Chap. 588.—An ACT to incorporate the Manchester and Richmond Free Bridge
Company, and granting certain powers to said company, and the city councils
of the cities of Richmond and Manchester, for public purposes..

Approved April 2, 1902.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That William I.
Clopton, John S. Wakefield, Henry C. Beattie, Augustine Royall, and
Arthur G. Evans, who have been nominated by the city council of the
city of Manchester to represent the interests of said city, be, and they are
hereby, created and constituted a corporation and body politic under
the name and style of the Manchester and Richmond Free Bridge Com-
pany, and as such shall sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, have a
common seal, and possess and enjoy all the privileges and powers usually
vested in quasi public corporations, and corporations created for pur-
poses of internal improvements under the laws of this Commonwealth.

2. Said corporators shall, as soon as convenient, organize by the elec-
tion of a president, secretary and treasurer, who need not be a member
of the commission, and thereafter such incorporators shall be known as
the commissioners of said company. They may establish regulations and
suitable by-laws for the purposes of said corporation, but no compensa-
tion shall be paid to said commissioners as such. Before the treasurer
shall handle any funds he shall execute such bond or bonds in such
amounts and with such sureties as shall be fixed and approved by the
commissioners.

3. Said company is authorized to construct a free bridge for the use
of the public across James river from the southern to the northern shore
of snid river at or near the present Mayo bridge, running from Hull
strect, in Manchester, to Fourteenth street, in Richmond, and all neces-
sary approaches at either end of said bridge, and for that purpose shall
have power to acquire, by purchase or condemnation, the present Mayo
bridge, now the property of the Mayo Land and Bridge Company, and
may purchase or condemn the lands, easements, or privileges necessarv
for said approaches, and the right of way for said bridge over and across
said river and the islands therein so far as the same may be necessary.
and the Commonwealth by this act doth grant for the purposes aforesaid
the right to hold and occupy by said company any portions of the river
hed which may be necessary therefor. If it shall be necessary to condemn
the Mayo bridge or any lands, islands, approaches, easements, or rights
of way for the purposes of constructing and operating said bridge, the
same shall be condemned by proceedings taken and proceeded with in the
hustings court of the city of Richmond in the manner prescribed for con-
demnation proceedings in chapter forty-six of the Code of Virginia, ex-
cept that for approaches to the southern end of the bridge such condemna-
tion proceedings shall be taken and proceeded with in the hustings court
of the city of Manchester. The said bridge being altogether for public
uses, shall in no wise ever be subject to taxation for State, city, or other
purposes. The said bridge shall be constructed of steel or stone, or stone
and iron, or brick or concrete, and shall be sufficient to provide a foot way
and wagon way.

4. In order to carry out the provisions of this act, said company shall
have power to issue bonds sufficient to raise the funds necessary for the
purposes of purchase or condemnation and: construction of said bridge
as hereinbefore provided, and the cities of Richmond and Manchester,
or either of them, are hereby authorized, jointly or severally, to guaran-
tee, wholly or in such amounts as they may agree, the punctual pay-
ment of the interest and principal of said bonds when due. But said
bonds, when duly executed, shall be placed in the treasuries of said
cities, each city taking the bonds guaranteed by it until sold, and the
proceeds thereof shall be only checked out or used for the purposes of
this act, upon warrants drawn by the auditors of said cities, upon vouch-
ers properly approved and certified by said board of commissioners.
Said company shall, however, have power to raise funds for the con-
struction of said bridge in such other ways 1s may be approved by the
city council of Manchester and by the city council of Richmond, if it
shall decide to co-operate in this enterprise as hereinafter provided.

5. Said company shall have the right to charge for the use or occupa-
tion of said bridge by any and all transportation or transmission com-
panies such sums as may, in the discretion of the board of commissioners,
be necessary for the defraying, in whole or in part, the costs of the con-
struction or purchase of said bridge, and its approaches and the mainte-
nance and operation of the same, or may, with the approval of the coun-
cils of the cities of Richmond and Manchester, agree for a sum to be paid
in cash, or acceptable marketable bonds duly secured by mortgages or
deeds of trust, to grant to any of said companies the perpetual free use
of said bridge.

6. Should the city council of the city of Richmond decide to co-operate
with the city of Manchester in said enterprise, the power is hereby
granted it so to do. In that event, the city council of the city of Rich-
mond shall, in joint session, nominate five members of the board of com-
missioners of said company, with the same powers and duties as those
named in this act, and thereafter said board shall consist of ten mem-
bers—five from Manchester and five from the city of Richmond. The
said commissioners named in this act, and the five to be nominated, shall
hold their office until the first day of July succeeding the completion of
said bridge. Thereafter such commissioners shall be elected by the re-
spective councils annually in the month of May, and shall hold office for
one year from the first day of July following, or until their successors
be elected. In case of vacancies occurring in such offices, the same shall
be filled by election by the respective councils having the right to nomi-
nate originally.

44
?. Should the city council of the city of Richmond conclude not to co-
operate in said undertaking, then the commissioners named in this act
shall possess all the powers intended to be granted in this act, and the
approval of the city council of the city of Manchester shall alone be re-
quired to give validity to their acts in the cases in which the approval
of the two councils is required as hereinbefore enacted.

8. Said bridges may be constructed with the intention of allowing
street railways to use the same, under such rules and regulations and
for such compensation as the board of commissioners may, from time to
time, fix and determine, or said commissioners shall, so far only as raul-
road uses are concerned, have power to agree for the exclusive use
thereof by any such railway company for railway purposes only for such
consideration as may substantially aid in the construction of said bridge,
but no such agrcement shall be valid until approved by the council or
councils co-operating in this enterprise. But nothing herein shall allow
said commissioners to make any concessions which shall deprive the gen-
eral public of the use of said bridge as a public highway. In event the
exclusive use of said bridge is sold or granted to any railway company
for railway purposes, such grant shall be for a period not exceeding
twenty years after the completion of said bridge. At the expiration of
said twenty years the said board of commissioners shall have power to
provide and contract for the use of said bridge by any and all corpora-
tions for railway purposes upon such terms as they may deem proper and
reasonable. The said board of commissioners shall have power to com-
pel any railway company operating cars over said bridge to allow any
other company which may be granted the use of said bridge for railway
purposes to use the tracks and wires, et cetera, of said company upon
such terms as to compensation as the said board may deem proper and
reasonable.

9. Proceedings under this act shall be commenced within two years
from the passage of this act, and be completed within five years from such
commencement. ‘

10. No proceedings shall be had under this act until the city council
of Richmond or the city council of Manchester; or both or either, have
agreed to endorse or guarantee the bonds proposed to be issued under
this act.

11. This act shall take effect from the day of its adoption.