The jurisdiction,
control, and duty of the state and city or town with respect to
such streets is as follows:
(1) The department has no authority to change or establish
any grade of any such street without approval of the governing
body of such city or town, except with respect to limited access
facilities established by the commission;
(2) The city or town shall exercise full responsibility for
and control over any such street beyond the curbs and if no curb
is installed, beyond that portion of the highway used for highway
purposes. However, within incorporated cities and towns the
title to a state limited access highway vests in the state, and,
notwithstanding any other provision of this section, the
department shall exercise full jurisdiction, responsibility, and
control to and over such facility as provided in chapter 47.52 RCW;
(3) The department has authority to prohibit the suspension
of signs, banners, or decorations above the portion of such
street between the curbs or portion used for highway purposes up
to a vertical height of twenty feet above the surface of the
roadway;
(4) The city or town shall at its own expense maintain all
underground facilities in such streets, and has the right to
construct such additional underground facilities as may be
necessary in such streets. However, pavement trenching and
restoration performed as part of installation of such facilities
must meet or exceed requirements established by the department;
(5) The city or town has the right to grant the privilege to
open the surface of any such street, but all damage occasioned
thereby shall promptly be repaired either by the city or town
itself or at its direction. Pavement trenching and restoration
performed under a privilege granted by the city under this
subsection must meet or exceed requirements established by the
department;
(6) The city or town at its own expense shall provide street
illumination and shall clean all such streets, including storm
sewer inlets and catch basins, and remove all snow, except that
the state shall when necessary plow the snow on the roadway. In
cities and towns having a population of twenty-five thousand or
less according to the latest determination of population by the
office of financial management, the state, when necessary for
public safety, shall assume, at its expense, responsibility for
the stability of the slopes of cuts and fills and the embankments
within the right-of-way to protect the roadway itself. When the
population of a city or town first exceeds twenty-five thousand
according to the determination of population by the office of
financial management, the city or town shall have three years
from the date of the determination to plan for additional
staffing, budgetary, and equipment requirements before being
required to assume the responsibilities under this subsection.
The state shall install, maintain, and operate all illuminating
facilities on any limited access facility, together with its
interchanges, located within the corporate limits of any city or
town, and shall assume and pay the costs of all such
installation, maintenance, and operation incurred after November
1, 1954;
(7) The department has the right to use all storm sewers on
such highways without cost; and if new storm sewer facilities are
necessary in construction of new streets by the department, the
cost of the facilities shall be borne by the state and/or city as
may be mutually agreed upon between the department and the
governing body of the city or town;
(8) Cities and towns have exclusive right to grant
franchises not in conflict with state laws and rules, over,
beneath, and upon such streets, but the department is authorized
to enforce in an action brought in the name of the state any
condition of any franchise which a city or town has granted on
such street. No franchise for transportation of passengers in
motor vehicles may be granted on such streets without the
approval of the department, but the department shall not refuse
to approve such franchise unless another street conveniently
located and of strength of construction to sustain travel of such
vehicles is accessible;
(9) Every franchise or permit granted any person by a city
or town for use of any portion of such street by a public utility
must require the grantee or permittee to restore, repair, and
replace any portion of the street damaged or injured by it to
conditions that meet or exceed requirements established by the
department;
(10) The city or town has the right to issue overload or
overwidth permits for vehicles to operate on such streets or
roads subject to regulations printed and distributed to the
cities and towns by the department;
(11) Cities and towns shall regulate and enforce all traffic
and parking restrictions on such streets, but all regulations
adopted by a city or town relating to speed, parking, and traffic
control devices on such streets not identical to state law
relating thereto are subject to the approval of the department
before becoming effective. All regulations pertaining to speed,
parking, and traffic control devices relating to such streets
heretofore adopted by a city or town not identical with state
laws shall become null and void unless approved by the department
heretofore or within one year after March 21, 1963;
(12) The department shall erect, control, and maintain at
state expense all route markers and directional signs, except
street signs, on such streets;
(13) The department shall install, operate, maintain, and
control at state expense all traffic control signals, signs, and
traffic control devices for the purpose of regulating both
pedestrian and motor vehicular traffic on, entering upon, or
leaving state highways in cities and towns having a population of
twenty-five thousand or less according to the latest
determination of population by the office of financial
management. Such cities and towns may submit to the department a
plan for traffic control signals, signs, and traffic control
devices desired by them, indicating the location, nature of
installation, or type thereof, or a proposed amendment to such an
existing plan or installation, and the department shall consult
with the cities or towns concerning the plan before installing
such signals, signs, or devices. Cities and towns having a
population in excess of twenty-five thousand according to the
latest determination of population by the office of financial
management shall install, maintain, operate, and control such
signals, signs, and devices at their own expense, subject to
approval of the department for the installation and type only.
When the population of a city or town first exceeds twenty-five
thousand according to the determination of population by the
office of financial management, the city or town shall have three
years from the date of the determination to plan for additional
staffing, budgetary, and equipment requirements before being
required to assume the responsibilities under this subsection.
For the purpose of this subsection, striping, lane marking, and
channelization are considered traffic control devices;
(14) All revenue from parking meters placed on such streets
belongs to the city or town;
(15) Rights-of-way for such streets shall be acquired by
either the city or town or by the state as shall be mutually
agreed upon. Costs of acquiring rights-of-way may be at the sole
expense of the state or at the expense of the city or town or at
the expense of the state and the city or town as may be mutually
agreed upon. Title to all such rights-of-way so acquired shall
vest in the city or town: PROVIDED, That no vacation, sale,
rental, or any other nontransportation use of any unused portion
of any such street may be made by the city or town without the
prior written approval of the department; and all revenue derived
from sale, vacation, rental, or any nontransportation use of such
rights-of-way shall be shared by the city or town and the state
in the same proportion as the purchase costs were shared;
(16) If any city or town fails to perform any of its
obligations as set forth in this section or in any cooperative
agreement entered into with the department for the maintenance of
a city or town street forming part of the route of a state
highway, the department may notify the mayor of the city or town
to perform the necessary maintenance within thirty days. If the
city or town within the thirty days fails to perform the
maintenance or fails to authorize the department to perform the
maintenance as provided by RCW 47.24.050, the department may
perform the maintenance, the cost of which is to be deducted from
any sums in the motor vehicle fund credited or to be credited to
the city or town.
[2007 c 84 § 1; 2001 c 201 § 8; 1993 c 126 § 1; 1991 c 342 § 52; 1987 c 68 § 1; 1984 c 7 § 150; 1977 ex.s. c 78 § 7; 1967 c 115 § 1; 1963 c 150 § 1; 1961 c 13 § 47.24.020. Prior: 1957 c 83 § 3; 1955 c 179 § 3; 1953 c 193 § 1; 1949 c 220 § 5, part; 1945 c 250 § 1, part; 1943 c 82 § 10, part; 1937 c 187 § 61, part; Rem. Supp. 1949 § 6450-61, part.]
NOTES:
Effective dates -- 1991 c 342: See note following RCW 47.26.167.
Severability -- 1984 c 7: See note following RCW 47.01.141.