Florida Senate - 2009                                     SB 130
       
       
       
       By Senator Bullard
       
       
       
       
       39-00225-09                                            2009130__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to motor vehicle safety; requiring
    3         limited access facilities that are adjacent to a canal
    4         or other water body to have a system of guardrails,
    5         retention cables, or other barriers between the
    6         highway and the canal or water body; requiring the
    7         Department of Transportation to establish certain
    8         standards governing the installation and maintenance
    9         of the barriers; requiring that barriers be installed
   10         for existing highways by a specified date; providing
   11         an effective date.
   12         
   13  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   14         
   15         Section 1. Barrier required between a highway and a canal
   16  or a water body.—
   17         (1) Each limited access facility in an area that has a high
   18  volume of canals or narrow roadways that are adjacent to bodies
   19  of water must have a system of guardrails, retention cables, or
   20  other barriers between the highway and the canal or water body
   21  which are installed and maintained in conformance with standards
   22  established by the Department of Transportation. The standards
   23  should be designed to limit the loss of life by safely
   24  preventing out-of-control motor vehicles from entering the canal
   25  or water body, and may include criteria, such as the width or
   26  depth of the canal or water body or its proximity to the
   27  traveled way of the highway, in specifying where barriers are
   28  required.
   29         (2) For a limited access facility in existence on July 1,
   30  2009, the barriers required under this section must be installed
   31  on or before December 31, 2012.
   32         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2009.