Section 10-D. Statewide preventive maintenance plan for highways and bridges

1. Definitions. For the purposes of this  section,  unless  the  context or subject matter otherwise requires:
    (a) "Preventive  maintenance" shall mean planned activities undertaken
  by the commissioner to reduce or arrest the  rate  of  deterioration  of
  state  highways and bridges, or to maintain such highways and bridges in
  a state of good repair. These activities may correct minor defects as  a
  secondary benefit.
    (b) "Pavement  management  system"  shall  mean  a system to assist in
  determining the optimum strategy to preserve state pavements in  a  safe
  and  serviceable  condition  at  the  lowest  feasible total capital and
  maintenance cost over the useful life  of  such  pavement.  Such  system
  shall  conform  with or exceed federal requirements and shall include an
  annual survey of state highway pavement conditions.
    (c) "Bridge management system"  shall  mean  a  system  to  assist  in
  determining the optimum strategy to preserve state bridges in a safe and
  serviceable   condition   at  the  lowest  feasible  total  capital  and
  maintenance cost over the useful life of such bridges. Such system shall
  conform with  or  exceed  federal  requirements  and  shall  include  an
  inspection  of  state  bridges  in  accordance  with section two hundred
  thirty-two of this chapter.
    2. Statewide preventive maintenance plan. Every year the  commissioner
  shall  develop  a five-year plan for the preventive maintenance of state
  highways and bridges. The plan shall be submitted to  the  governor  and
  the  chairs  of  the  senate finance committee and the assembly ways and
  means committee at the time the department  submits  its  annual  budget
  request,  but no later than December thirty-first of each year. The plan
  shall:
    (a) describe the current condition of state highways, by setting forth
  the number of lane  miles  in  each  highway  condition  level  in  each
  department  of  transportation  residency  and region based on an annual
  pavement  condition  survey  conducted  pursuant  to  the   department's
  pavement management system;
    (b)  describe the current condition of state bridges, by setting forth
  the number of bridges in each bridge condition level in each  department
  of transportation region based on an inspection of each bridge conducted
  pursuant  to the department's bridge management system and in accordance
  with section two hundred thirty-two of this chapter;
    (c) establish goals for the condition  of  the  state's  highways  and
  bridges  for  each  of  the next five fiscal years which can be achieved
  through an integrated  program  of  capital  investment  and  preventive
  maintenance,  set  forth  for each highway and bridge condition level in
  each department of transportation region;
    (d) describe the  preventive  maintenance  activities  and  levels  of
  funding projected to be necessary to achieve the goals for the condition
  of  the  state's  highways  and bridges for each of the next five fiscal
  years, set forth for each highway and bridge  condition  level  in  each
  department of transportation region. Such description shall be developed
  utilizing  the  department's  pavement  management and bridge management
  systems;
    (e) demonstrate the cost effectiveness of these preventive maintenance
  activities and levels of funding through an  analysis  of  the  cost  of
  alternative  preventive  maintenance  techniques  over the life cycle of
  state highways and bridges consistent with the highway  law  life  cycle
  requirements;
    (f) summarize the preventive maintenance work which could occur if the
  amounts   requested  for  the  next  fiscal  year  pursuant  to  section
  fourteen-b of the state finance law are appropriated, set forth for each

  state highway pavement condition level by department  of  transportation
  residency,  and  for  each state bridge condition level by department of
  transportation region; and
    (g)  commencing  with the statewide preventive maintenance plan due no
  later than December thirty-first, nineteen hundred ninety-five,  provide
  information  relative  to the prior and current fiscal year's preventive
  maintenance plan, including the extent to which goals  relative  to  the
  condition   of  state  highways  and  bridges  established  pursuant  to
  paragraph (c) of this subdivision have been achieved, set forth for each
  state highway and bridge condition level by department of transportation
  region.
    3. Submission of  the  statewide  preventive  maintenance  plan  shall
  constitute  compliance  with  the  requirements  of  subdivision  (d) of
  section fourteen-b and section twenty-six of the state finance law.
    4. Incorporation  of  statewide  preventive  maintenance  plan.    The
  statewide  preventive maintenance plan developed pursuant to subdivision
  two of this section shall be incorporated into the department's  capital
  projects  statement  to be submitted to the governor pursuant to section
  fourteen-b of the state finance law, and  shall  be  considered  by  the
  division of the budget prior to the submission of the budget pursuant to
  section twenty-two of the state finance law.
    5.  Within  nine  months  after the enactment of the budget for fiscal
  year nineteen hundred ninety-three--ninety-four, the commissioner  shall
  submit  to  the  governor  a  summary of the preventive maintenance work
  which has been undertaken or is planned to be undertaken in such  fiscal
  year.  Copies of such summary shall forthwith be furnished to the chairs
  of  the  senate  finance  committee  and  the  assembly  ways  and means
  committee.
    6. Independent program evaluation. The commissioner shall cause to  be
  performed  once  every  five  years  an  independent  evaluation  of the
  preventive maintenance of state highways and  bridges.  Such  evaluation
  shall  be  conducted  by  a  professional engineering firm expert in the
  field of preventive maintenance and preventive maintenance planning. The
  first evaluation shall be  submitted  to  the  governor  no  later  than
  October  first, nineteen hundred ninety-five, and succeeding evaluations
  shall be submitted every five years thereafter.  Such  evaluation  shall
  include but not be limited to:
    (a)  an  assessment  of  the adequacy of the preventive maintenance of
  state highways and bridges;
    (b) an  assessment  of  the  adequacy  of  the  department's  pavement
  management  system  and bridge management system and recommendations for
  improvements to those systems;
    (c) recommendations for any improvements or technological advances  in
  the way in which the state should maintain state highways and bridges;
    (d) an assessment as to whether the level or allocation of funding for
  the  preventive  maintenance of state highways and bridges is sufficient
  considering the goals for the condition  of  the  state's  highways  and
  bridges  for  the  next  five fiscal years as set forth in the statewide
  preventive maintenance plan developed pursuant  to  subdivision  two  of
  this section.
    7.  Liability provisions. No preventive maintenance plan or evaluation
  of such plan required by this section shall be admissible in any  action
  or  proceeding in which the state or any of its departments, agencies or
  authorities,  or  any   municipal   corporation   or   other   political
  subdivision,  or  any  officer or employee thereof, is a party, to prove
  the existence of a particular defect or dangerous condition of a highway
  or bridge; nor shall the state or any of its  departments,  agencies  or
  authorities,   or   any   municipal   corporation   or  other  political

  subdivision, or any officer or employee  thereof,  be  held  liable  for
  damages  as  a  result  of  a  failure  to  comply  with  any preventive
  maintenance plan required by this section or to take  any  action  as  a
  result of an evaluation of such plan.