shall be made by the Commission to any such city or incorpo-
rated town unless the portion of the street for which said allocation is
made has an unrestricted right of way width of not less than thirty feet
and a hard surface width of not less than sixteen feet; and any such street
established after July first, nineteen hundred fifty, shall have an unrestricted
right of way width of not less than fifty feet and a hard surface width
of not less than thirty feet; provided, however, that cul-de-sacs may have
an unrestricted right of way width of not less than forty feet and a turn
around that meets State Highway Commission standards.

Allocations and payments made pursuant to this section to such cities
and incorporated towns, shall be paid by the Commission to the governing
bodies of such cities and towns from funds allocated under § 33-35.1.

Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section, any incorpo-
rated town which shows to the Commission by satisfactory evidence that
its population has increased to thirty-five hundred inhabitants, or more,
since the last preceding United States census, shall be included in the
provisions of this section.

Plans and specifications for construction and reconstruction shall be
approved by the State Highway Commissioner.

The fund allocated by the Commission shall be paid in equal sums in
each quarter of the fiscal year, and no payment shall be made without the
approval of the Commission.

The city or town receiving this fund will be required to make quar-
terly reports accounting for all expenditures and certifying that none of
the money received has been expended for other than the maintenance,
improvement, construction or reconstruction of the streets in such city
or town.

§ 33-35.5. Matching highway funds.—In any case in which an act of
Congress requires that federal aid highway funds made available for the
construction or improvement of federal or State highways be matched,
the State Highway Commission may contribute such matching funds; pro-
vided, however, that within municipalities of thirty-five hundred or more
population, the Commission may contribute toward the cost of construc-
tion of any federal aid highway or street project eighty-five per cent of the
necessary funds, including the federal portion, if the municipality con-
tributes the other fifteen per cent, and provided further, that within such
municipalities the Commission may contribute all the required funds on
highways in the Interstate System.

Within municipalities of thirty-five hundred or more population, the
State Highway Commission may contribute toward the costs of con-
struction or improvement of any highway or street project for which
no federal aid highway funds are made available eighty-five per cent of
se eceasar funds if the municipality contributes the other fifteen per
cen
CHS. 256, 257] ACTS OF ASSEMBLY 461

The term “construction or improvement” means the supervising, in-
specting, actual building, and all expenses incidental to the construction
or reconstruction of a highway, including locating, surveying, design and
mapping, costs of rights of way, signs, signals and markings and elimina-
tion of hazards of railroad-grade crossings.

§ 33-35.6. Use of funds allocated to cities and towns for construc-
tion, etc., of highways, streets, roads and bridges.—Notwithstanding any
other provisions of law, the governing bodies of the cities and towns
defined in §§ 33-35, 33-35.2, 33-35.3, 33-35.4 and 33-35.5 of the Code of
Virginia may hereafter authorize the use of the funds allocated and paid
to such cities and towns under the authority of said sections to pay debts
created by such cities and towns to finance the cost of constructing, re-
constructing, maintaining and improving the highways, streets, roads and
bridges defined in said sections, provided such projects have received the
prior approval of the Highway Commissioner.

§ 33-35.7. Character of signs, etc., in event of matching public funds.—
On any urban highway upon which the State Highway Commission has
expended funds in the manner provided in § 33-35.5, the location, form and
character of informational, regulatory and warning signs, curb and pave-
ment or other markings and traffic signals installed or placed by any
public authority shall be subject to the approval of the State Highway
Commission.

2. That §§ 33-113, 33-113.1, 33-113.2, as amended, 33-114, as amended,
33-114.1 and 33-115, as amended, of the Code of Virginia are repealed.