Section 229-310-3 - PRELIMINARY REQUEST1.Preliminary Requests for a Special Haul Route Permit may be submitted to the Department and must be in writing.2.PurposeA. A Preliminary Request presents a conceptual Request describing a Special Haul Route and the Requestor's intended use in sufficient detail to enable the Department to determine if a Request is feasible by performing an initial assessment of the status and ownership of, and jurisdictional responsibility for, all of the public ways intended to be utilized, and an inventory of the components of public highway infrastructure potentially affected by the Request. Detailed plans and specifications are not required at this point.B. To the greatest extent practicable, the Preliminary Request should not contain proprietary or other information that would be considered exempt from disclosure underMaine's Freedom of Access Act (1 MRSA 401 et seq.) or the Federal Freedom of Information Act.3. A Preliminary Request shall include the following information: A. Requestor's name, address, contact information, and background, including that of any existing or potential partners;B. A synopsis of the overall business process or project for which the overlimit allowance is being sought, including commodities to be transported and a description of existing and proposed origination and destination facilities;C. Identification of known or anticipated interconnections with existing or planned transportation facilities that will be required if the project is approved;D. Proposed start and end points (including coordinates in decimal degrees, WGS 1984) of the proposed route, any intermediate stopping points and total length;E. A topographic map with a scale of 1:2,000, or other appropriate scale, that delineates the location of the proposed Route;F. A preliminary list of any existing or additional local, state, or federal agency permits or approvals expected to be required in order to develop or operate the business project for which the allowance is being sought and a projected schedule for obtaining such permits or approvals;G. A listing of all municipalities, plantations, townships, unorganized or deorganized areas in a county, and reservations or trust land of a federally recognized Indian tribe in this State, that are traversed by the proposed route, and a letter of support from the appropriate local political entity, or its designated governing body, having jurisdiction over the area encompassing the designated public way or ways included in the proposed route;H. A preliminary description of the specified commercial motor vehicle configuration or configurations for which the Requestor seeks allowance to operate on the specified route of travel;I. Proposed starting date of project operations (timeframe);J. Expected frequency of trips per day and at what times during the day those trips will occur.K. Legal status of the Requestor and preliminary information concerning the Requestor's legal and financial capacity to carry out the Request;L. A description of each of the public and private ways to be included in the designated route by official name(s), alternate and historic name(s), present and former route designation(s) and any additional descriptive information that would tend to promote increased public awareness of the specific route included in the Request;M. Whether the proposed route will be utilized as a non-stop, point-to-point travel route or will involve intermediate stopping points at locations other than origin/destination points.N. A declaration as to whether the Requestor will also be the registered owner of the commercial motor vehicles to be utilized, and information regarding the legal status and relationship to the Requestor of the registered owner(s) commercial motor vehicles to be utilizedif different from the Requestor;O. A description of any public or private sector facilities that will likely be utilized by, or are anticipated to be necessary or desirable for the use of, the specified commercial motor vehicles or their operators. Examples of this would include hillclimbing or special truck lanes, rest or parking areas, truck stops, restaurants, fueling facilities and communications facilities.P. A description of how the Project intends to address issues caused by the operation of vehicles as they transition from gravel to paved surface roads, including the spread of mud onto paved surfaces by tires and debris from materials being transported over the route.Q. A detailed analysis of the public benefits of the project and how the project meets the overall statutory purpose of promoting economic development while ensuring public safety and protecting the public investment in the public transportation infrastructure; and,R. Any additional information that may help the Department or the public more fully understands the design, purpose, impacts and benefits of the project.4.ReviewA. The Department will acknowledge receipt of a Preliminary Requestin writing and after review will either deem the Request complete or return it as incomplete and specify in writing the reasons it was returned.B. If the Preliminary Request has been deemed incomplete, the Department shall request any additional information from the Requestor that may be necessary to determine if the Request is feasible.C. Whenever these rules require or allow the filing of any paper or submission, that filing is complete upon receipt by the Department.D. Once the Preliminary Request is deemed complete, the Department will review it and make a feasibility determination on the Preliminary Request. A Preliminary Request will normally be deemed feasible if the Department determines that the proposed route will promote economic development while ensuring public safety, is capable of being implemented without unreasonable or excessive cost to the public, will not expedite the deterioration of the impacted transportation asset(s), will not interfere with the use, maintenance or operation of the highway corridor, and will not involve vehicle configurations or routes that are prohibited by statute.E. If the Preliminary Request is deemed not feasible, the Department will issue a decision setting out the reasons for this determination. Department staff will be available to meet with the Requestor to answer any questions. The issuance of a determination that the Preliminary Request is not feasible does not prejudice the Requestor's ability to modify its Preliminary Request or file a new proposal at some time in the future.5.Formal RequestsA. If the Preliminary Request is deemed feasible, the Requestor will file a Formal Request on a Request Form provided by the Department as provided in this section. The Request Form will, at minimum, call for any and all information that will assist the Department in evaluating the Request. The following technical information will be required for each vehicle type: truck type, axle spacing and load distribution on axles, overall load (GVW), average operating speed, wheel configurations, tire pressure, tire width and contact area, and time of year loads will be applied (annually, summer, winter, etc.).B. A Formal Request from a corporation must be submitted in the corporation's registered corporate name, and must include either a Certificate of Good Standing or a statement signed by a corporate officer affirming that the corporation is in good standing.C.Initial FeePrior to submittal of a Formal Request, the Requestor shall pay a minimum fee of $2,500.00 to the Department. The fee may increase depending on the anticipated complexity of the Technical Review. This fee is separate from, and will not be credited towards, any of the costs for which the Requestor is responsible under the terms of any future Memorandum of Agreement with the Department. Upon receipt of the fee, the Department will send the Requestor specific requirements for submitting a detailed Formal Request.
D. Formal Requests must be submitted by May 1 of a given year for potential inclusion in the Department's annual Work Plan for the following year. 17-229 C.M.R. ch. 310, § 3