The state may consider a multi-use path (aka, "bike path") a highway, but obviously the FHWA does not, as evidenced by the fact that they allowed Dane County and others to charge a fee to use the path. There was a lawsuit about the fee charged on the Cap City Trail - the Dane County/Fitchburg portion, not the Madison portion, which has always been free - and it was even appealed when the first ruling came down. I can't remember who the plaintiff was, but I don't think it was an individual. WisDOT, maybe?
Because federal funding was used to pay for the trail, and FHWA rules do not allow tolls on (new) highways paid for with federal funding (older toll roads were grandfathered in), the position of the plaintiff was that a toll could not be charged on the Cap City Trail. There were also federal definitions of a highway that clearly said things like businesses and residences being accessed from the highway, connections to other highways, etc. All of which the Cap City Trail has. Yet the ruling was that Dane County and others could indeed charge a toll to use the highway. Robbie Webber Transportation Policy Analyst State Smart Transportation Initiative www.ssti.us 608-263-9984 (o) [email protected] On Wed, Feb 5, 2014 at 10:23 AM, Ross, Arthur <[email protected]>wrote: > A bike path is indeed a street. A street is a highway, a highway is any > public way open to vehicular traffic, a bicycle is a vehicle, a bike path > is a public way open to vehicles, ergo a path is a street. > > >
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