Chapter 1321. To authorize the West Elizabeth and Dravosburg Bridge Company to construct and maintain a bridge across the Monongahela River, in the State of Pennsylvania
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CHAP. 1321.— An Act To authorize the West Elizabeth and Dravosburg Bridge Company to construct and maintain a bridge across the Monongahela River, in the State of Pennsylvania. June 30, 1902.[[Public, No. 198](/us/pl/57/198).] *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*, That the West Elizabeth and Monongahela River, Pa.West Elizabeth and Dravosburg Bridge Company may bridge.Location. Dravosburg Bridge Company, a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Pennsylvania, is hereby authorized to construct, maintain, and operate a bridge across the Monongahela River between a point on the eastern side of said river, at or near property of the Glassport Brick Company, in the borough of Port Vue, in the county of Allegheny, and a point on the western side of said river, in the township of Jefferson, in said county, on property of the Monongahela River Consolidated Coal and Coke Company, fronting on the public road, known as the river road, between Dravos and West Elizabeth.
The Lawful structure. 498 said bridge, when built in accordance with the requirements of this Act, shall be a legal structure, and may be used for either or both railroad purposes or as a highway for the passage of persons, vehicles, and passenger cars. Sec. 2. Secretary of War to approve plans, etc. That the bridge authorized to be constructed under this Act shall be located and built under and subject to such requirements for the security of navigation of said river as the Secretary of War shall prescribe; and to secure that object the bridge company shall submit to the Secretary of War, for his examination and approval, a design and drawing for the bridge and a map of the location, giving for a space of one mile the depth and current of the river at all points, and the location of any other bridge or bridges, together with all other information touching said bridge and river as may be requisite for the Secretary of War to determine whether said bridge, when built, will conform to the provisions of this Act and cause no serious obstruction to the navigation of the river or injuriously affect the flow of water.
Sec. 3. Unobstructed navigation. That the Secretary of War is hereby authorized and directed, upon receiving said plan and map, and upon being satisfied that a bridge built upon said plan and at said location will conform to the provisions of this Act and cause no serious obstruction to the navigation of the river or injuriously affect the flow of water, to notify the said company that he approves the same, and upon receiving said notification the said company may proceed to the erection of the said bridge, conforming strictly to the approved plan and location; and until the Secretary of War shall approve the plan and location of the said bridge and notify the said company, in writing, a bridge shall Changes. not be built or commenced; and should any change be made in the plan of the bridge during the progress of the work thereon, or after completion, such change shall be subject likewise to the approval of the Secretary of War.
And any changes in said bridge which the Secretary of War may at any time deem necessary, and order in the interests of navigation, shall be made by the owners thereof at their own expense. Sec. 4. Railroad, wagon, and foot bridge. That said bridge, at the option of the said West Elizabeth and Dravosburg Bridge Company, may be so constructed that the same can be used for the passage of wagons and vehicles of all kinds, and passenger cars, and for the transit of animals and foot passengers over the same, and also, in addition to these purposes, may be used for Toll. railroad purposes; and the company maintaining the same shall have the right to charge such reasonable rates for toll as bridge companies are authorized to collect under the laws of the State of Pennsylvania: *Proviso*.Use by other companies. *Provided*, That if said bridge shall be constructed for railroad purposes, all railroad companies desiring the use of said bridge shall have and be entitled to equal rights and privileges relative to the passage of railroad trains or cars over the same upon the payment of a reasonable Compensation. compensation for such use, and in case the owner or owners of said bridge and the several railroad companies, or any one of them, Failure to agree. desiring such use shall fail to agree upon the sum or sums to be paid, and upon the rules and conditions to which each shall conform in using said bridge, all matters at issue between them shall be decided by the Secretary of War upon a hearing of the allegations and proofs of the parties.
Sec. 5. Post route. That any bridge constructed under this Act shall be known as a post road, over which no higher charge shall be made for the transportation of mails, troops, and munitions of war, or other property of the United States, than the rate per mile charged for their Telegraph, etc., rights. transportation over the public highways leading to said bridge. The United States shall also have the right of way over said bridge for postal-telegraph purposes, and equal privileges in the use of said bridge shall be granted to all telegraph and telephone companies. 499 Sec. 6.
That the said bridge shall be so kept and managed at all times Lights, etc. as not to interfere with the passage of vessels, barges, or rafts, both by day and by night, and there shall be displayed on said bridge by the owners thereof, from sunset to sunrise, such lights or other signals as the Light-House Board may prescribe. Sec. 7. That this Act shall be null and void if actual construction Time of construction. of the bridge herein authorized be not commenced in one year and completed within three years from the date hereof.
Sec. 8. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this Act is hereby Amendment. expressly reserved. Approved, June 30, 1902.