KRS 148.690: Determination of boundaries of abandoned rights -of-way and abandoned

railroad corridors -- Evaluation of potential for conversion to railtrail.

(1) The department shall review all formal declarations of railroad right -of-way

abandonments by the Surfac e Transportation Board or other agency with

jurisdiction and may review former railroad corridors for possible inclusion in the

state trails system. The commissioner shall, within three (3) years after the route of

a trail or trail segment included in the system has been located, determine the

boundaries of the right-of-way to be associated with that trail. Such boundaries shall

be established in such a manner that they protect the scenic value of the trail.

(2) The commissioner is authorized to develop eff ective procedures to assure that,

wherever practicable, utility rights -of-way, abandoned railroad corridors, or similar

properties having value for trail purposes may be made available for such use;

however, the commissioner shall take into consideration t he rights of adjacent

property owners in the development of any such procedures. Other departments of

state government having jurisdiction, control over, or information concerning the

use, abandonment, or disposition of rights -of-way, railroad corridors, a nd similar

properties that may be suitable for trail purposes shall cooperate with the

commissioner in the transfer of these rights for trail use. These procedures shall

include, at a minimum, that, for every railroad corridor that is the subject of a

request for federal authority to discontinue service or for federal regulatory

abandonment, the commissioner shall evaluate the potential of converting that

corridor into a railtrail. The commissioner shall cause a preliminary review to be

completed within thi rty (30) days of the publication of the request for federal

authority in the Federal Register. The commissioner shall cause a final review to be

completed ninety (90) days after the publication of the request for federal authority

in the Federal Register. The commissioner shall timely transmit copies of these

reviews to the Legislative Research Commission and to the Commonwealth's

Railtrail Development Office in the Department for Local Government as they are

completed. If either review indicates the possibility of converting the corridor into a

railtrail, the commissioner may participate in the federal proceeding to request that

the corridor be railbanked in accordance with federal law or to request the

imposition of a public use condition.