Regulation of access to State Highway System; legislative findings, policy, and purpose.

(1) It is the finding of the Legislature that:

(a) Regulation of access to the State Highway System is necessary in order to protect the public health, safety, and welfare, to preserve the functional integrity of the State Highway System, and to promote the safe and efficient movement of people and goods within the state.

(b) The development of an access management program, in accordance with this act, will assist in the coordination of land use planning decisions by local governments with investments in the State Highway System and will serve to enhance managed growth and the overall development of commerce within the state as served by the State Highway System. Without such a program, the health, safety, and welfare of the residents of this state may be placed at risk, due to the fact that unregulated access to the State Highway System is one of the contributing factors to the congestion and functional deterioration of the system.

(c) The Legislature further finds and declares that the development of an access management program in accordance with this act will enhance the development of an effective transportation system and increase the traffic-carrying capacity of the State Highway System and thereby reduce the incidences of traffic accidents, personal injury, and property damage or loss; mitigate environmental degradation; promote sound economic growth and the growth management goals of the state; reduce highway maintenance costs and the necessity for costly traffic operations measures; lengthen the effective life of transportation facilities in the state; prevent delays in public evacuations for natural storms and emergencies; enhance disaster-response readiness; and shorten response time for emergency vehicles.

(2) It is the policy of the Legislature that:

(a) Every owner of property which abuts a road on the State Highway System has a right to reasonable access to the abutting state highway but does not have the right of unregulated access to such highway. The operational capabilities of an access connection may be restricted by the department. However, a means of reasonable access to an abutting state highway may not be denied by the department, except on the basis of safety or operational concerns as provided in s. 335.184.

(b) The access rights of an owner of property abutting the State Highway System are subject to reasonable regulation to ensure the public’s right and interest in a safe and efficient highway system. This paragraph does not authorize the department to deny a means of reasonable access to an abutting state highway, except on the basis of safety or operational concerns as provided in s. 335.184. Property owners are encouraged to implement the use of joint access where legally available.

(3) The Legislature further declares that it is the purpose of this act to provide a coordinated planning process for the permitting of access points on the State Highway System to effectuate the findings and policy of this act.

(4) Nothing in this act shall affect the right to full compensation under s. 6, Art. X of the State Constitution.

(5) Nothing in this act limits the power of eminent domain vested in the department pursuant to s. 337.27.

(6) This act does not create any additional property rights. The denial of reasonable direct access to an abutting state highway pursuant to s. 335.184 is not compensable under the provisions of this act unless the denial would be otherwise compensable absent the provisions of this act. The denial in and of itself of an access permit by the Department of Transportation shall not be the only substantive allegation in support of a petition to state a cause of action pursuant to s. 6, Art. X of the State Constitution.

(7) Nothing in this act prohibits the construction of service roads along a highway on the State Highway System so long as such service roads provide reasonable access to such highway. A property owner whose land abuts a service road is entitled to reasonable access to such service road pursuant to s. 335.184. However, nothing in this act requires that a property owner whose land abuts a service road be given direct access across the service road to the state highway served thereby.