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| This archived statute consolidation is current to November 5, 2001 and includes changes enacted and in force by that date. For the most current information, click here. |
[Updated to May 14, 2001]
1 In this Act:
"highway" includes all public streets, roads, ways, trails, lanes, bridges, trestles, ferry landings and approaches and any other public way;
"land" includes land of every tenure and description, including foreshore and land covered with water, in British Columbia, and including land granted by Canada to a person.
Part 1 – Establishment and Control of Highways
2 Subject to section 4 (3), all roads, other than private roads, are deemed to be common and public highways.
3 Unless otherwise provided for, the soil and freehold of every public highway is vested in the government.
3.1 (1) In this section:
"arterial highway" and "highway" do not include
(a) a ferry landing,
(b) a highway, other than a bridge, if the highway is on land leased to the government, or
(c) a highway that is part of the major road network;
"major road network" has the same meaning as in the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority Act.
(2) The BC Transportation Financing Authority is deemed
(a) to have acquired at the end of March, 1999, all of the government's right and title in and to the soil and freehold of
(i) every highway outside the limits of a municipality, and
(ii) every arterial highway as defined in section 27, and
(b) to acquire all of the government's right and title in and to the soil and freehold of every highway referred to in paragraph (a) (i) or (ii) that comes into being after the end of March, 1999, at the time when that highway comes into being.
(3) On the making of an order under subsection (7) specifying land as corridor protection land, the BC Transportation Financing Authority is deemed
(a) to have acquired at the end of March, 1999, all of the government's right and title in and to that corridor protection land, and
(b) to have assumed at the end of March, 1999, all of the government's liabilities with respect to that corridor protection land.
(4) This section does not affect any powers, duties, functions and liabilities in relation to highways, of the government, the Lieutenant Governor in Council, the minister or ministry, another minister or ministry or another authority under
(a) this Act, the Ministry of Transportation and Highways Act or any other enactment,
(b) any contract, licence or permit, or
(c) the law.
(5) The BC Transportation Financing Authority, in relation to a highway referred to in subsection (2) (a) (i) or (ii), did not acquire, because of subsection (2), any of the powers, duties, functions and liabilities referred to in subsection (4), except for the purpose of accounting for the highways, and does not, and did not since the end of March, 1999, have any of those powers, duties, functions and liabilities except for that purpose.
(6) Subsection (2) does not operate to constitute the BC Transportation Financing Authority as an occupier, within the meaning of the Occupiers Liability Act, of a highway referred to in subsection (2) (a) (i) or (ii) of this section.
(7) [Repealed RS1996-188-3.1 (8).]
(8) [Spent. RS1996-188-3.1 (8).]
4 (1) If public money has been spent on a travelled road that has not before then been established by notice in the Gazette or otherwise dedicated to public use by a plan deposited in the land title office for the district in which the road is located, that travelled road is deemed to be and is declared to be a public highway.
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply if
(a) the expenditure of public money is confined to expenditure for snowploughing or ice control,
(b) a travelled road forms part of an existing railway right of way and was, at the time public money was spent on it, owned by the government, a Crown corporation or agency, or formed part of a railway right of way, or
(c) money has been authorized to be lent, guaranteed, invested, granted or spent under section 13 of the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources Act.
(3) Section 2 and subsection (1) of this section do not apply to the Trans Canada Trail, whether or not public money is spent on that trail before or after the coming into force of this subsection.
(4) Nothing in subsection (3) is to be read as including recreational trails within the meaning of roads or travelled roads.
5 (1) The minister in his or her absolute discretion may do any of the following:
(a) make public highways of any width;
(b) vary and alter existing roads;
(c) take, at any time, additional land beyond the width of a highway, if necessary for the use of or purpose of the Ministry of Transportation and Highways.
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), the minister, and the minister's agents and workers, without notice to and without the consent of a person owning or occupying the land, or having or claiming an estate, right, title or interest in it,
(a) may enter on, set out, ascertain and take possession of a private road, any land in British Columbia and any timber on it, and
(b) with the same discretion, may enter land to erect, maintain and remove snow fences, or cut drains, or to take gravel, timber, stone and other materials for construction or maintenance of a highway.
(3) The minister may designate employees of the Ministry of Transportation and Highways who may prepare explanatory plans for the purposes of
(a) permitting persons to dedicate a highway to the government if
(i) consideration for the dedication has been agreed on, or
(ii) an agreement under section 3 (1) of the Expropriation Act has been made, or
(b) sections 5 (5) and 6 (4) (b) of the Expropriation Act.
(4) If a person agrees to dedicate a highway to the government and has
(a) agreed to the consideration for the dedication, or
(b) entered into an agreement under section 3 (1) of the Expropriation Act,
an explanatory plan prepared by a person designated under subsection (3) may be filed in the land title office, and section 107 (1) (c) and (d) and (3) of the Land Title Act applies.
(5) The minister may by notice in the Gazette give a name to or change the name of a highway in a rural area.
(6) If the notice changes the name of a highway, a certified copy of the notice must be transmitted by the minister to the registrar of the land title district in which the highway is located, and the registrar must note the change of name on a subdivision plan in the registrar's office by which the highway was dedicated, and on any plan in that office in which the highway is named or referred to.
6 (1) The minister may construct, keep open and maintain a highway across any land taken under the powers conferred by this Act, and a person must not, on any pretext or claim, hinder, delay or obstruct the construction, keeping open and maintenance of a highway.
(2) A person who contravenes subsection (1) commits an offence.
7 (1) By notice published in the Gazette, in a form and containing particulars the minister determines, the minister may discontinue and close all or part of a highway that is not considered necessary in the public interest, and that highway or the part discontinued and closed ceases to be a public highway.
(2) The minister may do one or more of the following in respect of land comprised in a highway that has been discontinued and closed:
(a) dispose of the land or a part of it to an owner of the land of which it originally formed part or an owner of land adjoining that land;
(b) dispose of the land or a part of it to any person by public auction or by tender.
(3) The proceeds of all sales, leases and dispositions made under this section must be accounted for as part of the consolidated revenue fund.
(4) If the highway or the part intended to be discontinued and closed under subsection (1) is in actual use by a person as a highway, the minister must, before the publication of the notice in the Gazette, give public notice of the minister's intention to discontinue and close the highway, by notice published once each week for 4 consecutive weeks in a newspaper published in British Columbia and circulating in the place in which the highway or part of it is located.
8 (1) If, by taking land and constructing a highway on it under this Act, and by disturbing existing fences, ditches or culverts, or by diverting water because of construction of the highway, it is necessary to make and provide fences, ditches or culverts, the fences, ditches and culverts must be provided as part of, and the cost of it is part of, the cost of the construction of the highway.
(2) Ditches or culverts constructed on adjacent land and fences constructed under this section must be maintained and repaired by the respective land owners along whose land or in connection with whose land they are constructed, unless because of undue hardship to the landowner other provision is made by order of the Lieutenant Governor in Council.
9 If the owner or occupier of land wishes to convey water across or along a public highway by a pipe, ditch or flume, those works must be constructed to the satisfaction of the minister.
10 (1) If a ditch, flume, pipe, pole line, wire, cable, skid road or other erection or structure exists or is constructed, erected or maintained across, along or through any highway in a rural area or an arterial highway, within the meaning of section 27, in a municipality, and if the minister is of the opinion that the structure is unsafe and that it is necessary or advisable for the protection of the highway or the safety of persons using the highway that the structure be repaired, altered, renewed or removed, and if the minister by notice in writing affixed to or posted up in the vicinity of the structure or served on the person by whom the structure was constructed or erected, or is maintained, requires the repair, alteration, renewal or removal of the structure, then, despite any Act or consent under which the structure was constructed or erected or is maintained, the minister, unless the structure is at once repaired, altered, renewed or removed to the minister's satisfaction, may have the structure repaired, altered, renewed or removed, and may recover the cost of doing so from the person by whom the structure was constructed, erected or maintained.
(2) The minister does not because of anything done under this section incur liability for loss or damage resulting from the repair, alteration, renewal or removal of the structure.
11 (1) A person wishing to have a public highway established must give 30 days' notice of his or her intention to apply to the minister to establish the public highway, by an advertisement published, at the person's own expense, in the Gazette and in a newspaper published or circulating in the district where the applicant wishes the highway established.
(2) Nothing in this section affects the right of the minister to make highways under section 5.
12 (1) Compensation must be paid for land entered and taken possession of under this Part for the following matters only:
(a) improvements on the land taken, which is everything constructed on or annexed to the soil by anyone, such as roads, buildings, structures and fences and improvements made by clearing, planting, grading or cultivating the soil;
(b) land which was originally granted to a person by the Crown, either in right of British Columbia or Canada, and by the taking of which the total area taken for highways from the land comprised in the original Crown grant exceeds 1/20 of the total area of the land comprised in the Crown grant, and then only for the area in excess of 1/20 of that total area; but, if the land comprised in the Crown grant has been subdivided into parcels by a registered conveyance or plan of subdivision, the area of land that may be taken from a parcel without payment of compensation must not exceed 1/20 of the area of that parcel, and if land is being taken from 2 or more of the parcels at the same time the total area to be taken without the payment of compensation must be apportioned among those parcels on the basis of their respective areas.
(2) The Expropriation Act applies to proceedings under this Act.
(3) In determining compensation payable to any owner for land entered and taken possession of under this Part, there must be taken into consideration the increased value, beyond the increased value common to all land in the locality, that will be given to the remaining land of the owner through which the highway will pass, because of passage of the highway through it or because of construction of the highway or works incidental to it, and the increased value must be set off against the compensation otherwise payable to that owner under this section.
(4) If for gravel, sand, stone, timber or other materials taken by the government for construction, maintenance or repair of a highway or bridge, an Act or the reservations in a Crown grant permit that material being taken without compensation and if they are taken from improved land the minister may, despite this Act or reservations, pay reasonable compensation; but the payment and amount of compensation are in the absolute discretion of the minister.
13 (1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may, under special circumstances, transfer or direct the issue of a lease to a person of any part of a highway vested in the government; but a transfer must not be made or a direction given under this subsection until the minister has given 30 days' public notice of the intention to make the transfer or issue the lease, by notice published in one issue of a newspaper published in British Columbia and circulating in the place in which the highway or part of it is located.
(2) The minister, on terms he or she directs, may lease to the BC Transportation Financing Authority or to the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority, or direct the issue of a lease to one of those authorities, of any part of a highway vested in the government, and may do so without first giving public notice and without the need for special circumstances.
13.1 (1) The minister may, by regulation, establish standards and requirements in relation to highways in areas outside a municipality.
(2) Without limiting subsection (1), regulations under that subsection may do one or more of the following:
(a) establish standards for the dimensions, locations, alignments and gradients of highways;
(b) establish standards and materials specifications in relation to highway and bridge design and construction;
(c) require that, within a subdivision or highway right of way or easement, systems for drainage collection and disposal be provided and that they be located and constructed in accordance with the standards established by the regulations;
(d) require that sidewalks, boulevards, boulevard crossings, transit bays, street lighting and underground wiring be provided and that they be located and constructed in accordance with the standards established by the regulations;
(e) authorize exceptions to standards and requirements established by the regulations, with the approval of a designated highways official within the meaning of section 1 of the Land Title Act.
(3) Regulations under subsection (1) may be different in relation to one or more of the following:
(a) different circumstances;
(b) different areas;
(c) different land uses;
(d) different zones;
(e) different classes of highways.
(4) If a bylaw has been approved by the minister under section 938 (3.1) (b) of the Local Government Act, a provision in a regulation under subsection (1) of this section that establishes highways standards or requirements in relation to the same subject does not apply to the area.
Part 2 – Protection of Highways
14 It is an offence, on a highway in a rural area or on an arterial highway within the meaning of section 27 in a municipality, to do any of the following:
(a) camp, unless where impracticable to do otherwise, so that any part of the camp is within 6 m of the centre of a highway;
(b) make a fire within 6 m of the centre of a highway, or make a fire at a place so as to endanger a bridge or cribbing, or leave unextinguished a fire on a highway;
(c) leave a dead animal within 60 m of the centre of a highway;
(d) leave a portion of the chains, yokes or other harness or of the cargo or apparatus of any team or train within 1.8 m of the centre of a highway;
(e) willfully or without lawful authority place, maintain or leave material or an obstruction on part of a highway;
(f) change the level of a highway in any way;
(g) stop the natural flow of water through a drain or culvert on or under a highway;
(h) construct or maintain a ditch the water from which causes damage to a highway;
(i) drag logs or timber over or along a public highway, except as authorized by permit from the minister;
(j) dig up, break up or remove part of a highway, or cut down or remove trees or timber grown on a highway, or excavate in or under a highway without first having obtained a permit from the minister;
(k) place or maintain skids, rails or other mechanical devices on, along or across a highway without first having obtained a permit from the minister;
(l) place or maintain a loading platform, mail box or other structure on a highway without first having obtained a permit from the minister;
(m) throw or deposit or cause to flow on a highway noxious, offensive or filthy water or substance, or empty bottles, glass containers or other articles, whether broken or intact.
15 (1) A person must not, in view of a highway, erect, place, replace, alter or maintain a light or similar electrical device that is ordinarily visible to part of the public travelling on the highway and could reasonably be expected to create a nuisance to a person using the highway, or impair the person's vision or distract him or her in a manner that affects the efficient operation of his or her motor vehicle.
(2) If a person is not, in the opinion of the minister, complying with subsection (1), the minister may, by order served on that person in accordance with subsection (4), order that the light or device be shaded, moved, removed or altered in a manner the minister specifies in the order.
(3) If a person served under subsection (2) does not, within 15 days of service, comply with the order, the minister may apply to the Supreme Court for an order, including an injunction, that the minister considers necessary and appropriate, but the court must consider whether or not the minister acted arbitrarily or oppressively.
(4) An order under subsection (2) may be served personally, or by registered mail addressed to the person to be served at the person's last known address, or, if the person and the person's address are unknown, the order may be served on any adult person who, in the opinion of the person serving the order, resides or is employed on the land on which the light or device is located, and in the case of mailing, service is deemed to be made on the third day after mailing.
(5) A person who contravenes this section, after an order is made under subsection (3), commits an offence under this Part, and every day after the order that the offence continues is a separate offence.
16 (1) Any member of the Provincial police force or a municipal police department or any official of the Ministry of Transportation and Highways may remove or cause to be removed a vehicle parked on a highway, whether attended or unattended, if the vehicle interferes with the normal flow of traffic on the highway or interferes with the maintenance of the highway by equipment for that purpose.
(2) All costs and charges for the removal, care or storage of a motor vehicle removed under this section must be paid by the owner of the motor vehicle.
(3) The costs and charges referred to in subsection (2) are a lien on the motor vehicle in favour of the keeper of the repair shop, garage or storage place in which that motor vehicle is stored.
(4) A lien under subsection (3) may be enforced by the keeper of the repair shop, garage or storage place in the manner provided by the Repairers Lien Act or the Warehouse Lien Act.
17 (1) On being satisfied, by information on oath made before him or her, that there exists within his or her territorial jurisdiction a practice, matter or thing constituting an offence under this Part, a justice may issue a warrant for the removal of the cause of the offence, and may entrust the execution of the warrant to a constable or other person.
(2) A person who commits an offence under subsection (1) is, on conviction, liable to pay, in addition to any other penalty imposed by this Part for the offence, all costs and expenses incurred from the removal of the cause of the offence.
18 If a dead animal is left lying, or a fire is left unextinguished, on or near a highway in contravention of this Part, a person may remove and properly dispose of the dead animal, or extinguish the fire, and the person is entitled to recover reasonable compensation for his or her trouble and expense from those contravening this Part.
19 (1) If an offence under this Part has taken place or has been committed or permitted in or about a camp, or a team or a train of pack animals, the person in charge of the camp, team or train of pack animals is responsible for and is deemed guilty of the offence.
(2) If there is no person in charge, each person in or about the camp, team or train is responsible for and is deemed guilty of the offence, but for each offence proved the total penalties imposed must not be greater than the maximum penalty provided in this Part.
20 A person who damages a public highway contrary to section 14 (e), (f), (g), (h) or (i) is, in addition to the fine provided by section 21, liable to pay to the minister the sum for the damage as awarded by the justice.
21 (1) A person who contravenes this Part or the regulations, or who refuses or neglects to observe or perform a duty or obligation created or imposed by this Part or the regulations, commits an offence against this Part.
(2) Every day that an offence under subsection (1) continues constitutes a new and separate offence.
22 All penalties imposed and all costs, expenses, compensation, damages and money payable or recoverable under this Part are recoverable before a justice under the Offence Act.
23 (1) In this section:
"extraordinary traffic" includes the carriage of goods or persons over a highway, whether in vehicles drawn by animal power or propelled by other means, that in conjunction with the nature or existing condition of the highway is so extraordinary or improper in the quality or quantity of the goods or the number of persons carried, or in the mode or time of use of the highway, or in the speed at which the vehicles are driven or operated, as, in the opinion of the minister, substantially alters or increases the burden imposed on the highway through its proper use by ordinary traffic, and causes damage and expense to the highway beyond what is reasonable or ordinary;
"minister" means the minister or any person authorized by the minister in writing to exercise the powers vested in the minister under this Part.
(2) If in the opinion of the minister a highway is liable to damage through extraordinary traffic, the minister may regulate, limit or prohibit the use of the highway by a person operating or in charge of the extraordinary traffic, or owning the goods carried by it or the vehicles used in it.
(3) A person driving on or using the highway in contravention of a regulation, limitation or prohibition made under subsection (2) commits an offence against this Act and is liable on conviction to a fine of not less than $50 and not more than $300.
(4) Any person to whom this section might otherwise apply may, with the approval of the minister, enter into an agreement for the payment to the government of compensation for the damage or expense that may, in the opinion of the minister, be caused by the extraordinary traffic, and then that person is not for that traffic subject to a prohibition or penalty prescribed by this section.
(5) The minister may close to traffic or use any highway at a time and for a period of time and for classes of traffic or use as in the minister's opinion may be necessary for construction or protection of a highway or other public work or for the protection of persons using the highway or to enable permitted traffic to be handled safely and expeditiously.
(6) This section applies to all highways in rural areas, but applies only to arterial highways, within the meaning of section 27, in municipalities.
24 (1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations for vehicles driven, used or operated on and in respect of pedestrians using a highway in a rural area or on an arterial highway, within the meaning of section 27, in a municipality as necessary or advisable for this Part and may prescribe penalties for the enforcement of regulations made under this section.
(2) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations for highways in rural areas and arterial highways, within the meaning of section 27, in municipalities providing for removal of signs, advertisements and guide posts on a highway or specified portion of a highway, or at a specified distance from a highway.
Part 3 – Classification and Improvement of Highways
25 (1) In this Part:
"construction" includes the original construction of a new highway and also the work of reconstructing or putting a highway or any section in repair by general and continuous regrading or remetalling of its surface, or by building, rebuilding or enlarging bridges, or by executing other highway work of improvement or protection classified by the minister as substantial;
"maintenance" means the work, after the construction of a highway, of preserving and keeping it in repair, including the making, cleaning and keeping open of ditches, gutters, drains, culverts and watercourses, and the repairing of retaining walls, cribs, river protection works and other works necessary to keep open and maintain the highway for use by the traffic for which it is required;
"ministry" means the Ministry of Transportation and Highways;
"municipal area" or "area" means the area of land within the limits of a municipality and over which the jurisdiction of the municipal corporation extends.
(2) For this Part, the certificate of the minister, in writing under the minister's seal, as to the "population" of any municipality is conclusive.
26 This Part, except sections 27 and 28 relating to the classification of highways and except section 39, applies only to highways and portions of highways within the limits of a municipality.
27 For this Part, certain highways may be classified as "arterial highways", comprising highways that, on the recommendation of the minister approved by order of the Lieutenant Governor in Council, are classified as arterial highways.
28 (1) The minister must denote the highways that in the minister's opinion should be classified as arterial highways by delineating on a map the route of each highway throughout each municipal area through or in which the highway runs or is intended to run.
(2) The minister must submit the map to the Lieutenant Governor in Council for classification of the highways denoted on it as arterial highways, after consultation with the municipal councils of the municipalities through or within the limits of which the highways run or are intended to run.
(3) On making the order classifying an arterial highway, the minister must publish notice of the fact of its classification under this Act in one issue of the Gazette, and a change must not be made in the route or the classification of the highway as an arterial highway except by order of the Lieutenant Governor in Council.
29 (1) Subject to subsection (2), the cost of construction and maintenance of arterial highways must be borne entirely by the ministry.
(2) The ministry may build, rebuild, repair or protect a bridge on a highway if the cost of the work is provided by a specific vote of the Legislature.
(3) In case of damage by flood or other accident, or if otherwise necessary in the public interest, the ministry may, with the approval of the Lieutenant Governor in Council, replace, repair, rebuild or protect a bridge on a highway, whether or not on an arterial highway, and pay the entire cost, or may reimburse a municipality for any costs incurred by the municipality or may reimburse the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority for any costs incurred by the authority.
30 (1) The control of the construction and maintenance of every arterial highway is vested in the ministry.
(2) On obtaining the approval of the ministry, the municipal corporation of an area in or through which an arterial highway runs may construct, at the expense of the corporation, sidewalks on that highway.
31 (1) In addition to all other powers, the ministry has and may exercise within the limits of a municipality in or through which an arterial highway runs all the powers that a municipal corporation authorized to lay out, construct and maintain the highway might exercise for that purpose.
(2) For an arterial highway, the ministry has all the rights, powers and advantages conferred by bylaw, contract or otherwise on the municipal corporation having control of the highway before it became classified as an arterial highway under this Act, and the minister may sue in the name of the minister on these rights or under the bylaw or contract in the same manner and to the same extent as the municipal corporation might have done if the highway had not been classified as an arterial highway.
32 (1) Despite any Act, a person must not
(a) dig up, break up or remove any part of the improved, graded, surfaced or travelled portions of an arterial highway for any purpose,
(b) excavate in or under any arterial highway, or
(c) place a sign, erection or obstruction on an arterial highway,
except with the consent of the minister and after having obtained from the minister a permit in writing, and subject to conditions in the permit the minister considers proper.
(1.1) Despite subsection (1), the minister may issue the permit by sending it by electronic means to an address provided by the person.
(2) A person who contravenes subsection (1) is liable on conviction to a fine of not more than $250.
(3) No part of the expense of a work constructed or maintained or thing done by a person under a permit granted by the minister under subsection (1) must be borne by the ministry, and the government is not liable for loss or damage to person or property caused, directly or indirectly, by a work constructed or maintained or thing done under the permit.
33 and 34 [Repealed 1997-29-15.]
35 (1) All money due to or recoverable by the ministry under this Act may be recovered by action in court as a debt due to the government.
(2) The certificate of the minister stating the amount due from any municipal corporation under this Act is conclusive evidence of liability.
36 A municipal corporation liable for the payment of money under this Act may provide funds in a manner authorized under the Local Government Act for providing funds for municipal purposes, but it is not necessary because of anything contained in that Act for a bylaw ratifying an agreement made under this Act, or for raising money on the credit of the municipality for the payment of money for which the municipal corporation is liable under this Act, to be submitted to or receive the assent of the electors of the municipality.
37 [Repealed 1997-29-15.]
38 (1) In order to carry out this Part, the Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations referred to in section 41 of the Interpretation Act.
(2) [Repealed 1997-29-16.]
(3) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may enter into agreements with the Governor in Council, or with any member of Her Majesty's Privy Council for Canada, for the application to the construction and improvement of highways in British Columbia of money appropriated for highway construction or improvement under an Act of the Parliament of Canada.
(4) If an agreement entered into under subsection (3) provides for the application of money appropriated to the cost of highway work under this Act, the minister may, as a result of the agreement, vary the conditions of payment and the amounts payable for that work by the ministry.
39 (1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may set the distance from a highway at which fences, buildings or other structures may be placed, and at which trees, shrubs or hedges may be planted.
(2) The minister may direct the removal of a tree, shrub, bush, hedge, fence, signboard, gasoline pump, building or other object growing or standing on land adjacent to a highway if required, in the minister's opinion, for the safety or convenience of the travelling public or when an object might cause drifting or accumulation of snow or is injurious to the road bed, but subject to the payment of compensation as agreed on or as determined by arbitration in the manner provided in the Ministry of Transportation and Highways Act.
Part 4 – Protection of Bridges and Tunnels
40 This Part applies to bridges and tunnels owned by the government or subject to the control of the government.
41 Subject to section 43 (c), a person must not ride or drive an animal, whether attached to a vehicle or otherwise, or animals in droves or in pack trains, on or over a bridge at a pace faster than a walk.
42 A person must not moor, make fast or in any other way attach a raft, vessel, boat, barge or other floating body to a bridge, or to a pier, pile, guide, trestle or abutment of it, or to any part of or appurtenance to a tunnel.
43 The minister, or person authorized by the minister in writing to exercise the powers vested in the minister under this section, may make regulations governing traffic over a bridge or through a tunnel coming under this Part for one or more of the following:
(a) defining the maximum load that may be hauled on and over any bridge at one time;
(b) defining the maximum number of animals of any kind, in bands or pack trains, that may be driven on or over a bridge at one time, and for defining the intervals of time and space between bands or pack trains;
(c) permitting an increased pace over trestle bridges if an increase in speed is not hazardous to the structure;
(d) closing a bridge or tunnel to traffic or restricting the use of it to a particular class of traffic.
44 A person who contravenes any of sections 40 to 43, or a regulation made under any of those sections relating to the protection of bridges or tunnels, is liable on conviction to a fine of not more than $50.
45 The employer of a person who, while in charge of animals or vehicles of an employer, contravenes this Part is liable, in addition to penalties imposed by this Part, to the government for damage resulting from the contravention, and damages may be recovered from the employer by action in any court of competent jurisdiction at the suit of the Attorney General.
46 The minister, or any person authorized by the minister in writing to exercise the powers vested in the minister under this section, may make regulations prescribing the conditions on which traffic of any kind, including railway traffic, may be carried across a bridge or through a tunnel to which this Part applies including regulations
(a) prescribing the speed at which railway traffic may be moved across a bridge or through a tunnel,
(b) prescribing the speed at which vehicle traffic may be moved across a bridge or through a tunnel,
(c) setting and prescribing the length and weight of trains and vehicles that may be moved across a bridge or through a tunnel, and
(d) preventing the depositing of rubbish, offal or offensive or inflammable matter on a bridge or in a tunnel.
47 A person who contravenes or permits the contravention of, or omits, refuses or neglects to conform to, observe and perform the provisions made and prescribed by a regulation made under section 46 is liable on conviction to a fine of not less than $10 and not more than $250.
48 If a corporation is convicted of any offence under section 47, or regulations under section 46, every officer and employee of the corporation taking part in or being in any way concerned in the act or omission constituting the offence is personally deemed to commit an offence under this Part, and may be prosecuted and punished in addition to the prosecution and punishment of the corporation.
49 Nothing in this Part interferes with the public rights of navigation or shipping.
Part 5 – Trans-Canada Highways
50 The Lieutenant Governor in Council may
(a) either alone or in conjunction with Canada, institute and carry out measures as considered practicable and necessary for the construction, reconstruction and maintenance of Trans-Canada highways in British Columbia, and
(b) agree with Canada for payment of a portion of the cost incurred by the government of British Columbia in constructing, reconstructing and maintaining Trans-Canada highways in British Columbia.
51 In order to carry out this Part, the Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations referred to in section 41 of the Interpretation Act.
Part 6 – Controlled Access Highways
52 In this Part:
"controlled access highway" means the highway or portions designated or designed for through traffic;
53 (1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may
(a) designate certain highways or portions controlled access highways, and
(b) withdraw the designation of controlled access highway from any highway or portion.
(2) All designations made by the Lieutenant Governor in Council under this section must be published in the Gazette, and then have the same effect as if incorporated in this Part.
54 (1) Unless the person holds a valid and subsisting permit from the minister, a person must not construct or use a private road, entrance, way, gate or other structure or facility as a means of access to a controlled access highway.
(2) A zoning bylaw under the Local Government Act or the Vancouver Charter, or for a community planning area under the Local Services Act, does not apply to land or improvements within a radius of 800 m of the intersection of a controlled access highway with any other highway, unless it has been approved in writing by the minister before its adoption.
(3) Subsection (2) does not apply to bylaws adopted on or before March 20, 1964.
55 For this Part and subject to the approval of the Lieutenant Governor in Council, the minister may make regulations referred to in section 41 of the Interpretation Act.
Copyright (c) 2001: Queen's Printer, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada