Transport Act 1968

116 Transfer of responsibility for maintenance of highways on bridges over Boards' railways, inland waterways, etc.

(1) Where a highway is carried by a bridge over one or more of the following, that is to say, a railway of the Railways Board, a railway of the London Board, an inland waterway of the Waterways Board or any other installation or land used by any of those Boards in connection with a railway or inland waterway, and immediately before the appointed day—

(a) the Board or Boards concerned are responsible for maintaining the highway carried by the bridge, or that highway together with the highway giving access to the bridge; and

(b) the highway at each end—

(i) of the bridge ; or

(ii) if the Board or Boards are also responsible for maintaining the highway giving access to the bridge, of the bridge and any such highway,

is a highway maintainable at the public expense,

the highway carried by the bridge, together with any such highway as is mentioned in paragraph (b)(ii) of this subsection, shall on that day become a highway maintainable at the public expense.

(2) Any agreement between any of the Boards mentioned in subsection (1) of this section and a highway authority, so far as it provides for that authority to carry out after the appointed day, at the expense of the Board, any maintenance for which the Board cease to be responsible by virtue of that subsection, shall cease to have effect on that day.

(3) Where by virtue of any agreement or order made before the appointed day—

(a) a highway authority is responsible for maintaining the highway carried by or giving access to a bridge such as is mentioned in subsection (1) of this section; and

(b) but for that agreement or order, any of the Boards mentioned in that subsection would by virtue thereof have ceased to be responsible for maintaining that highway on that day,

that Board shall not by virtue of that agreement or order be liable to make to that highway authority in respect of the maintenance of that highway any annual or other periodical payment (not being an instalment of a lump sum) which falls due after that day.

(4) Where paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (1) of this section are not satisfied immediately before the appointed day in the case of any such bridge as is mentioned in that subsection, or such a bridge as aforesaid is constructed after that day, then, if those paragraphs are satisfied in the case of that bridge on any subsequent day, the highway carried by the bridge, together with any highway giving access to the bridge for the maintenance of which the Board or Boards concerned are also responsible, shall on that subsequent day become a highway maintainable at the public expense.

(5) A highway which by virtue of this section on any day becomes a highway maintainable at the public expense shall—

(a) if and so far as it is in any county, be a county road if on that day the highway at one or both ends of it is in relation to that county a county road; and

(b) if and so far as it is in a non-county borough or urban district, be a claimed county road if on that day the highway at one or both ends of it is in relation to that borough or district a claimed county road ;

but this subsection shall be without prejudice to any provision by virtue of which a highway may at any time cease to be a county road or a claimed county road.

(6) This section shall not affect the responsibility of any of the Boards for the maintenance of any part of a bridge or its approaches other than the surface of the highway, and a highway authority—

(a) shall not by virtue of this section be under any duty to make good, or incur any liability by reason of, any defect in the surface of the highway so far as attributable to the failure of any of the Boards to discharge that responsibility;

(b) shall permit the Board or Boards concerned to carry out on or in relation to the surface of the highway any works reasonably required to be carried out by them for discharging that responsibility or for inspecting, maintaining or altering any apparatus of the Board or Boards incorporated in or attached to the bridge; and

(c) shall not, without the consent of the Board or Boards concerned, increase to a significant extent the weight of the materials constituting the surface of the highway.

(7) Nothing in this section shall affect any liability incurred by any of the Boards by reason of any act or omission in relation to any highway before the day on which they cease by virtue of this section to be responsible for its maintenance.