When the department, in cooperation with rapid transit districts, recommends that mass public transportation facilities should be located along a proposed freeway corridor in order to establish a planned balanced transportation system, the commission shall consider this recommendation in making its decision as to the location of the freeway.

If the commission determines that the location of mass public transportation facilities should be located along the proposed freeway corridor, it may also direct the department to plan, design, and construct the freeway so as to provide locations for those facilities, and the cost thereof shall be considered as part of the cost of constructing the state highway. In making this determination, the commission shall consider the extent to which the mass public transportation facilities will reduce the volume of traffic on the proposed freeway and the impact the joint development will have on community values. The commission shall also consider whether the rapid transit district has adopted a general plan for the development of its mass public transportation facilities and the likelihood as to whether sufficient funds will be available for the development of mass public transportation service in those locations. The commission shall authorize the department to provide those locations along federal-aid highways only in instances in which it has received assurances of full federal financial participation in the cost of providing those locations.

If mass public transportation facilities other than roadways and other facilities for use of buses are to be constructed and placed in use in those locations, the department may enter into agreements for the sale of the locations to transit districts for that use at a price equal to the market value of the property at the time of sale. If mass public transportation facilities are not placed in use in the locations provided within five years of completion of the freeway, the department may develop those locations for freeway purposes, or it may lease or otherwise dispose of the locations in accordance with the provisions of this code.

The department may, in cooperation with rapid transit districts, develop exclusive or preferential bus lanes in those locations in accordance with Section 149.

(Amended by Stats. 2002, Ch. 438, Sec. 25. Effective January 1, 2003.)