Article 3. General Powers And Duties Of The Commission of California Streets And Highways Code >> Division 17. >> Chapter 1. >> Article 3.

Whenever, in the opinion of the commission and of the department, it is necessary or desirable to do so, the commission shall authorize and direct the department to build or acquire for, and in the name of, the state any or all of the following:
  (a) Toll bridges, tubes, or other toll highway crossings across water, bays, arms of bays, straits, rivers, and streams in California, both navigable and unnavigable, or across any stream that is a boundary line between California and any other state, or toll tunnels through mountains in California.
  (b) Transportation facilities of any toll bridges or toll highway crossings constructed or acquired, or to be constructed or acquired, pursuant to this chapter.
  (c) Additional transportation facilities connecting or coordinated with any such toll bridge or other highway crossing or the transportation facilities thereon. The commission may authorize and direct the department to pay for any such construction or acquisition out of any funds provided or made available by this chapter. Whenever a project consists of a tube or tunnel which will accommodate traffic served by a privately owned ferry, the commission may acquire such ferry.

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the commission may include, in any issue of revenue bonds, funds sufficient to finance the establishment of a ferry system as authorized by Section 30356, including the purchase or construction of ferry boats, wharves, docks, ferry slips, and other facilities necessary to the operation and maintenance of a ferry system. Upon determining that it is feasible to do so, the commission shall take all steps necessary to finance the establishment of ferry systems. Revenues derived from the operation of any ferry system shall be pledged as security for the payment of the bonds issued to finance the establishment of the system.

Notwithstanding Section 30100 or any other provision of law, no bridge or other highway crossing shall be constructed across San Francisco Bay by the commission, the department, or the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District, except to replace bridges or highway crossings on a one-for-one basis.

Except as otherwise provided by statute for the commission and the Bay Area Toll Authority, the commission shall fix the rates of toll and other charges for all toll bridges, tubes, or other toll highway crossings acquired or built pursuant to this chapter. Notwithstanding this section or any other provision of law, neither the commission nor the Bay Area Toll Authority may change the seismic retrofit surcharge described in Section 31010.

The commission may permit authorized emergency vehicles, as defined in Section 165 of the Vehicle Code, responding to or returning from mutual aid calls or other emergencies, and other vehicles owned by any public agency when called upon to perform emergency work on the property of any toll bridge, tube, or other toll highway crossing, to cross toll bridges, tubes, or other toll highway crossings without paying a toll.

The commission shall grant toll-free passage on all toll bridges, tubes, and other toll highway crossings under its jurisdiction to members of the California Highway Patrol on duty. Members of the California Highway Patrol, in all cases while on duty, are persons directly connected with the operation of toll bridges, tubes, and other toll highway crossings as such persons are designated in all of the bond resolutions adopted by the commission to authorize the issuance of bonds to finance the construction of toll structures.

(a) The commission shall grant toll free passage on all toll bridges, tubes, and other toll highway crossings under its jurisdiction to vehicles in a funeral procession of a person who died while on active duty with the armed services of the United States.
  (b) The commission shall submit a claim for the loss in revenues resulting from subdivision (a) to the State Controller, who shall reimburse the commission in the amount submitted in the claim from funds appropriated by the Legislature to him for such purposes.
  (c) The State Controller, in consultation with the commission, shall adopt such rules and regulations as are necessary to implement this section.

(a) The commission may grant toll-free and reduced-rate passage on all toll bridges under its jurisdiction to class I vehicles occupied by three or more persons, including the driver, and to buses. For bridges within the area under the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the Bay Area Toll Authority may grant toll-free and reduced-rate passage.
  (b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), tolls on the bridges shall be maintained at rates sufficient to meet any obligation to the holders of bonds secured by a pledge of bridge toll revenues, as set forth in any bond resolution, indenture, or covenants, and the commission shall revise or eliminate any toll-free or reduced-rate toll schedule adopted pursuant to subdivision (a) as necessary to ensure compliance with those obligations.
  (c) If the commission grants toll-free and reduced-rate passage pursuant to subdivision (a), the commission shall also grant the same toll-free and reduced-rate passage to class I vehicles designed by the manufacturer to be occupied by no more than two persons, including the driver, if these vehicles are occupied by two persons, including the driver.

Except as provided in Section 30102.5, the commission, in establishing toll charges, shall give consideration to the cost of operating and maintaining any particular toll bridge or other toll highway crossing, including the cost of insurance, the cost of operating and maintaining any ferry established and operated pursuant to Section 30356, and the amount required annually to meet the redemption of bonds and interest payments thereon. At all times, the tolls and charges shall be fixed at rates to yield annual revenue equal to the annual operating and maintenance expenses, including insurance costs, the cost of operating and maintaining any ferry established and operated pursuant to Section 30356, and all redemption payments and interest charges of the bonds issued for any particular toll bridge or other toll highway as they fall due.

Consistent with Section 30918, the Bay Area Toll Authority shall fix the rates of the toll charge, except as provided in Section 30921, and may grant reduced-rate and toll-free passage on the state-owned toll bridges within the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.

Toll charges so fixed may be changed from time to time as conditions warrant.

The commission shall prescribe the terms and conditions upon which any person, or private, public, or municipal corporation, or any district or political subdivision may do any of the following:
  (a) Transport any person or property over any toll bridge or other toll highway crossing acquired or constructed, or to be acquired or constructed, or in course of construction pursuant to this chapter.
  (b) Operate any transportation facilities thereon.
  (c) Transport any person or property over any additional transportation facilities, constructed or acquired pursuant to this chapter, or use or operate such additional transportation facilities. No person, or private, public, or municipal corporation, or district or political subdivision shall do any of the acts specified in subdivisions (a), (b), and (c) of this section, except in accordance with authorization or permission to do so from the commission.

The commission may also grant permits to and enter into contracts with steam, electric, bus, railroad, and other transportation companies, public or private, and with any municipal or public corporation, public utility district, or political subdivision for the use of any toll bridge or other toll highway crossing, and for the use of the transportation facilities and the additional transportation facilities thereof, upon such terms and conditions as are mutually agreed upon if, prior to the granting of the permit or the execution of the contract, the commission first determines that the permit or contract is advisable or necessary for the financing of the bridge or other toll highway crossing or for the proper, necessary, or safe use of the bridge and for the best interests of the state.

The grant of any such permit or the execution of any such contract by the California Transportation Commission shall not relieve any transportation company or corporation subject to the jurisdiction of the Public Utilities Commission from the duty of obtaining any certificate of public convenience and necessity for the conduct of a transportation service over any toll bridge or other highway crossing as required by law, or from the duty of complying with every lawful order, rule, or regulation of the Public Utilities Commission respecting such transportation service.

In any such contract or permit, the commission may authorize the transportation company or corporation, district, or political subdivision providing transportation to use the transportation facilities and additional transportation facilities of the commission upon such terms and in such manner as the commission deems proper. Such use may be authorized without restriction to the particular toll bridge or other highway crossing to which the transportation facilities and additional transportation facilities relate, but the use authorized shall be for or in aid of the transportation of persons or property over that bridge or other highway crossing or the approaches thereto.

Every contract which the commission enters into with, and every permit which it grants to, any person, or private, public, or municipal corporation, any district or political subdivision, for the transportation of persons or property by such person, or private, public, or municipal corporation, or district or political subdivision over any toll bridge or other toll highway crossing, or over the additional transportation facilities of any toll bridge or other toll highway crossing, shall contain a provision that no privilege or contract rights acquired by such person, private, public, or municipal corporation, district, or political subdivision, with regard to the transport of persons or property over any such toll bridge or with regard to additional transportation facilities, shall be an element of value in any subsequent condemnation proceeding against any such person, private, public, or municipal corporation, district, or political subdivision.

No privilege, permit, or contract right acquired by any such person, private, public, or municipal corporation, district, or political subdivision, with regard to the transport of persons or property over any such toll bridge or other toll highway crossing or with regard to use of or passage over any additional transportation facilities shall constitute an element of value in any condemnation proceeding.

The commission, in behalf of the State, by itself or its agents or assigns, or through the department or its agents or assigns, may operate the transportation facilities of any toll bridge or other highway crossing constructed or acquired pursuant to this chapter and the additional transportation facilities authorized to be constructed or acquired pursuant to this chapter. This power may be exercised upon default of any party contracting under Section 30104 or 30105 with the commission for the transportation of persons or property for hire over any toll bridge or other toll highway crossing, or upon the termination or cessation of any such contract or agreement, or in the absence of such contract or agreement. Prior to the operation of any such transportation facilities by the commission or its agents or assigns or by the department or its agents or assigns, the commission shall first determine that the operation thereof is advisable or necessary for the financing of the bridge or other toll highway crossing, or for the proper or necessary use of the bridge or other toll highway crossing, and is for the best interests of the State.

The commission, the officials thereof, and all state officials may do such acts and make such agreements not inconsistent with law as are necessary or desirable in connection with the duties and powers conferred upon them respectively by law regarding the construction, maintenance, operation, and insurance of toll bridges or other highway crossings, and the transportation facilities thereof or thereto, or the safeguarding of the funds and revenues required for such purposes and the payment of the indebtedness incurred therefor.

The department and commission shall consider the inclusion of bicycle and pedestrian facilities on each new toll bridge designed and constructed pursuant to this division, including appropriate connections thereto. Such facilities shall be included on each such new bridge if the commission finds that they are economically and physically feasible. If the commission finds such facilities are not feasible, it shall report its findings to the Legislature at least one year prior to commencement of construction, including the facts on which the commission based its decision. The cost of the bicycle and pedestrian facilities on the approaches to the toll bridge shall be paid by the commission as a part of the cost of construction of the toll bridge, unless the cost of such facilities is to be paid by a governmental agency other than a state agency. The feasibility study for such facilities shall reflect whether the commission or a governmental agency other than a state agency shall pay the cost of such facilities. The Legislature finds that the increased use of the bicycle is a desirable activity which should be encouraged by the improvement of access available to that mode of transportation. It is the intent of the Legislature, in enacting this section, to provide for the use of toll bridges by both pedestrians and bicycles, wherever this is economically and physically feasible.

(a) The commission may utilize net revenues from toll bridges in order to finance research on high technology motion control devices to be used on the bridges.
  (b) If the Metropolitan Transportation Commission allocates toll bridge net revenues as defined in Section 30884, it may utilize net revenues from the bridges under its jurisdiction to finance the research referred to in subdivision (a).

(a) No toll shall be imposed on the passage of a pedestrian or bicycle over any state-owned bridge, on which the travel of pedestrians and bicycles is otherwise authorized, and on which tolls are imposed on the passage of motor vehicles.
  (b) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2021, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2021, deletes or extends that date.