Goodwin Road Safety Bill Hangs On “Availability Of Funds”

The text as introduced · 1,668 words

89R10661 AND-D

By: Goodwin
H.B. No. 5300

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to a project to identify and address high injury road

segments and the designation of highway safety corridors;

increasing a fine.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. This Act shall be known as the Dr. Michael James

Babineaux Act.

SECTION 2. Subchapter H, Chapter 201, Transportation Code,

is amended by adding Section 201.6014 to read as follows:

Sec. 201.6014. HIGH INJURY NETWORK PROJECT. (a) In this

section:

(1) "High injury network project" means the project

developed by the institute under this section.

(2) "Institute" means the Texas A&M Transportation

Institute.

(3) "Intervention strategy" means a department plan to

reduce traffic deaths and serious injuries in a certain public

roadway segment.

(4) "Political subdivision" means a municipality or

county.

(5) "Safety action plan" means a plan prepared for the

Safe Streets and Roads for All grant program.

(b) Subject to the availability of funds, the institute

shall develop and maintain a high injury network project that

includes an interactive map and data that allows ranking of all

public roadway segments in the state according to the estimated

total cost of traffic crashes for each roadway segment during the

preceding five years, accounting for personal injuries, personal

property damage, and cost of repairs to the roadway. The institute

shall update the project's map and rankings at least once every five

years.

(c) The department shall annually develop an intervention

strategy for:

(1) the two highest ranking roadway segments in a

rural district on the high injury network project;

(2) the two highest ranking roadway segments in an

urban district on the high injury network project; and

(3) each of the 10 highest ranking roadway segments in

any district on the high injury network project that are not

described by Subdivisions (1) and (2).

(d) The department may partner with a political subdivision

to implement, on its own initiative or in collaboration with any

governmental unit, for a roadway segment among the 100 highest

ranking roadway segments on the high injury network project:

(1) adaptive signal timing, signal preemption for

emergency vehicles, wrong-way driving alerts, intelligent

transportation systems, vehicle-to-infrastructure technology, or

traffic demand management;

(2) highway safety corridors or variable speed limits;

(3) interim or innovative design improvements,

including temporary improvements that do not involve permanent

roadway reconstruction, including painting, plastic delineator

posts, water-filled plastic barriers, planters, traffic cones,

raised line separators, and temporary speed humps/bumps that may be

used to right-size roadways, create curb extensions, shorten

crosswalk distances, create roundabouts, establish bike lanes, and

implement other safety countermeasures that slow speeds and make

roads safer for multiple road user types;

(4) upgrades to any portion of a right-of-way to

optimize safe travel by any mode of transportation, including

reducing the portion of a right-of-way dedicated to single occupant

vehicle lanes if the department determines through an engineering

and traffic investigation that an updated design will be an

effective way to reduce deaths and serious injuries on one of the

100 highest ranking roadways identified in the high injury network

plan; or

(5) any proven safety measure, including any measure

listed in the Texas Strategic Highway Safety Plan, the Federal

Highway Administration's Proven Safety Countermeasures initiative

as it existed on May 1, 2025, or Proven Safety Countermeasures in

Rural Communities publication as the publication existed on May 1,

2025, or a local or regional safety action plan if the roadway

segment is within the area covered by the safety action plan.

(e) Notwithstanding any other law, a safety measure under

Subsection (d)(1) or (5) may be implemented with no requirement for

environmental process, public input opportunity, engineering and

traffic investigation, or any other administrative procedure.

(f) The department may not implement a safety measure under

Subsection (d)(2), (3), or (4) before a simple majority vote in

support of implementing the measure on that roadway segment or a

broader area by:

(1) the governing body of the municipality in which

the roadway segment is located; or

(2) the commissioners court of the county in which the

roadway segment is located, if the roadway segment is in an

unincorporated area.

(g) This subsection applies only to an on-system roadway

segment that is not a controlled access highway and has been listed

as one of the 100 highest ranking roadway segments under the high

injury network project for three or more years and for which total

deaths and serious injuries have not decreased by an average of at

least three percent per year. A municipality in which a roadway

segment to which this subsection applies is located or a county in

which a roadway segment to which this subsection applies is located

if in an unincorporated area may request that:

(1) the department address the safety problems in a

manner consistent with department plans and guidelines, the

political subdivision's design manuals, local or regional safety

action plans that include the roadway segment, and other local

transportation plans that include the roadway segment; or

(2) the department transfer ownership, operations, or

maintenance responsibility for the roadway segment to the political

subdivision.

(h) If the department determines that a measure requested

under Subsection (g)(1) is warranted through an engineering and

traffic investigation, the department may implement the measure

following a majority vote of:

(1) the governing body of a municipality; or

(2) the commissioners court of a county if the roadway

segment is in an unincorporated area.

(i) The department may, at the request of a political

subdivision under Subsection (g)(2), transfer ownership,

operations, or maintenance responsibility of a roadway segment to

the political subdivision to allow for the political subdivision to

address the safety issues on the roadway.

(j) The commission shall adopt rules as necessary to

administer this section.

(k) This section may not be construed to limit existing

department practices for making roadways safer.

SECTION 3. Subchapter K, Chapter 201, Transportation Code,

is amended by adding Section 201.9051 to read as follows:

Sec. 201.9051. HIGHWAY SAFETY CORRIDOR. (a) In this

section, "political subdivision" means a municipality or county.

(b) The department may designate as a highway safety

corridor a portion of a roadway if the roadway segment is one of the

100 highest ranking roadway segments in the high injury network

project under Section 201.6014, and the governing body of the

political subdivision identified under Section 201.6014(f) has

approved the designation.

(c) The department shall remove a highway safety corridor

designation made under Subsection (b) on the 10th anniversary of

the designation unless the governing body of the political

subdivision that approved the designation notifies the department

that the designation should be removed before that date or extended

after that date. Each designation extension made under this

subsection must be for a period of 10 years unless a shorter period

is requested by the governing body and may be removed or extended as

provided by this subsection for an initial designation.

(d) The department may:

(1) designate as a highway safety corridor a portion

of a roadway containing a site with a high number of traffic

collisions that lead to a serious injury or fatality as identified

by the department; and

(2) at the department's discretion, remove a

designation made under this subsection.

(e) The department shall erect a sign at each end of a

designated portion of a roadway and at appropriate intermediate

sites along the roadway:

(1) indicating that the roadway is a highway safety

corridor; and

(2) stating "Fines double: highway safety corridor."

(f) The department by rule may prescribe forms for use by a

political subdivision for the designation of a highway safety

corridor under Subsection (b) and the removal or extension of a

highway safety corridor designation under Subsection (c).

(g) The department may distribute literature to the public

concerning highway safety corridors designated under this section.

SECTION 4. Subchapter D, Chapter 542, Transportation Code,

is amended by adding Section 542.405 to read as follows:

Sec. 542.405. FINE FOR OFFENSE IN HIGHWAY SAFETY CORRIDOR.

(a) In this section, "highway safety corridor" means a portion of a

roadway designated under Section 201.9051.

(b) If an offense under this subtitle, other than an offense

under Chapter 548 or 552 or Section 545.412 or 545.413, is committed

in a highway safety corridor:

(1) the minimum fine applicable to the offense is

twice the minimum fine that would be applicable to the offense if it

were committed outside a highway safety corridor; and

(2) the maximum fine applicable to the offense is

twice the maximum fine that would be applicable to the offense if it

were committed outside a highway safety corridor.

SECTION 5. Section 545.353, Transportation Code, is amended

by adding Subsection (l) to read as follows:

(l) A speed limit established under the program established

under Subsection (k) may be set at any speed supported by an

engineering and traffic investigation if:

(1) the roadway segment is one of the 100 highest

ranking roadway segments under the high injury network project

established under Section 201.6014; and

(2) the department has determined a variable speed

limit may be an effective way to reduce deaths and serious injuries

on the roadway segment.

SECTION 6. The change in law made by this Act applies only

to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act.

An offense committed before the effective date of this Act is

covered by the law in effect immediately before the effective date

of this Act, and the former law is continued in effect for that

purpose. For purposes of this section, an offense was committed

before the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense

was committed before that date.

SECTION 7. 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, 2025.