H. B. 2923


(By Delegates Butcher, Sparks, Dempsey,
Ferrell and Tillis (By Request))
[Introduced February 26, 1999; referred to the
Committee on Roads and Transportation then Finance.]



A BILL to amend and reenact sections nine and ten, article four, chapter seventeen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, all relating to eliminating at-grade railroad crossings on busy state highways.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections nine and ten, article four, chapter seventeen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 4. STATE ROAD SYSTEM.
§17-4-9. Separation, elimination or avoidance of railway-highway grade crossings -- When commissioner shall require.
Whenever in his or her judgment it is necessary for the safety of the traveling public or to comply with the safety, design or construction standards for a federal-aid highway project, or to provide for convenient use of state highways by the traveling public where an existing at-grade crossing poses a substantial threat to the convenient use of the highways, the state road commissioner may shall require any railroad company, owning, controlling or operating a railroad in this state, to eliminate railway-highway crossings at grade on existing highways and to avoid railway-highway crossings at grade on new highways, relocated highways and extensions of existing highways by separating the grades or by relocating an existing highway. The commissioner may determine the location, design and grade for any project or structure for the elimination or avoidance of railway-highway crossings at grade, and may determine whether a new, relocated or extended highway shall pass over or under the railroad right-of-way or tracks. The railroad company shall not be required to bear any part of the cost of construction or maintenance of such grade separation. except where the separation structure eliminates an existing grade crossing
§17-4-10. Same -- Commissioner's order to eliminate, etc., crossing; amendment to order.
(a) Whenever, in the judgment of the state road commissioner, it is necessary for the safety of the traveling public, or to comply with the safety, design or construction standards for a federal-aid highway project, or to provide for convenient use of state highways by the traveling public where an existing at-grade crossing poses a substantial threat to the convenient use of the highways, that a railway-highway crossing at grade be eliminated on an existing highway or avoided on a new highway, relocated highway or extension of an existing highway by separating the grades or relocating an existing highway, the state road commissioner shall make an order to that effect and furnish a copy thereof by registered mail to the state auditor or attorney of record of the railroad affected by the order.
(b) The commissioner's order shall include at least the following:
(1) A statement describing and locating the railway-highway crossing at grade to be eliminated or avoided; and
(2) A statement of the general plan to be followed in effecting the elimination or avoidance of the specified railway-highway crossing at grade, including general details concerning the following matters:
(A) Whether a new, relocated or extended highway shall pass over or under the railroad right-of-way or tracks; and
(B) The location, grade and width of the grade separation structure or crossing to be constructed and the angle at which the structure or crossing shall meet and converge into the highway bed on either side of the railroad tracks or right-of-way.
(c) Whenever a railroad company affected by the order specified in subsection (a) of this section refuses to enter into a written agreement with the state road commissioner respecting a federal-aid railway-highway project for elimination or avoidance of railway-highway crossings at grade, the commissioner may amend the order made under subsection (a) of this section to incorporate therein insofar as practicable all the details required by the regulations, policies and procedures of the Bureau of Public Roads, United States Department of Commerce, to be included in written agreements between a railroad and a state respecting federal-aid railway-highway projects. The amended order shall be furnished by registered mail to the state auditor or attorney of record of the railroad affected thereby.


NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require railroads to construct, at their expense, overhead or undergrade crossings where railroads intersect busy public highways.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.