From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
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[Laws in effect as of January 3, 2006]
[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 
$5,000 for a violation occurring in 2004; $10,000 for a violation 
occurring in 2005; $15,000 for a violation occurring in 2006; $20,000 
for a violation occurring in 2007; and $25,000 for a violation occurring 
in 2008 and any year thereafter. 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; Pub. L. 108-293, 
title VI, Sec. 601(c), Aug. 9, 2004, 118 Stat. 1050.)

                          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

    2004--Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 108-293 substituted ``$5,000 for a 
violation occurring in 2004; $10,000 for a violation occurring in 2005; 
$15,000 for a violation occurring in 2006; $20,000 for a violation 
occurring in 2007; and $25,000 for a violation occurring in 2008 and any 
year thereafter'' for ``$1,000''.
    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.