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 Roads
Page Contents:
What are the changes
in December 2002?
The administrative regime for roads is being
streamlined and simplified. Joint approvals have been removed
and most District Manager approvals are removed. A Road Layout
and Design (RLAD) must be prepared, but government approval
is only required in prescribed circumstances specified in the
Forest Road Regulation (FRR)—a new regulation replacing
the previous Forest Road Regulation. Deactivation and maintenance
is also being simplified.
Road Layout and
Design Content
While RLAD plans must still be prepared
before a road is constructed or modified, the content requirements
are significantly reduced as defined in Part 2 of the FRR. RLAD
plans continue to require a map showing the location of the
road as determined by a field traverse, with stream or lake
crossings indicated. The results of visual and archeological
assessments are required only in areas that require these assessments.
The requirement for terrain stability field assessments has
been removed. However, field confirmation of map or slope triggers
is required to determine if the terrain is unstable. If so,
measures must be designed to provide terrain stability.
The intent of these changes is two-fold,
to:
- Streamline
the process by reducing the number of approvals required while
at the same time ensuring the practices on the ground remain
sound; and
- Shift
the responsibility from the government for approving road
layouts and designs to the licencee preparing the plan.
Approvals
Most RLAD do not require District Manager
approval, but they must be available to the public on request.
District Manager approval for RLAD is only required in 3 circumstances
(Section 3 of FRR), where the road is proposed to be:
- within
a riparian management area, other than for crossings;
- in a
community watershed and within 100 metres upstream of a known
licensed community water supply intake; and
- crossing
an unstable or potentially unstable area, where the licencee
proposes measures that would not result in the least likelihood
of landslides.
In any one of these three circumstances,
a licencee will submit a RLAD for the road segment in question
for District Manager approval.
The intent of these changes is to retain
the requirement for government review and approval of roads
in high-risk circumstances.
Planning and
Design Changes
Most of the design requirements for new bridges
and stream culverts have been removed. Professional design requirements
have been established by the Joint Practices Board of the APEGBC
and ABCPF.
A person must design new bridges including
their approaches and stream culvert structures to meet the peak
flow criteria set out in the table specified in Section 6.1
of the FRR. These tables are now based on the planned life of
the structure. There are no longer specific peak flow requirements
for each type of structure. These have been changed to cover
short-term structures.
Construction
Legislative requirements for construction
have changed to a more results-based approach while ensuring
the safety and stability of the road. Examples of changes included
in Part 3 of the FRR include the following:
- replacement
of roads surfacing requirements with requirements to reduce
sediment transport and provide for an industrial level of
user safety;
- removal
of the requirement for construction surveys;
- replacement
of detailed procedures for stumps, roots and embedded logs
with a requirement to ensure a stable road prism; and
- removal
of District Manager involvement in revegetation and natural
regeneration is now a specified option.
Maintenance
& Inspections
Licencees are responsible to ensure that
inspections are reliable and must ensure that structures will
continue to carry design loads or they must recommend replacement.
The licencee is required to do what is necessary to inspect
roads and determine the timing and extent of repairs.
Changes in maintenance and inspections as
outlined in Part 4 of the FRR include the following:
- No change
in the inspection frequency requirements; and
- Removal
of the content requirements of inspection records and the
District Manager determining who is a qualified inspector.
Road Deactivation
Part 5 of the OSPR covers road deactivation.
There is now only one category of road deactivation — (i.e.
equivalent to permanent deactivation in the previous legislation,
except now all stream pipe coverts must be removed) as defined
in Part 5 of the FRR. The term road deactivation will now also
mean closure. There is no requirement to prepare a Deactivation
Prescription except in unstable terrain. The District Manager
no longer approves deactivation prescriptions but a registered
professional may be required to sign and seal a statement that
the deactivation work was carried out in general conformance
with the prescription.
The intent of these changes is to simplify
road deactivation and maintenance. This supports the shift to
the new Forest and Range Practices Act, reduces the administrative
processes and shifts the focus from District Manager approval
to responsibility of the licencee and professional accountability.
Applicable
Legislation
Appendix A (
269 Kb) summarizes the amendments to the Forest
Practices Code of British Columbia Act that impact roads.
The applicable regulations for roads include
the following:
- Forest
Road Regulation; and
- Forest
Service Road Use Regulation.
Lists of changes in these regulations can
be found in Appendix
B (
388 Kb)of this Primer.
Downloads
Recorded Presentations
Audio and slide presentations were made to
provide information to session participants from subject matter
experts. For
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We have provided the Powerpoint overheads,
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(3 slides per page), and the full presentation with audio.
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