extend the operation of these provisions until January 1, 2020, and would extend the reporting deadline until January 1, 2019. For purposes of the pilot project described above, the bill would prohibit a combined-use highway road segment or combination of adjacent combined-use highway road segments from exceeding 10 miles.
April 28, 2016 - Sacramento – Senator Tom Berryhill (R-Twain Harte) announced on Wednesday, April 20, 2016 that Senate Bill 1345, a measure to extend the sunset date of Inyo County’s Off Highway Vehicle Adventure Trails project has cleared the Senate
Committee on Transportation and Housing.“This is a good pilot project and deserves every opportunity to continue,” said Berryhill. “Linking up segments of existing ATV trails so that folks have easy access to the trails makes sense in rural communities and will prevent people from illegally driving on non-trails or private property.”
Senator Berryhill sought to replicate the Inyo pilot project in Sierra County but that provision was rejected by the Committee.
“Excluding Sierra County was disappointing. Inyo County is high desert which is a completely different terrain than that in Sierra County. Both counties have different interests and stakeholders. We would have had a better vetting of the policy with multiple counties,” commented Berryhill.
SB 1345 will extend a pilot project enacted by Assembly Bill 628 (Conway) in 2011. AB 628 established a five-year policy project thatallowed Inyo County to designate specific county streets and roads as combined-use routes for off-highway vehicle uses. These combine-use highways are used to link existing OHV trails and trailheads or allow drivers to use these trails for easier access to in-town goods and services. The project was caught up in an extensive environmental review and public input process. As a result, only about six- months of data was collected on the three combined-use routes authorized under the program.
SB 1345 extends the original program for an additional three years. It passed from Committee with nine members supporting and two opposed.
Source: Senator Tom Berryhill
