1907, ch. 224.

be assessed upon the railroad company or companies benefited by such order; and provided, that such alterations as are thus made at the primary instance of the railroad commissioners shall not be ordered so as to direct the construction of more than one bridge in any one year on any one railroad. Railroad companies may take land for the purpose of this section and § 3713 in the manner provided by law for the taking of land by railroad companies.

Penalty for exceeding appropriation; exceptions. Whenever any specific appropriation of money may have been made by the General Assembly, by the representatives and senators of any county, or by any community or corporation named in the preceding section, every agent, commissioner, or executive officer of the state, or of any county, city, borough, town, or school district, who shall wilfully authorize or contract for the expenditure of any money, or the creation of any debt for any purpose in excess of the amount specifically appropriated for such purpose by the general assembly, the county representatives and senators, or the community or corporation of which he is agent, commissioner, or executive officer, unless such expenditure shall be made or debt contracted for the necessary repair of roads or bridges, or the necessary support of schools or paupers, in cases arising after the proper appropriation has been exhausted, shall be fined not exceeding one thousand dollars, or imprisoned in the county jail not exceeding one year, or both.

Railroad commissioners may order removal of obstructions to view. § 1. If the view of that portion of the tracks of any railroad, crossing a highway at grade, which adjoins such crossing is obstructed by trees, shrubbery, embankments of earth, or structures of any kind, the railroad commissioners may, after a hearing had upon such notice as they deem reasonable to the company or companies owning or operating such railroad or railroads and to the selectmen of the town, mayor of the city, or warden of the borough wherein such crossing is situated, and to the owners of the land adjoining such crossing, make such orders for or concerning the removal of any such obstruction as will afford an unobstructed view of said railroad tracks and said highway for a distance of at least one hundred and fifty feet in each direction from said crossing. For the purposes of

this act, land or easements in land may be taken in the manner provided by law for the taking of land by railroad companies; all orders of the railroad commissioners pursuant to the provisions of this act shall specifically set forth the limits within which land may be taken, and the nature, purposes, and specific limits of the easements so authorized to be taken by virtue of this act. The whole expense occasioned by any order of said commissioners under the provisions of this section shall be borne and paid by such railroad company.

Appeals. § 2. The provisions of section 3718 of the general statutes relating to appeals are hereby made applicable to this act.

§ 3715. Amount of land to be taken limited. No land shall be taken by any railroad company for the purpose mentioned in § 3714, except such as the commissioners shall find to be necessary for such purpose; but no such taking need be based upon any special finding that public necessity and convenience require such taking.

1888.

Rev. 1888, $3484.

1876.

§ 3716. Highway crossed by more than one railroad. 1889, ch. 220, §4. Whenever the railroad commissioners, upon an application Rev. 1888, §3490. brought under the provisions of § 3713, shall find that any highway crosses or is crossed by the tracks of more than one railroad, and the tracks of such railroads are so near together that public convenience requires the work of separating the grades to be done under and in compliance with one order, they shall give notice to all the companies operating such railroads to appear before them and be heard upon the application; and after such notice and hearing said commissioners shall determine what alterations shall be made, if any, so as to separate the grades of all of such crossings at the same time, and shall determine by whom such work shall be done, and they shall apportion the expense to be borne by the railroad companies between such companies in such manner as they, the said commissioners, shall deem proper.

1876, 1877.

1889, ch. 217.

§ 3717. Assessment of damages. In case the party Rev. 1888, $3491, by whom such changes in the highway are to be made cannot agree with the owner of land or other property to be taken or removed under such decision of the commissioners, the damages § 8717. 66 C. 222. This section gives town power to take land for change in highway. 57 C. 102.

1889, ch. 220, $7. 1893, ch. 244.

1907, ch. 260.

shall be assessed in the same manner as is provided in case of land taken by railroad companies, and the expense of such assessment shall be paid in the same manner as the expense of the alterations.

§ 3718. Appeals. The decision of the commissioners relating to any matter upon which they may act under the authority of §§ 3713, 3714, 3716, and 3717 shall be communicated to the petitioners and to all persons to whom notice of the hearing on said petition was given, within twenty days after the final hearing; and any person aggrieved by such decision, who was a party to said proceeding, shall have the same right of appeal therefrom as is given by § 3747 concerning appeals from decisions relating to depots.

§ 3719. Repair of structures over or under railroads. Notice of defect. Railroad companies shall keep in repair all structures over or under their tracks at any highway crossing, and the approaches to the crossings when the same are made with plank surface, and shall also keep in repair the surface of the highway, including the planking or other surface material of the highway upon such structure. The municipality where such structures are located shall give written notice to an agent of the company responsible for such structures of any defect in the same.

Changes in highway passing over or under railroad. § 1. When any highway passes over or under a railroad, if the convenience and necessity of the public require a change in such highway, the town, city, or borough in which such highway is located may bring a petition to the railroad commissioners in the manner prescribed in section 3713 of the general statutes, and, after the notice prescribed by said section, said railroad commissioners shall proceed to a hearing on said matter, and may make such order as they deem necessary for the convenience and necessity of the public or the safe and suitable operation of the railroad. For the purposes of this act, said railroad com

§3718. The superior court on appeal has the same discretionary powers as the commissioners. 57 C. 172. Where it did not appear that proceeding was under special act making commissioners' decision final, appeal was held valid under this section. 70 C. 328.

496.

§ 3719. Section 7 of the act of 1889 and § 3707 construed together. 62 C. See case cited under § 8730.

missioners shall have and exercise all and the same powers now conferred by statute upon said commissioners concerning the removal of grade crossings, and land may be taken and acquired in the manner provided by law for the taking of land by railroad companies. The party upon whom shall be imposed, by such order, the duty of making such changes in such highway may use the material and abutments of any existing bridge in the old highway in the construction of a bridge in the substituted or changed highway. The expense of any changes ordered as hereinbefore provided shall be apportioned among the railroad company, the town, city, or borough interested therein, and any street railway company whose tracks are located in such highway or which has power to lay its tracks therein as provided by section 3863 of the general statutes, in such manner as the railroad commissioners shall deem equitable; but in no case shall an amount in excess of one-half of the expense of such alteration, including land damages or special damages, be assessed upon any such town, city, or borough.

Appeals. § 2. The provisions of section 3718 of the general statutes concerning appeals shall be applicable to this act.

§ 3720. Reimbursement of towns and cities. The 1893, ch. 252. amount assessed by any order of the railroad commissioners, or the superior court upon appeal therefrom, against any town or city in this state, where the application was brought by the directors of a railroad company after the first of May, 1885, for the removal of a grade crossing in a highway which was in existence before the construction of the railroad, shall be reimbursed by the state to such town or city. Such town or city shall present its claim to the comptroller, with proofs and certificates to his satisfaction from the commissioners; and the comptroller shall thereupon draw his order on the treasurer in favor of such town or city, for the amount which he shall find due on such claim.

§ 3721. Penalty for noncompliance. Every railroad company which shall fail to comply with any requirement of law or any order of the commissioners relating to the removal of any grade crossing or the care of any highway crossing shall forfeit, to the town in which such crossing is situated, one hundred dollars for each month of such noncompliance; and the

R. R.-D

1884. Rev. 1888, §3485.

1884.

Rev.1888, §§3486, 3487.

1895, ch. 276, §1.

1895, ch. 276, §2.

commissioners shall give notice of all such forfeitures to such town, which shall collect the same.

§ 3722. Change of highway near railroad. When a railroad has been laid out, located, or constructed so near a highway as, in the opinion of the selectmen of any town, the warden of any borough, or the mayor of any city, within which such highway is situated, to endanger public travel, such selectmen, warden, or mayor may bring their petition to the railroad commissioners, setting forth the facts; and the commissioners, after reasonable notice to the railroad company to appear and be heard in relation thereto, shall, if in their opinion public safety so requires and a change of the location of such highway is practicable, forthwith order said company to make such change, in such manner as the commissioners may determine. The expense of such change, including the cost of fencing such relocated highway, shall, if such railroad has not been constructed at the time of bringing such petition, be paid by the company, but if the railroad has been constructed at such time, then one-half of such expense shall be paid by the company and one-half by such town, city, or borough.

§ 3723. Commissioners may change highway. Upon petition brought by any railroad company, the railroad commissioners may order the location of a highway to be changed, when they find that such location endangers public travel; and they may make orders for the relocation of such highway to the same extent as if such petition were brought under § 3722, by the authorities of a city, town, or borough; provided, that whenever a petition is brought under the provisions of this section, the entire expense of making the changes shall be paid by such. company.

§ 3724. Land may be taken for change. Whenever the commissioners shall order a change in the location of a highway under the provisions of §§ 3722 or 3723, and the parties ordered by the commissioners to do the work cannot obtain the necessary land by agreement, the company, or the town, city, or borough ordered to do the work, may take the land necessary for carrying out the orders of the commissioners in the same manner as lands are taken for railroad purposes under § 3687.