Chap. 263.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 5 of chapter 403 of the Acts
of the General Assembly of 1922, said chapter being an act to create a State
highway commission, et cetera, approved March 24, 1922, as heretofore amended,
the section here amended being in relation to adding additional mileage to
the State highway system, . [H B 217]

Approved March 24, 1932

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That section
five of chapter four hundred and three of the Acts of the General As-
sembly of nineteen hundred and twenty-two, said chapter being an act
to create a State highway commission, et cetera, approved March
twenty-fourth, nineteen hundred and twenty-two, as heretofore amend-
ed, 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
following powers and duties: to locate and establish the routes to be
followed 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 Acts of nineteen hun-
dred and nineteen, pending or allowable on July first, nineteen hun-
dred 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 proposed 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 com-
mission for a rehearing of said decision, locating and establishing any
such route, and the commission shall thereupon, within a reasonable
time, hear said application, and its decision on said rehearing shall
be final.

To let all contracts for the construction, improvement, and main-
tenance 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, o1
repeal the same, and the rules and regulations together with any addi-
tions or amendments thereto, so prescribed shall have the force anc
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
amendments thereto or repeals thereof shall be printed by the commis-
sion 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 following 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 empolyees 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 provisions of section four, chapter thirty-one, Acts of
nineteen hundred and nineteen, or of those made and promulgated by
the State highway commission, 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 regulations, or of any additions and amend-
ments thereto, provided by this section. The provisions of this sec-
tion 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 maintenance as
may be required by the secretary of agriculture, or otherwise 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 twenty-two, the commission
shall have the power during each calendar year, including the year nine-
teen hundred and twenty-two, to add to the State highway system road
mileage not exceeding two and one-half per centum of the total mileage
of said system, as established July first, nineteen hundred and twenty-
two, but such power so to add to the system shall not be cumulative ;
that the State highway commission of Virginia be, and it is hereby,
authorized, empowered and directed to add to the State highway system
fifteen 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 State highway commissioner.
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 high-
way commission, best serve the citizens of said counties, thereby creat-
ing a system of feeder roads in each county connecting with the now
established State highway system, in said counties, and thereby becom-
ing a part of the said State highway system. ,

The location of said mileage shall be designated on or before
September first, nineteen hundred and twenty-eight, one-half of said
mileage 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, pro-
vided, 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 de-
scription of the route thereof, and the facts that the same has been
added to, and shall thereafter be a part of the State highway system.
The addition of such roads to the State highway system and the main-
tenance thereof shall not preclude the commission from making changes
therein for maintenance or construction purposes; and the State high-
way commission is hereby authorized, empowered and directed to add
to the State highway system, for construction and maintenance by the
State, fifteen hundred and eighty-seven miles of road in addition to
the fifteen hundred and eighty-seven miles and the two and one-half
per centum accumulations hereinbefore in this section provided for.
The said fifteen hundred and eighty-seven miles shall be allocated by
the State highway commission to the several counties of the State in
proportion to the area of said counties, provided that 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. Said roads shall be such as
will, in the judgment of the commission, after the people of each
county shall have been given an opportunity to be heard, best serve the
people of the respective counties as feeder, or farm to market roads;
shall connect with State highways already established; and shall be
formally and finally added to the State highway system by an order to
be entered by the commission on its minute books, at the first meeting
of the commission after said roads shall have been so designated, in
which order shall be set forth the terminal points of such additions,
the mileage embraced therein, as nearly as may be possible, and a gen-
eral description of the routes thereof; and all such roads so allocated
and designated shall become, and thereafter be, a part of the State
highway system. ,

One-half of such mileage shall be designated, not sooner than De-
cember first, nineteen hundred and thirty, fifty per centum of which is
so designed, to be taken over for maintenance or construction by
December thirty-first, nineteen hundred and thirty, and the remaining
fifty per centum of which is so designated to be taken over for main-
tenance or construction by July first, nineteen hundred and thirty-one.
The remaining half of such mileage shall be designated not later than
June twentieth, nineteen hundred and thirty-two, along with the roads
on the grounds of State institutions, all of which when so designated
shall be taken over for maintenance or construction by July first, nine
teen hundred and thirty-two. And all roads once maintained or con-
structed by the State in accordance with the provisions of this act shall
thereafter continue as a part of the State highway system for main-
tenance and construction. Such roads shall be constructed by the
commission, of stich types and method of construction, as it may deem
proper and necessary to make substantial farm to market roads, giving
due consideration to local conditions, both as to the character of the
ground over which the roads are to be built and the reasonable needs
of the people to be served.

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. ,

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