Chap. 5.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 5 of chapter 403 of the acts
of assembly of 1922, being the act creating a State highway commission and
prescribing its powers and duties, the section here amended, being in relation
to adding additional mileage to the State highway system, as last amended
by chapter 160 of the acts of assembly of 1928. [H B 2]

Approved February 5, 1930

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That section
five of chapter four hundred and three of the acts of assembly of
nineteen hundred and twenty-two, being the act creating a State high-
way commission and prescribing its powers and duties, as last amended
by chapter one hundred and sixty of the acts of assembly of nineteen
hundred and twenty-eight, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as
follows:

Section 5. General powers and duties of the State highway com-
mission.—The State highway commission shall be vested with the fol-
lowing powers and duties: to locate and establish the routes to be fol-
lowed by the roads comprising the State highway system between the
points designated in the act establishing said system; but where the
route has already been located and established in pursuance of law,
no change shall be made in such route by the commission; provided,
that appeals under section four, chapter thirty-one of the acts of nine-
teen hundred and nineteen, pending or allowable on July first, nineteen
hundred and twenty-two, shall be heard by the commission created
by this act. The commission, however, shall not locate and establish
any such route unless and until thirty days’ written notice of its pro-
posed action shall have been given to the clerk of the circuit court of
the county in which the route to be located and established, or any part
thereof, is situated,-and also and unless and until, such notice shall have
been published at least once in a newspaper published in said county or
counties, or in some newspaper having general circulation therein, not
less than thirty days before the proposed action of the commission, and
until a local hearing shall have been had by the commission, if the
same be requested. Immediately upon the receipt of such notice, the
clerk shall notify the board of supervisors and the local road authori-
ties of such county.

Within thirty days after the filing of said report with the clerk
of the court, the board of supervisors, or local road authorities of
said county, or any fifty or more freeholders thereof, may apply to
the commission for a rehearing of said decision, locating and estab-
lishing any such route, and the commission shall thereupon, within a
reasonable time, hear said application, and its decision on said rehear-
ing shall be final.

To let all contracts for the construction, improvement and mainte-
nance of the roads comprising the State highway system.

To make rules and regulations, from time to time, not in conflict
with the laws of this State, for the protection of and covering traffic
on and use of the State highway system, and to add to, amend, or repeal
the same, and the rules and regulations, together with any additions
or amendments thereto, so prescribed shall have the force and effect
of law, and any person, firm or corporation violating any such rule
or regulation or any addition or amendment thereto, shall be guilty
of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction, be fined not less than five nor
more than one hundred dollars for each offense. Such person shall
be civilly liable to the Commonwealth for the actual damage sustained
by the Commonwealth by reason of his wrongful act, which damages
may be recovered at the suit of the State highway commission, and
when collected, paid into the State treasury to the credit of the State
highway fund. Said rules and regulations and any additions or amend-
ments thereto or repeals thereof shall be printed by the commission
and two copies thereof mailed forthwith to the clerk of every court of
record, one of which copies shall be posted immediately upon receipt
by the clerk, at the front door of his courthouse, and the other copy
retained in his office for the information of the public, but no such
rules and regulations or additions, or amendments thereto, or repeals
thereof, shall become effective until sixty days shall have elapsed fol-
lowing their adoption by the commission. In order properly to enforce
such rules and regulations, and additions and amendments thereto, the
commission is given the power to designate and appoint any or all of the
employees of the commission special policemen with the powers of a
sheriff, for the purpose aforesaid. Copies of such rules and regulations
and of additions or amendments thereto, printed under the authority of
the State highway commission, whether of those adopted under provi-
sions of section four, chapter thirty-one, acts of nineteen hundred and
nineteen, or of those made and promulgated by the State highway com-
mission, under the provisions of this section, shall be admissible in all of
the courts of this Commonwealth without further proof and given the
force and effect prescribed hereby, and the fact that such printed
copies bear the name of the State highway commission shall be prima
facie evidence that they are duly adopted and promulgated under the
provisions hereof and that they are true copies of the rules and regu-
lations, or of any additions and amendments thereto, provided by this
section. The provisions of this section shall not apply to traction
engines and tractors, weighing not less than five tons, when drawing
threshing machines, hay-balers or other farm machinery for local farm
use.

To give suitable names to State highways and change the names
of any highways forming a part of the State highway system, except
such roads as have been or may hereafter be named by the general
assembly.
To comply fully with the provisions of the present or future
Federal aid acts. The said commission is hereby authorized to enter
into all contracts or agreements with the United States government,
relating to the survey, construction, improvement and maintenance of
roads under the provisions of any present or future congressional
enactment, to submit such scheme or program for construction or main-
tenance as may be required by the secretary of agriculture, or other-
wise provided by Federal acts, and to do all other things necessary to
carry out fully the co-operation contemplated and provided for by
present or future acts of congress for the construction, improvement
and maintenance of rural post roads.

It shall be the duty of the commission to keep accurate minutes of
all meetings of the commission, in which shall be set forth all acts
and proceedings of the commission in carrying out the provisions of
this act.

After July first, nineteen hundred and thirty, the commission shall
have the power to add to the State highway system during each calen-
dar year, including the year nineteen hundred and thirty, road mileage
not exceeding two and one-half per centum of the estimated total of
seven thousand miles, as of January first, nineteen hundred and thirty,
but such power to so add to the system shall not be cumulative; that
the State highway commission of Virginia be, and it is hereby, author-
ized, empowered and directed to add to the State highway system fif-
teen hundred and eighty-seven miles of road for construction and
maintenance by the State; said construction and maintenance to be
under the direction and supervision of the chairman of the highway
commission. The State highway commission is hereby authorized,
empowered and directed to allocate the said fifteen hundred and eighty-
seven miles of road to the several counties of the State in proportion to
the area of said counties and to locate said roads in the various counties
in those sections of the counties that will, in the judgment of the State
highway commission, best serve the citizens of said counties, thereby
creating a system of feeder roads in each county connecting with the
now established State highway system, in said counties, and thereby
becoming a part of the said State highway system.

The location of said mileage shall be designated on or before Sep-
tember first, nineteen hundred and twenty-eight, one-half of said mile-
age in each county shall be maintained or constructed from that date
by the State, the other half shall be maintained or constructed by the
State after July first, nineteen hundred and twenty-nine, provided,
however, no county shall receive less than eight miles, and that no
county within which lies a city wholly or in part with a population of
fifty thousand, or more, shall receive less than twenty-five miles.

At the first meeting of the commission, after it shall have con-
cluded to make additions to the State highway system as hereinbefore
provided, an order shall be entered by the commission on its minute
books in which shall be set forth the terminal points of such additions,
the mileage embraced therein, as nearly as possible, and a general descrip-
tion of the route thereof, and the fact that the same has been added to,
and shall therefore be a part of the State highway system. The addition
of such road to the State highway system and the maintenance thereof
shall not preclude the commission from making changes therein for
maintenance or construction purposes.

To gather and tabulate information and statistics on road building,
maintenance and improvements, and to disseminate the same through-
out the State through farmers’ institutes, good roads associations, and
the bulletins of the department of agriculture, or otherwise, and to erect
historical and other signs along the State highways and to pay for
the same out of funds set aside for the construction of roads in the
State highway system.