No bridge erected or maintained under the provisions of sections 491 to 494 and 495 to 498 of this title, shall at any time unreasonably obstruct the free navigation of the waters over which it is constructed, and if any bridge erected in accordance with the provisions of said sections, shall, in the opinion of the Secretary of Homeland Security at any time unreasonably obstruct such navigation, either on account of insufficient height, width of span, or otherwise, or if there be difficulty in passing the draw opening or the drawspan of such bridge by rafts, steamboats, or other water craft, it shall be the duty of the Secretary of Homeland Security after giving the parties interested reasonable opportunity to be heard, to notify the persons owning or controlling such bridge to so alter the same as to render navigation through or under it reasonably free, easy, and unobstructed, stating in such notice the changes required to be made, and prescribing in each case a reasonable time in which to make such changes, and if at the end of the time so specified the changes so required have not been made, the persons owning or controlling such bridge shall be deemed guilty of a violation of said sections; and all such alterations shall be made and all such obstructions shall be removed at the expense of the persons owning or operating said bridge. The persons owning or operating any such bridge shall maintain, at their own expense, such lights and other signals thereon as the Commandant of the Coast Guard shall prescribe. If the bridge shall be constructed with a draw, then the draw shall be opened promptly by the persons owning or operating such bridge upon reasonable signal for the passage of boats and other water craft.
(Mar. 23, 1906, ch. 1130, §4, 34 Stat. 85; Mar. 4, 1913, ch. 141, §1, 37 Stat. 736; 1946 Reorg. Plan No. 3, §§101–104, eff. July 16, 1946, 11 F.R. 7875, 60 Stat. 1097; Pub. L. 97–449, §2(d)(1), Jan. 12, 1983, 96 Stat. 2440; Pub. L. 100–17, title I, §135(a), Apr. 2, 1987, 101 Stat. 173; Pub. L. 109–241, title IX, §902(k), July 11, 2006, 120 Stat. 568; Pub. L. 111–281, title IX, §903(a)(9), Oct. 15, 2010, 124 Stat. 3010.)
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Last modified: October 26, 2015