Chap. 178.—An ACT to provide for the public safety and welfare at crossings
of roads in the State highway system and railroads; for the separation of
grades of such roads and railroads; the elimination of crossings at grade;
the construction and improvement of overhead and underpass crossings of
roads in the State highway system and railroads; and for the apportionment
of costs thereof. | [H B 77]

Approved March 27, 1934

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That the
public safety and welfare require that all crossings, whether now ex-
isting or hereafter established, of roads in the State highway system
and railroads, be by means of good, safe, and sufficient structures over
or under, as the case may be, the tracks of railroads, irrespective of the
motive power of trains or cars operated over such tracks, and that all
crossings at grade, whether now existing or hereafter established, of
roads in the State highway system and railroads, be eliminated, and that
overhead or underpass crossings, whether now existing or hereafter
established, of roads in the State highway system and railroads, danger-
ous to or insufficient to take care of traffic on the highways, be widened,
strengthened, remodeled, redesigned, relocated or replaced, or new or
improved structures provided in lieu thereof.

2. Whenever a road in the State highway system is projected across
a railroad, or a road in the State highway system is to be so changed
as to cross a railroad, and funds are allocated by the State Highway
Commission for the payment of the State’s portion of the costs of
constructing over or under the tracks of the railroad, as the case may
be, or whenever funds are so allocated for the payment of the State’s
portion of the costs of elimination of a crossing at grade of a road
in the State highway system and a railroad and the substitution there-
for of an overhead or an underpass crossing, or whenever, in case of an
overhead or an underpass crossing of a railroad and a road in the State
highway system dangerous to or insufficient to take care of traffic on
the highway, funds are so allocated for the payment of the State's
portion of the costs of widening, strengthening, remodeling, redesigning,
relocating, or replacing such overhead or underpass crossing or pro-
viding a new or improved structure in lieu thereof, the State Highway
Commissioner shall notify in writing the railroad company whose track
is to be crossed, or upon which the existing crossing at grade, or the
overhead or underpass crossing, as the case may be, is, that funds have
been allocated for the payment of the State’s portion of the costs of the
proposed work, and shall submit to said railroad company plans and
specifications of the proposed work, the said crossing to be deemed to
start at the points on each side of the tracks of the railroad where the
grade under the plans and specifications herein provided for leaves the
ground line of the State road to go over or under, as the case may be,
the tracks of the railroad, and to include all work and structures between
said points. It shall thereupon be the duty of the railroad company to
provide all equipment and materials and construct the overhead or
underpass crossing, or widen, strengthen, remodel, redesign, relocate or
replace the overhead or underpass crossing, or provide a new or im-

proved structure in lieu thereof, as the case may be, in accordance with
the plans and specifications submitted by the State Highway Commis-
sioner, within its right of way limits and the. State Highway Commis-
sioner such portion outside of said railroad right of way limits or such
other division of the work as may be mutually agreed on between the
State Highway Commissioner and the railroad company, provided,
however, that within twenty days after the receipt from the State High-
way Commissioner of notice of the allocation of funds for the payment
of the State’s portion of the costs of widening, strengthening, re-
modeling, redesigning, relocating or replacing an overhead or underpass
crossing, or providing a new or improved structure in lieu thereof, and
the plans and specifications therefor, but not thereafter, the railroad
company may file a petition with the State Corporation Commission
setting out its objections to the proposed work, and the commission shall
hear and determine the complaint as other complaints are heard and
determined by that body, and shall ascertain and by its order determine
whether or not the existing structure is dangerous to or insufficient to
take care of traffic on the highway; and provided further, that if the
railroad company be not satisfied with the plans and specifications sub-
mitted by the State Highway Commissioner, such company may within
sixty days after the receipt of said plans and specifications, if the rail-
road company and the State Highway Commissioner be unable in the
meantime to agree on plans and specifications, including the grade of
the approaches and the point to which the liability of the railroad shall
extend, or in event of a hearing, as hereinbefore provided, before the
State Corporation Commission, as to the danger or insufficiency of an
existing structure, within thirty days after the entry of the order of the
State Corporation Commission thereon, file a petition with the State
Corporation Commission setting out its objections to the plans and
specifications and its recommendations of plans and specifications in
lieu thereof, and the commission shall hear the complaint as other com-
plaints are heard and determined by that body, and shall approve the
plans submitted by the State Highway Commissioner, or other plans
in lieu thereof; and it shall thereupon be the duty of the railroad com-
pany to provide all equipment and materials and construct, widen,
strengthen, remodel, redesign, relocate or replace, as the case may be,
the overhead or underpass crossing, or provide a new or improved
structure in lieu thereof, within its right of way limits, and the State
Highway Commissioner the portion outside of the railroad right of
way, unless otherwise mutually agreed upon, in accordance with the
plans and specifications approved by the State Corporation Commission.

Upon completion of the work, including roadway, approaches, drains
and ditches and structures, in accordance with the plans and specifica-
tions, the railroad company shall file with the State Highway Commis-
sioner an itemized statement of the cost of the work done by such com-
pany, certified by an executive officer of such company, and the State
Highway Commissioner shall file with the railroad company an itemized
statement of the cost of the work done by him, if any, exclusive in each
instance of the cost of right of way, and if the cost of the work done

by the railroad company exceeds one-half of the total cost of the work
done by the railroad company and the State Highway Commissioner,
and provided the estimated cost of the entire work shall have first been
approved by the State Highway Commissioner, the Commonwealth
shall be obliged to pay to the railroad company, within thirty days, the
amount of such excess paid by the railroad company. If the cost of the
work done by the State Highway Commissioner exceeds one-half of
such total cost, then the railroad company shall, within thirty days,
pay to the Commonwealth the amount of such excess, such amount to
be paid into the State treasury to the credit of the State highway system
construction funds. All costs for which the State is responsible under
this act shall be paid out of funds available for the construction of
roads in the State highway system.

After such work has been done, the railroad company shall main-
tain the portion within the right of way lines, except the surface of
the roadway.