Title 19, Highways and Ferries

When a federal-aid highway is routed through a municipality, it may participate in the financing, planning, construction, acquisition of right-of-way, and maintenance of the highway in the manner and proportion the department determines is reasonable and proper.

The provisions of law relating to the levying of assessments for highway financing, planning, construction, acquisition of right-of-way, and maintenance, referred to in AS 19.15.030 apply to the extent that they are not inconsistent with the general purpose of AS 19.05 — AS 19.25…

(a) The department may enter into cooperative agreements with a municipality for the construction or maintenance of a connecting highway that is part of the state highway system and located within the municipality. (b) The jurisdiction, control, and duty of the department and mun…

(a) A municipality, by resolution of its governing body, may request of the department the assumption of the department's responsibilities relating to planning of transportation corridors that are to be located within the boundaries or operating area of the municipality. After re…

(a) A municipality, by resolution of its governing body, may request the transfer to it of the responsibility of the department for the operation and maintenance of a traffic control system that regulates the flow of traffic at intersections of highways and roads maintained by th…

The department and a municipality, acting alone or in cooperation with each other or with a federal agency participating in the construction and maintenance of highways, may plan, designate, establish, regulate, vacate, alter, improve, maintain, and provide controlled-access faci…

The department and a municipality may design a controlled-access facility and may regulate, restrict, or prohibit access to best serve the traffic for which the facility is intended. The department and the municipality may divide and separate a controlled-access facility into sep…

For the purposes of AS 19.05 — AS 19.25 the department and a municipality may acquire private or public property and property rights, including rights of access, air, view, and light for controlled-access facilities and service roads by gift, devise, purchase, or condemnation in …

The department and a municipality may designate and establish controlled-access highways as new and additional facilities, or may designate and establish an existing highway as included within a controlled-access facility. The department and the municipality may provide for the e…

The department and a municipality may enter into an agreement with each other or with the federal government for the financing, planning, establishment, improvement, maintenance, use regulation, or vacation of controlled-access facilities or other public ways in their respective …

In the development of a controlled-access facility, the department and the municipality may plan, designate, establish, use, regulate, alter, improve, maintain, and vacate local service highways and exercise jurisdiction over them in the same manner authorized for the exercise of…

A municipality of over 5,000 population, according to the latest available census, together with the department, shall develop and adopt a master highway plan, which shall insure the proper location and integration of the Alaska highway connections in the municipality. In selecti…

In order to coordinate transportation planning in urbanized areas and achieve the transportation planning goals of 23 U.S.C. 134 and 49 U.S.C. 5303 — 5306, a metropolitan planning organization shall be established for each metropolitan area of the state when required for particip…

(a) The policy board of a metropolitan planning organization established under AS 19.20.200 for a metropolitan area with a population greater than 200,000 persons shall consist of at least seven voting members. A quorum of the policy board is a majority of the voting members of t…

The governor may approve a transportation improvement plan or an amendment to a transportation improvement plan prepared by a metropolitan planning organization if the plan is consistent with applicable federal law and regulation and the policy board of the metropolitan planning …

The purpose of this chapter is to promote the safety, convenience, and enjoyment of travel on and protection of the public investment in highways of the state, and to authorize the restoration, preservation, and enhancement of scenic beauty within and adjacent to highways of the …

(a) The department is authorized to acquire by purchase, exchange, gift, or condemnation land or any interest in land necessary for the restoration, preservation, and enhancement of scenic beauty, within or adjacent to the rights-of-way of highways on the state highway system. (b…

In this chapter, “state highway system” means all highways located in this state which are or hereafter may be officially designated as state highways under the provisions of AS 19.10.020.

A utility facility may be constructed, placed, or maintained across, along, over, under, or within a state right-of-way only in accordance with regulations adopted by the department and if authorized by a written permit issued by the department. The department may charge a fee fo…

(a) If, incident to the construction of a highway project, the department determines and orders that a utility facility located across, along, over, under, or within a state right-of-way must be changed, relocated, or removed, the utility owning or maintaining the facility shall …

(a) The people of the State of Alaska find that the presence of billboards visible from Alaska's highways endangers Alaska's uniqueness and its scenic beauty. (b) It is the intent of the people of the State of Alaska that Alaska shall forever remain free of billboards.

The purposes of AS 19.25.080 — 19.25.180 are (1) to protect the public safety and the welfare of persons using the highways of the state by having outdoor advertising signs, displays, and devices along the highways controlled; (2) to prevent unreasonable distraction of operators …

Except as provided in AS 19.25.105, all outdoor advertising is prohibited.

(a) Outdoor advertising may not be erected or maintained within 660 feet of the nearest edge of the right-of-way and visible from the main-traveled way of the interstate, primary, or secondary highways in this state except the following: (1) directional and other official signs a…

A person who violates AS 19.25.080 — 19.25.180, or a regulation adopted under AS 19.25.080 — 19.25.180, is guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction is punishable by a fine of not less than $50 nor more than $5,000.

(a) The department is authorized to acquire by purchase, gift, or condemnation all advertising devices and any property rights pertaining to them when the advertising devices are required to be removed under AS 19.25.150. (b) Damages resulting from a taking in eminent domain shal…

An advertising sign, display, or device that violates the provisions of AS 19.25.080 — 19.25.180 is a public nuisance. The department shall give 30 days' notice, by certified mail, to the owner of the land on which the advertising sign, display, or device is located, ordering its…

In AS 19.25.080 — 19.25.180, (1) “billboards” means any signboards, signs, displays, notices, or forms of outdoor advertising that do not strictly comply with the provisions of AS 19.25.075 — 19.25.180, or with any permit or permits issued pursuant to AS 19.25.075 — 19.25.180; (2…

The department is authorized to enter into agreements in conformity with the provisions of this title with the United States Secretary of Transportation as provided by 23 U.S.C. relating to the control of outdoor advertising signs, displays, and devices in areas adjacent to inter…

Notwithstanding AS 19.25.080 — 19.25.180, a municipality may enact ordinances that regulate outdoor advertising in a way that is more restrictive than the provisions of AS 19.25.080 — 19.25.180.

(a) An encroachment may be constructed, placed, changed, or maintained across or along a highway, but only in accordance with regulations adopted by the department. An encroachment may not be constructed, placed, maintained, or changed until it is authorized by a written permit i…

If, incidental to the construction or maintenance of a state highway, the department determines and orders that an encroachment previously authorized by written permit must be changed, relocated, or removed, the owner of the encroachment shall change, relocate, or remove it at no…

If an unauthorized encroachment exists in, on, under, or over a state highway, the department may require the removal of the encroachment in the manner provided in AS 19.25.230 — 19.25.250.

Except as otherwise provided in AS 19.25.200, 19.25.210, and 19.25.240, notice shall be given the owner, occupant, or person in possession of the encroachment, or to any other person causing or permitting the encroachment to exist, by serving upon any of them a notice demanding t…

The department may at any time remove from a state highway or road an encroachment that obstructs or prevents the use of the highway or road by the public.

After a failure of the owner of an encroachment to comply with a notice or demand of the department under the provisions of AS 19.25.200, 19.25.210 and 19.25.230, the department may remove, or cause to be removed, the encroachment, and the owner of the encroachment shall pay to t…

(a) Notwithstanding AS 19.25.090, 19.25.105, and 19.25.200, a person may, for a period of not more than two years, place in the right-of-way but outside of the traveled way of a state highway a temporary memorial for a decedent who died as a result of a traffic accident, or other…

(a) If, incidental to the construction or maintenance of a state highway, the department determines that a memorial authorized by AS 19.25.260 must be changed, relocated, or removed, the person who placed the memorial within the right-of-way shall change, relocate, or remove the …

For the purpose of promoting the public safety, health, welfare, convenience, and enjoyment of public travel, to protect the public investment in public highways and other roads maintained by the state, and to preserve and enhance the scenic beauty of land bordering public highwa…

A person may not establish, operate, or maintain a junk yard, any portion of which is within 1,000 feet of the nearest edge of the right-of-way of any interstate, primary or secondary highway or other road maintained by the state, except the following: (1) those which are screene…

(a) A junk yard lawfully in existence on August 6, 1968, that is within 1,000 feet of the nearest edge of the right-of-way and visible from the main-traveled way of any highway on the interstate or primary system shall be screened, if feasible, so as not to be visible from the ma…

(a) If the owner or operator of a junk yard does not screen the yard under AS 19.27.030, and the department has not determined that screening would be unfeasible, the department may screen the yard. The owner or operator shall reimburse the department for the costs of the labor a…

The department may adopt regulations governing the location, planting, construction, and maintenance, including the materials used in the screening or fencing required by this chapter.

When the department determines that the topography of the land adjoining the highway or the road maintained by the state will not permit adequate screening of those junk yards lawfully in existence as provided in AS 19.27.030 or the screening of the junk yards would not be econom…

A junk yard that is in violation of a provision of this title, or a regulation adopted under this title, is a public nuisance.

At the request of the department the attorney general may institute a civil action in superior court to abate a junk yard that is a nuisance as defined in this chapter. In the proceedings the court shall determine whether the junk yard is a nuisance as defined in this chapter and…