33 U.S.C. § 494 : US Code - Section 494: Obstruction of navigation; alterations and removals; lights and signals; draws

Search 33 U.S.C. § 494 : US Code - Section 494: Obstruction of navigation; alterations and removals; lights and signals; draws

No bridge erected or maintained under the provisions of sections
491 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 Transportation
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 Transportation 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.