Chapter 427. Authorizing the State of West Virginia by and through the State Bridge Commission of West Virginia, or the successors of said commission, to acquire, purchase, construct, improve, maintain, and operate bridges across the streams and rivers within said State and/or across boundary line streams or riv
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CHAP. 427.— An Act Authorizing the State of West Virginia by and through the State Bridge Commission of West Virginia, or the successors of said commission, to acquire, purchase, construct, improve, maintain, and operate bridges across the streams and rivers within said State and/or across boundary line streams or rivers of said State. March 3, 1931.[[S. 6190](/us/bill/71/s/6190).][[Public, No. 814](/us/pl/71/814).] *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*, That in order to Bridges.Construction, etc., of designated, by West Virginia authorized.promote interstate commerce, improve the postal service, and more adequately provide for military and other purposes, and to secure to the public the use of the herein-described bridges free of tolls as promptly as possible, the State of West Virginia, by and through the State Bridge Commission of West Virginia, or the successors of said Commission, be and it is hereby authorized to acquire, purchase, Acquisition of approaches.rebuild, improve, maintain, and operate any or all of the following bridges and approaches thereto, at points suitable to the interests of navigation, Construction.Vol. 34, p. 84.in accordance with, and upon the approval of, the plans and location of said bridges as provided in, an Act entitled “An Act to regulate the construction of bridges over navigable waters,” approved March 23, 1906, and subject to the limitations herein provided, to wit:
A bridge across the Shenandoah River at or near Harpers Ferry; Shenandoah River at Harpers Ferry.Potomac River at Harpers Ferry; Shepherdstown.At Berkeley.a bridge across the Potomac River at or near Harpers Ferry; a bridge across the Potomac River at or near Shepherdstown; a bridge across the Potomac River at or near Berkeley; a bridge across the 1500Ohio River at Chester; Newell; Wierton; Middle Ferry; Wheeling.Ohio River at or near Chester; a bridge across the Ohio River at or near Newell; a bridge across the Ohio River at or near Weirton; a bridge across the Ohio River at or near Middle Ferry; two groups of bridges across the Ohio River at or near Wheeling, each group consisting of a bridge from the city of Wheeling, West Virginia, to an island in the Ohio River, constituting territory of the State of West Virginia, and a connecting bridge from said island to a point Ohio River at Ben wood;
Saint Marys; Williamstown; Parkersburg; Mason City; Point Pleasant; Huntington.in Ohio; a bridge across the Ohio River at or near Benwood; a bridge across the Ohio River at or near Saint Marys; a bridge across the Ohio River at or near Williamstown; a bridge across the Ohio River at or near Parkersburg; a bridge across the Ohio River at or near Mason City; a bridge across the Ohio River at or near Point Pleasant; a bridge across the Ohio River at or near Huntington; Big Sandy River at Kenova.Tug Fork River at Fort Gay;
Kermit; Williamson.a bridge across the Big Sandy River at or near Kenova; a bridge across the Tug Fork River at or near Fort Gay; a bridge across the Tug Fork River at or near Kermit; a bridge across the New River at Hinton; Prince.Kanawha River at Kanawha Falls; Chelyan.Right to acquire private property at certain locations.Tug Fork River at or near Williamson; a bridge across the New River at or near Hinton; a bridge across the New River at or near Prince; a bridge across the Kanawha River at or near Kanawha Falls; a bridge across the Kanawha River at or near Chelyan.
Sec. 2. Subject to the aforesaid conditions and limitations the State of West Virginia, by and through the State Bridge Commission or the successors of said commission, shall be, and it is hereby, authorized to acquire by purchase or condemnation any private property, rights, or interests relating to bridges under construction or authorized to be constructed at any or all of the following locations and to construct or rebuild said bridges, to wit: A bridge Ohio River at Sistersville;
New Martinsville; Wellsburg; Moundsville.Monongahela River at Star City.across the Ohio River at or near Sistersville; a bridge across the Ohio River at or near New Martinsville; a bridge across the Ohio River at or near Wellsburg; a bridge across the Ohio River at or near Moundsville; a bridge across the Monongahela River at or Kanawha River at Point Pleasant.near Star City; a bridge across the Kanawha River at or near Point Pleasant. Time limitation for bridge construction.The times for commencing and completing the construction of new bridges authorized by this section shall expire two and four years, respectively, from the date of approval hereof.
Sec. 3. Right to acquire needed lands possessed by railroad corporations conferred. There is hereby conferred upon the State of West Virginia and the West Virginia Bridge Commission, or the successors of said commission, all such rights and powers to enter upon lands and to acquire, condemn, occupy, possess, and use real estate and other property needed for the location, construction, rebuilding, and/or operation of any and/or all such bridges and their approaches as are possessed by railroad corporations for railroad purposes or by bridge corporations for bridge purposes in the State in which such real Compensation required.estate or other property is situated, upon making just compensation therefor, to be ascertained and paid according to the laws of such State, and the proceedings therefor shall be the same as in condemnation or expropriation of property for public purposes in such State.
Sec. 4. Toll rates. The State of West Virginia, by and through the West Virginia Bridge Commission, or the successors of said commission, is hereby authorized to fix and charge tolls for transit over any and/or all such bridges, and the rates of toll so fixed shall be the Vol. 34, p. 85.legal rates until changed by the Secretary of War under the authority contained in the Act of March 23, 1906. Sec. 5. Grouping of intrastate bridges for financing purposes authorized. The State of West Virginia, by and through the State Bridge Commission of West Virginia, or its successors, may unite or group all or such of said intrastate bridges into one or more separate projects for financing purposes as in its judgment shall be 1501deemed practicable, and may also unite or group for financing purposes in any one issue of bonds such interstate bridges as the West Virginia Bridge Commission shall determine to be competitive, but no particular project or group shall be so united that any such project or group will include both interstate and intrastate bridges.
If tolls are charged for the use of a bridge or bridges in a project, Tolls adjusted to maintenance, amortizing costs, etc.the rates of toll to be charged for the use of such bridge or bridges embraced in the particular project shall be so adjusted as to provide a fund not to exceed an amount sufficient to pay the reasonable costs of maintaining, repairing, and operating the bridge or all of the bridges included in the particular project and their approaches under economical management, and not to exceed an amount sufficient, in addition to the foregoing, to provide a sinking fund sufficient to amortize the aggregate cost of the bridge or all of the bridges embraced in the particular project, and their approaches, including reasonable interests and financing costs, as soon as possible under reasonable charges, but within a period not exceeding twenty-five years from the date of approval of this Act.
The tolls derived Tolls to continue until costs amortized.from the bridge or bridges embraced in any particular project may be continued and paid into the appropriate sinking fund until all such costs of the bridges embraced in the particular project shall have been amortized. In any event tolls may be charged on the Adjustments in rates authorized.basis aforesaid for transit over the bridge or bridges in each project for which revenue bonds of said State are issued, and such tolls may be continued and adjusted at such rates as may be necessary to pay such bonds with interest thereon and any lawful premium for the retirement thereof before maturity, subject only to the power of the Secretary of War or other authorized Federal authority to regulate such rates.
Sec. 6. The failure of the State of West Virginia, by and through Failure to construct, etc., one or more bridges not to affect authority.the State Bridge Commission of West Virginia, to acquire, purchase, construct, improve, maintain, and operate any one or more of the foregoing bridges, or to unite or group any one or more for financing purposes, shall in no wise affect its authority or powers hereby granted to acquire, purchase, construct, improve, maintain, and operate such bridge or bridges as it may deem expedient, and any one of the bridges herein authorized may be purchased, acquired, or constructed as a single project without uniting such bridge in a joint project with other bridges authorized herein.
Sec. 7. When a sinking fund sufficient to amortize the cost of Bridges in a project to be toll free, when costs amortized.any bridge or bridges in any particular project or group or sufficient to pay the principal and interest on bonds issued for the purpose of financing such particular bridge or bridges or project or group shall have been provided to the extent hereinbefore required, the bridge or bridges included in any such project or group shall thereafter be maintained and operated free of tolls.
All tolls shall Uniformity of tolls.be uniform as between individuals and as between vehicles of the same class as to each bridge, but different rates of toll may be charged for the use of different bridges in any group of bridges included in a single project for financing purposes. Sec. 8. The powers conferred by this Act are supplementary and Inconsistent laws repealed.additional to all other authority and powers heretofore granted by law for the construction of the hereinbefore named bridges, but all Acts or parts of Acts heretofore enacted authorizing the construction of the hereinbefore named bridges which are in conflict with the terms of this Act be, and the same are, hereby repealed in so far as such conflict exists.
Nothing in this Act shall be Tolls for other purposes unauthorized.construed as authorizing tolls to be charged for the use of any one or more of the hereinbefore named bridges except as hereinabove 1502provided, and nothing herein shall be construed so as to prohibit Payment of costs.the State of West Virginia from paying all or any part of the costs of the acquisition, purchase, construction, improvement, maintenance, and operation of any one or more of such bridges or their approaches, and any and all bonds issued for such purposes, from any funds of the State which may now or hereafter be made available for that purpose.
Sec. 9. Amendment. The right to alter, amend, or repeal this Act is hereby expressly reserved. Approved, March 3, 1931.