Gambar halaman
PDF
ePub

Ohio River at or near St. 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; 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 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 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 near Star City; a bridge across the Kanawha River at or near Point Pleasant.

The times for commencing and completing the construction of new bridges authorized by this section shall expire two years and four years, respectively, from the date of approval hereof.

SEC. 3. 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 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. 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 legal rates until changed by the Secretary of War under the authority contained in the act of March 23, 1906.

SEC. 5. 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 deemed 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, 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 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 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 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 nowise 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 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 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 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 theretofore 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 construed as authorizing tolls to be charged for the use of any one or more of the herein before-named bridges except as hereinabove provided, and nothing herein shall be construed so as to prohibit 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. The right to alter, amend or repeal this act is hereby expressly reserved. The bill has the approval of the War and Agriculture Departments, as will appear in the letters attached.

WAR DEPARTMENT, February 19, 1981. Respectfully returned to the chairman Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, House of Representatives.

So far as the interests committed to this department are concerned, I know of no objection to the favorable consideration of the accompanying bill, H. R. 17134, Seventy-first Congress, third session, authorizing the State of West Virginia by and through the State Bridge Commission of West Virginia 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, if amended as indicated in red thereon.

PATRICK J. HURLEY, Secretary of War.

Hon. JAMES S. PARKER

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,
Washington, February 19, 1981.

Chairman Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce,

House of Representatives.

DEAR MR. PARKER: Careful consideration has been given to the bill, H. R. 17134, transmitted with your letter of February 18 with request for a report thereon and such views relative thereto as the department might desire to communicate.

This bill would authorize the State of West Virginia, by and through its State bridge commission, or the successors thereof, to acquire, purchase, construct, improve, maintain, and operate any or all of the bridges and approaches thereto across the streams and rivers within said State, or forming the boundary line of said State, at the points named in the bill. Under the terms of the bill the State of West Virginia, by and through its State bridge commission, would HR-71-3-VOL 2– -63

be authorized, for financing purposes, to unite or group all or such of the bridges named which are intrastate as it may deem practicable into one or more projects, and it also would be authorized in like manner and for a like purpose to unite or group all of such bridges which are interstate in character into one or more separate projects, but no project or group so united shall contain both intrastate and interstate bridges. The department feels that there should be some limit on the authority to unite or group bridges under one bond obligation. However, since the State law (ch. 8, acts of the Legislature of West Virginia, 1929) creating the State bridge commission provides that only bridges located in the same county may be grouped, it is felt that the grouping which the pending bill would authorize would be without objection.

The State, by and through its bridge commission, would be authorized to fix and charge tolls for transit over all such bridges, the rates of toll so fixed to be so adjusted as to provide a fund sufficient to pay the reasonable maintenance, . repair, and operation costs of the bridge, or bridges, in that particular project or group, and to provide a sinking fund sufficient to amortize the cost thereof within a period of not to exceed 25 years, after which such bridges shall be maintained and operated free from tolls. Favorable action on the bill is recommended.

Sincerely,

C. F. MARVIN, Acting Secretary.

BRIDGE ACROSS BOEUF RIVER AT OR NEAR BUCKNER, LA.

FEBRUARY 21, 1931.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed

Mr. RAYBURN, from the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 16950]

The Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 16950) granting the consent of Congress to the police jury of Richland Parish, La., or the State Highway Commission of Louisiana to construct, maintain, and operate a free highway bridge across Boeuf River at or near Buckner, Richland Parish, La., having considered the same, report thereon with a recommendation that it pass.

The bill has the approval of the War and Agriculture Departments, as will appear by the letters attached.

WAR DEPARTMENT, February 13, 1931. Respectfully returned to the chairman Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, House of Representatives.

So far as the interests committed to this department are concerned, I know of no objection to the favorable consideration of the accompanying bill (H. R. 16950, 71st Cong., 3d sess.) granting the consent of Congress to the police jury of Richland Parish, La., or the State Highway Commission of Louisiana, to construct a bridge across the Boeuf River at or near Buckner, Richland Parish, La.

The navigable portion of the Boeuf River, however, lies wholly within the limits of the State of Louisiana, and the proposed bridge can consequently be authorized by State law and duly constructed provided the plans are submitted to and approved by the Chief of Engineers and by the Secretary of War before construction is commenced, in conformity with the Federal law contained in section 9 of the river and harbor act of March 3, 1899. The enactment of this measure therefore appears to be unnecessary.

PATRICK J. HURLEY,
Secretary of War.

Hon. JAMES S. PARKER,

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,
Washington, D. C., February 16, 1931.

Chairman Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce,

House of Representatives.

DEAR MR. PARKER: Careful consideration has been given to the bill H. R. 16950, transmitted with your letter of February 9, with request for a report thereon and such views relative thereto as the department might desire to communicate.

This bill would authorize the police jury of Richland Parish, La., or the State Highway Commission of Louisiana, their successors and assigns, to construct, maintain, and operate a free highway bridge and approaches thereto across the Boeuf River at or near Buckner, within said parish of Richland. Favorable action on the bill is recommended.

Sincerely,

O

R. W. DUNLAP, Acting Secretary.

« SebelumnyaLanjutkan »