Designation of qualifying highways and access highways

§ 1627. Designation of qualifying highways and access highways. (a) The commissioner of transportation shall, for the purposes of this chapter, by rule or regulation, designate qualifying highways which shall be highways on the national system of interstate and defense highways or federal-aid primary highways.

(b) The department of transportation, for the purposes of this chapter, shall develop criteria to determine a highway providing access between qualifying highways and terminals, facilities for food, fuel, repairs, and rest and, in addition, for points of loading and unloading for household goods carriers. The department may, by order, rule or regulation, designate public highways within the state as access highways. The department of transportation, upon the request of the legislative body of any city or village, or of a county superintendent of highways, or of a town board may, by order, rule or regulation, designate other city or village streets, or county roads, or town highways, respectively, as access highways. Before designating any county, town, city or village, street or highway as an access highway, the commissioner of transportation shall notify the municipality having jurisdiction over such street or highway of the need for such local access road and solicit comments thereon. If objections to the designation are filed by the municipality having jurisdiction over a particular street or highway, the commissioner of transportation shall set, as soon as practicable, a public informational meeting. If the commissioner of transportation finds, after holding a public informational meeting, that his proposed designation is proper and reasonable, prior to filing a notice of agency action he shall so notify the municipality in writing setting forth his findings and justifications for such designation. The municipality shall have the right of judicial review pursuant to article seventy-eight of the civil practice law and rules.

(c) In order to implement the provisions of this section, the commissioner of transportation may issue a permit pursuant to subdivision fifteen of section three hundred eighty-five of this chapter or may sign such public highways.