Authority to designate transportation facilities and rights-of-way and establish lanes; procedure for redesignation and relocation; application of local regulations.

(1) The department shall have the authority to locate and designate certain transportation facilities as part of the State Highway System and to construct and maintain them with funds available to the department. Any transportation facility when so located and designated shall become the property of the state and shall be under the jurisdiction and control of the department. Such a transportation facility may not be redesignated or relocated until after a public hearing is conducted by the department in each county affected. Reasonable notice of the hearing shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation in such county 14 days prior to the hearing in addition to any other notice required by law. Any interested party shall have the opportunity to be heard either in person or by counsel and to introduce testimony in such person’s behalf at the hearing.

(2) The department may survey and locate the line or route of any existing or proposed transportation facility or section thereof designated as part of the State Highway System or the line or route of any transportation corridor designated by the department. When locating the line or route, the department shall consider the availability of property currently owned by this state. Right-of-way maps used for the acquisition of real property rights and adopted by the department shall, upon completion of monumentation, be filed in accordance with chapter 177 in the office of the clerk of the circuit court in the appropriate county.

(3) The department may establish standards for lanes on the State Highway System, including the Strategic Intermodal System highway corridors established pursuant to s. 339.65. In determining the number of lanes for any regional corridor or section of highway on the State Highway System to be funded by the department with state or federal funds, the department shall evaluate all alternatives and seek to achieve the highest degree of efficient mobility for corridor users. In conducting the analysis, the department must give consideration to the following factors consistent with sound engineering principles:

(a) Overall economic importance of the corridor as a trade or tourism corridor.

(b) Safety of corridor users, including the importance of the corridor for evacuation purposes.

(c) Cost-effectiveness of alternative methods of increasing the mobility of corridor users.

(d) Current and projected traffic volumes on the corridor.

(e) Multimodal alternatives.

(f) Use of intelligent transportation technology in increasing the efficiency of the corridor.

(g) Compliance with state and federal policies related to clean air, environmental impacts, growth management, livable communities, and energy conservation.

(h) Addition of special use lanes, such as exclusive truck lanes, high-occupancy-vehicle toll lanes, and exclusive interregional traffic lanes.

(i) Availability and cost of rights-of-way, including associated costs, and the most effective use of existing rights-of-way.

(j) Regional economic and transportation objectives, where articulated.

(k) The future land use plan element of local government comprehensive plans, as appropriate, including designated urban infill and redevelopment areas.

(l) The traffic circulation element, if applicable, of local government comprehensive plans, including designated transportation corridors and public transportation corridors.

(m) The approved metropolitan planning organization’s long-range transportation plan, as appropriate.

This subsection does not preclude a number of lanes in excess of 10 lanes, but an additional factor that must be considered before the department may determine that the number of lanes should be more than 10 is the capacity to accommodate in the future alternative forms of transportation within existing or potential rights-of-way.

(4) Notwithstanding any general law or special act, regulations of any county, municipality, or special district, including any instrumentality thereof, shall not apply to existing or future transportation facilities, or appurtenances thereto, on the State Highway System.