This Minnesota Senate bill (S.F. No. 2162) proposes changes to the state's transportation and road design policies. The key provisions include:

1. Local Design Control: Allows political subdivisions (such as cities and counties) to adopt their own alternative roadway design standards instead of following state-mandated rules. If a city adopts a design standard, a county can choose to apply the same standard for projects in that city.

2. State Oversight Reduction: The Commissioner of Transportation must forgo the review of geometric design aspects of local projects, except for vertical clearance standards on underpasses.

3. Qualifying Alternative Design Standards: The bill specifies that local governments can adopt design standards from various recognized sources, including:

   • The Minnesota Department of Transportation's Facility Design Guide
   • The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) guides
   • Institute of Transportation Engineers guidelines
   • National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) design guides
   • Global Designing Cities Initiative (GDCI) guidelines
   • Any other design guide recognized or approved by the Federal Highway Administration.

4. Modification of State-Aid Design Standards and Variances: The bill revises procedures related to variances from state-aid road engineering standards and establishes an advisory committee to review variance requests.

5. Legislative Notification and Reporting: Requires that the legislature be notified of any denied variance requests and mandates a report on the process.

6. Repeal of Certain State Rules: The bill repeals specific parts of Minnesota Rules related to design variances.

Overall, the bill decentralizes roadway design decision-making, giving local governments more flexibility in choosing context-specific standards while limiting state oversight.