(a) The Legislature finds and declares as follows:
(1) Transportation is vital to the state’s economy, and a complete transportation system is essential in times of disaster.
(2) Transportation corridors should be protected from uses which are incompatible with transportation requirements.
(3) Important potential transportation corridors are being developed for other purposes.
(b) It is, therefore, the intent of the Legislature in enacting this division to vest in the Department of Transportation responsibility for implementing a program of transportation right-of-way protection and conservation within essential transportation corridors by acquiring and holding transportation corridor lands which would otherwise be lost to public use.
(c) It is the further intent of the Legislature in enacting this division to preserve land which is needed or will be needed for transportation corridors consistent with applicable environmental protection laws and regulations.