Chapter 1121. To authorize the Nashville Terminal Company to construct a bridge across the Cumberland River in Davidson County, Tennessee
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CHAP. 1121.— An Act To authorize the Nashville Terminal Company to construct a bridge across the Cumberland River in Davidson County, Tennessee. June 18, 1902.[[Public, No. 162](/us/pl/57/162).] *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*, Cumberland River.Nashville Terminal Company may bridge, at Nashville. That the Nashville Terminal Company, a corporation created and organized under the laws of the State of Tennessee, be, and is hereby, authorized to construct and maintain, for the passage of railway trains, a bridge, and approaches thereto, over the Cumberland River at any point in the county of Davidson in said State within five miles above or within five miles below the corporate limits of the city of Nashville, in said county, which said company may deem most advantageous, and which may be approved by the Secretary of War.
Sec. 2. Secretary of War to approve plans, etc. That said bridge shall be located and built under such regulations for the security of navigation as the Secretary of War shall prescribe; and to secure that object the said company shall submit to the Secretary of War for his examination and approval a design and drawing of the bridge, and a map of the location, giving for such 391 space above and below the proposed location as the Secretary of War shall require the topography of the banks of the river, the shore lines at high and low water, the direction and strength of the current at all stages, and the soundings accurately showing the bed of the stream, and shall furnish such other information as may be required for a full understanding of the subject; and until said plan and location are approved by the Secretary of War the bridge shall not be built; and Changes. should any change be made in the plan of said bridge during the progress of construction or after completion such change shall be subject to the approval of the Secretary of War; and the said company shall at its own expense make such changes in said bridge as the Secretary of War may at any time direct in the interest of navigation.
Sec. 3. That said bridge shall be a lawful structure, and shall be Lawful structure and post route. recognized and known as a post route, and shall enjoy the rights and privileges of other post roads in the United States; and no higher charge shall be made for the transmission over the same of the mails, troops, and munitions of war of the United States than the rate per mile paid for the transportation over the railroad or railroads leading to said bridge. Equal privileges in the use of said bridge shall be Telegraph, etc., rights. granted to all telegraph and telephone companies, and the United States shall have the right of way across said bridge and its approaches for postal telegraph purposes.
Sec. 4. That said bridge shall be constructed either as a drawbridge Draw or high bridge.Unobstructed navigation. or as a high bridge with fixed spans, so that a free and unobstructed passageway may be secured to all water craft navigating said river; and if said bridge be constructed as a drawbridge, the draw shall be opened promptly upon reasonable signals for the passage of boats or vessels; and upon whatever kind of bridge is built said company shall Lights, etc. maintain at its own expense from sunset to sunrise such lights or other signals as the Eight-House Board shall prescribe.
Sec. 5. That all railroad companies desiring the use of said bridge Use by other companies.Compensation. shall have and be entitled to equal rights and privileges relative to the passage of railway trains over the same and over the approaches thereto upon the payment of reasonable compensation for such use; and in case the owner or owners of said bridge and the several railroad companies, or any one of them, desiring such use, shall fail to agree upon the sum or sums to be paid and upon rules and conditions to which each shall conform in using said bridge, all matters in issue between them shall be decided by the Secretary of War upon the hearing of the allegations and proofs of the parties.
Sec. 6. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this Act is expressly Amendment. reserved; and this Act shall be null and void if actual construction of Time of construction. the bridge herein authorized be not commenced within one year and completed within two years from the approval of this Act. Approved, June 18, 1902.