(a) There is created within the state a program to be known as the Rural Access Program.
(b) The following revenues sources shall be allocated for use of the Rural Access Program.
(1) Motor fuel taxes distributed to the Department of Transportation and deposited in the Public Road and Bridge Fund under the provisions of Sections 40-17-13 and 40-17-222, in excess of 105 percent of the base year receipts, compounded annually. Fiscal year 1994-95 is the base year. Any motor fuel tax receipts that exceed 105 percent of the base year receipts compounded annually shall be allocated to the Rural Access Program for allocation to the 67 counties of the state.
(2) Other funds including, but not limited to, matching funds provided by counties.
(c) Allocation of the revenue received shall be as follows:
(1) Other funds shall be allocated and appropriated for the purposes for which they were received.
(2) Motor fuel taxes shall be allocated to the accounts of the 67 counties within the Rural Access Program by dividing 45.46 percent of the motor fuel tax receipts equally and the remaining 54.54 percent shall be allocated based on the ratio of the population of each county to the total population of the state according to the next preceding federal decennial census or any special federal census heretofore held in any county subsequent to the effective date of the 1990 Federal Decennial Census. The allocation provided for in this subsection shall be made by the Department of Transportation on or prior to the tenth day of each month with respect to receipts of motor fuel tax allocated to the Rural Access Program by the Department of Transportation during the preceding month.
(d) Funds allocated and appropriated for county roads shall be used to improve existing paved roads, to pave dirt roads, and for bridge replacement, but not for routine maintenance. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the portion of funds all counties may receive pursuant to subsection (c) shall be limited to 30 percent of the total amount of the base year receipts compounded annually pursuant to subdivision (1) of subsection (b).
(e) Funds allocated to each county in subsection (c) are for the purpose of improving existing paved county roads, paving dirt roads, and county bridge replacement.
(f) Appropriations for the Rural Access Program are capital outlay appropriations and do not revert at the end of the fiscal year, but shall remain in full force and effect until the purpose for which they were appropriated is either abandoned or completed.
(g) The cost of construction of county road projects shall be paid as follows: 20 percent of the cost shall be paid by the county from its own funds and 80 percent of the cost shall be paid from the funds allocated to the county pursuant to this section. The Transportation Director shall not cause a county project to be awarded to contract until the county share, 20 percent, of the project funding has been received by the Department of Transportation and the Rural Access Program share, 80 percent, has been allocated to the Rural Access Program.
(h) The county matching share for any federally funded county projects may be funded from funds allocated to the county in subdivision (2) of subsection (c) as follows: 50 percent from the Rural Access Program and 50 percent from funds available to the county from other sources.
(i) Each county shall not obligate any more than 90 percent of the current revenue from the year allocated and appropriated to that county plus any unobligated funds carried over from the previous years. The 10 percent reserve created by this obligation limit may be used to cover overruns when matched as provided in subsections (g) and (h).
(j) The Transportation Director shall have sole authority to promulgate rules and regulations for the operation of the Rural Access Program.
(k) The Department of Transportation under the direction of the Transportation Director shall specify design criteria for county projects.
(l) Any county, by proper resolution of its governing body, may make application to the Department of Transportation for aid in the construction of county roads. The Department of Transportation shall investigate and approve or disapprove the application. Upon approval of an application, the county engineer of the county so applying shall make a survey and prepare the plans and specifications at county expense as the Department of Transportation may require, and submit the plans and specifications to the Department of Transportation for approval.
(m) Any county to be eligible for aid under this article shall have a county engineer as provided by any general or local act under which a professional licensed engineer is employed and approved by the Department of Transportation.
(n) All construction and work done pursuant to this article and the purchase of materials and employment of labor shall be subject to periodic and final inspection, approval, and acceptance by the Department of Transportation. The county engineer shall have immediate supervision of the construction at the expense of the county.
(o) The county shall, at its own expense and without expense to the Department of Transportation, procure the right-of-way for the roads and the cost of right-of-way shall not be taken or considered as a part of the cost of construction. All deeds or other muniments or other evidence of title for right-of-way shall be filed and recorded in the office of the judge of probate of the county prior to the beginning of any construction of the roads.
(p) County projects shall be let to contract by the Department of Transportation.
(q) Each county may accumulate up to three fiscal years of revenue. At the end of each fiscal year any unobligated funds in excess of the past three fiscal years total revenue for each county shall be lost by that county. The funds shall be redistributed to all counties who have not lost funds for that fiscal year. The Transportation Director may extend the time period a county can accrue unobligated funds if it is being done for the purpose of accumulating funds for a major project.