§ 502. — Alteration, removal, or repair of bridge or accessory obstructions to navigation.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 33USC502]
TITLE 33--NAVIGATION AND NAVIGABLE WATERS
CHAPTER 11--BRIDGES OVER NAVIGABLE WATERS
SUBCHAPTER I--GENERAL PROVISIONS
Sec. 502. Alteration, removal, or repair of bridge or accessory
obstructions to navigation
(a) Criminal penalties for violation; alteration or removal
requirements; notice and hearing; specification of changes; time
for compliance; notice to United States attorney; misdemeanor;
fine; new offenses
Whenever the Secretary of Transportation shall have good reason to
believe that any railroad or other bridge over any of the navigable
waterways of the United States is an unreasonable obstruction to the
free navigation of such waters on account of insufficient height, width
of span, or otherwise, or where there is difficulty in passing the draw
opening or the draw span of such bridge by rafts, steamboats, or other
water craft, it shall be the duty of the said Secretary, first giving
the parties reasonable opportunity to be heard, to give notice to the
persons or corporations owning or controlling such bridge so to alter
the same as to render navigation through or under it reasonably free,
easy, and unobstructed; and in giving such notice he shall specify the
changes that are required to be made, and shall prescribe in each case a
reasonable time in which to make them. If at the end of such time the
alteration has not been made, the Secretary of Transportation shall
forthwith notify the United States attorney for the district in which
such bridge is situated, to the end that the criminal proceedings
hereinafter in this section mentioned may be taken. If the persons,
corporation, or association owning or controlling any railroad or other
bridge shall, after receiving notice to that effect, as hereinbefore
required, from the Secretary of Transportation and within the time
prescribed by him willfully fail or refuse to remove the same or to
comply with the lawful order of the Secretary of the Army in the
premises, such persons, corporation, or association shall be deemed
guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a
fine not exceeding $5,000, and every month such persons, corporation, or
association shall remain in default in respect to the removal or
alteration of such bridge shall be deemed a new offense, and subject the
persons, corporation, or association so offending to the penalties above
prescribed.
(b) Proper repair requirement
No owner or operator of any bridge, drawbridge, or causeway shall
endanger, unreasonably obstruct, or make hazardous the free navigation
of any navigable water of the United States by reason of the failure to
keep the bridge, drawbridge, or causeway and any accessory works in
proper repair.
(c) Civil penalties for violation; separate offenses; notice and
hearing; assessment, collection, and remission; civil actions
Whoever violates any provision of this section, or any order issued
under this section, shall be liable to a civil penalty of not more than
$1,000. Each day a violation continues shall be deemed a separate
offense. No penalty may be assessed under this subsection until the
person charged is given notice and an opportunity for a hearing on the
charge. The Secretary of Transportation may assess and collect any civil
penalty incurred under this subsection and, in his discretion, may
remit, mitigate, or compromise any penalty until the matter is referred
to the Attorney General. If a person against whom a civil penalty is
assessed under this subsection fails to pay that penalty, an action may
be commenced in the district court of the United States for any district
in which the violation occurs for such penalty.
(Mar. 3, 1899, ch. 425, Sec. 18, 30 Stat. 1153; Mar. 3, 1911, ch. 231,
Sec. 291, 36 Stat. 1167; Jan. 31, 1928, ch. 14, Sec. 1, 45 Stat. 54;
June 25, 1948, ch. 646, Secs. 1, 39, 62 Stat. 909, 992; Pub. L. 97-322,
title I, Sec. 108(b), Oct. 15, 1982, 96 Stat. 1583.)
Codification
Section is from act Mar. 3, 1899, popularly known as the ``Rivers
and Harbors Appropriation Act of 1899''.
The words ``or from the existing circuit courts,'' which followed
``district courts'' in the proviso were superseded by the abolition of
the circuit courts and the transfer of their jurisdiction to the
district courts, by act Mar. 3, 1911.
Prior Provisions
This section superseded act Aug. 11, 1888, ch. 860, Secs. 9, 10, 25
Stat. 424, as amended by act Sept. 19, 1890, ch. 907, Secs. 4, 5, 26
Stat. 453, which required the Secretary of War to provide against
obstructions to navigation by bridges, and prescribed a punishment on
the owner's default in making the required alterations.
The Secretary of War was authorized to make the required changes in
bridges obstructing navigation on the owner's failure to do so, and the
Attorney General was required to institute proceedings against the owner
for the recovery of the cost of such changes, by act July 5, 1884, ch.
229, Sec. 8, 23 Stat. 148.
Amendments
1982--Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 97-322 designated existing provisions as
subsec. (a), substituted ``Secretary of Transportation'' for ``Secretary
of War'' wherever appearing, and struck out ``recommended by the Chief
of Engineers'' after ``specify the charges''.
Subsecs. (b), (c). Pub. L. 97-322 added subsecs. (b) and (c).
1948--Act June 25, 1948, Sec. 39, repealed proviso at end relating
to appeals. See sections 1252 and 1253 of title 28.
Change of Name
Act June 25, 1948, eff. Sept. 1, 1948, substituted ``United States
attorney'' for ``district attorney of the United States''. See section
541 of Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure, and Historical and
Revision Notes thereunder.
Effective Date of 1948 Amendment
Amendment by act June 25, 1948 effective Sept. 1, 1948, see section
38 of act June 25, 1948, set out as an Effective Date note preceding
section 1 of Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure.
Limitation on Application
Section as not applicable to bridges constructed under sections 491
to 498 of this title, see section 494 of this title.
Section Referred to in Other Sections
This section is referred to in sections 409, 412, 418, 522 of this
title.
