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Assembly Bill 628 Implementation Update

All County maintained streets and roads (paved or dirt) are considered to be ‘highways’ under the California Vehicle Code. Currently, the combined-use of County maintained roads by OHVs is not permitted.

Assembly Bill 628 made revisions to the California Vehicle Code establishing a pilot project allowing Inyo County to designate specific County highways (streets and roads) as combined-use routes. The future designation of combined use routes would allow the use of County streets and roads by Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV). On May 8, 2012, the Board of Supervisors adopted Implementing Procedures for the designation of combined-use routes. Follow the link to view a list of County maintained roads and the combined-use application.

March 5, 2013 - Input Sought on California Department of Parks and Recreation Off Highway Motor Vehicle division grant - the Inyo County Public Works Department is applying for a two phase grant application to the State. The first phase will be for the CEQA evaluation of the combined use applications described below. The second phase is completely dependent on the approval of the proposed combined-use routes and the CEQA document by the County of Inyo and the City of Bishop. The second phase will be for road equipment to continue maintaining any roadways that are designated for combined use. The County's application will be available to view and to comment on after March 5, 2013 on the State Parks website at http://ohv.parks.ca.gov and by following links related to grants. The public is encouraged to comment on the preliminary application during the comment period from March 5, 2013 to April 1, 2013. If you have questions regarding this grant application, please contact Inyo County Public Works Department staff at the highlighted link.

Note that maps to existing OHV recreation in the Owens Valley area can be viewed at:

• Inyo National Forest Use Maps is the official Inyo National Forest publication showing all routes that are green sticker legal and can be picked up at ranger stations or online by following links to Inyo National Forest maps at http://www.fs.fed.us/recreation/programs/ohv/ohv_maps.shtml. 
• BLM Surface Management Plan maps can be purchased online at http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/info/iac/Northern_Map.html and may be available at BLM district offices.
• California Trail Users Coalition Motorized and Non Motorized Trails (not official – but made available at NFS and BLM visitor centers and can be purchased on-line at http://www.ctuc.info/ctuc/index.php/maps).

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AB 628 Implementation Continued - Assembly Bill 628 authorizes the County of Inyo to establish a pilot project to designate combined-use highways on unincorporated county roads for no more than 10 miles. The combined-use highways can be used to link existing off-highway motor vehicle trails and trailheads on federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) or United States Forest Service lands in order to provide a unified linkage of trail systems for off-highway motor vehicles. Other goals for the project are to preserve traffic safety, improve natural resource protection, reduce off-highway vehicle trespass on private land, and minimize impacts on county residents. The provisions of AB 628 sunset January 1, 2017.  

Combined Use Applications - The County has received combined-use applications from the Eastern Sierra Adventure Trails organization for a network of combined-use routes connecting OHV trail segments on BLM and Inyo National Forest land with service facilities in Owens Valley communities. These applications have been forwarded to 1) the California Highway Patrol who makes a safety determination, 2) California Department of Transportation who approves the proposed signage and approves any proposed crossings of the State Highway system, 3) the Bishop BLM office and the Inyo National Forest who confirm whether or not the OHV trails and roads being linked to are in fact legal for use by green sticker vehicles, and 4) the City of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) since several routes connect to facilities leased from LADWP and because LADWP owns a major portion of the Owens Valley floor and the proposed routes on County maintained roads cross LADWP land. The County has received a response from the Bishop Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management. Once the County has heard back from these agencies, the scope of the project will be fully understood. At that time, the County will generate an environmental document and release it for public review and comment pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act. The environmental document will examine potential environmental impacts created by the implementation of this pilot project.

You can view a spreadsheet that summarizes each of the proposed combined-use routes (213 KB) and view vicinity maps for the Bishop area (7.59 MB), the Big Pine area (6.10 MB), the Death Valley Road area (6.15 MB), the Aberdeen area (4.84 MB), the Independence area (5.38 MB), and the Lone Pine area (5.61 MB) by following the highlighted links. The table below includes links to a detailed characterization of each routes (including maps and photos) and also the application from the Eastern Sierra Adventure Trails group. Those portion of combined-use routes in Inyo County are being considered pursuant to AB 628. The combined-use routes that travel inside of the City of Bishop are being considered pursuant to the California Vehicle Code.

The list below includes links to tables that summarize the collision history in the last decade for each of the six areas described above. This information was compiled using the Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS) accident database.

	Bishop area (County streets and roads) Collision History (339 KB)
	Bishop area (City of Bishop streets and roads) Collision History (196 KB)
	Death Valley area Collision History (191 KB)
	Big Pine area Collision History (228 KB)
	Aberdeen area Collision History (191 KB)
	Independence area Collision History (204 KB)
	Lone Pine area Collision History (254 KB)