Section 4 Powers of authority
Section 4. The authority is hereby authorized and empowered:
(a) to adopt by-laws for the regulation of its affairs and the conduct of its business;
(b) to adopt an official seal and alter the same at its pleasure;
(c) to maintain offices at such places within the commonwealth as it may determine and to conduct meetings of the authority in accordance with the by-laws of the authority and the provisions of the second paragraph of section fifty-nine of chapter one hundred and fifty-six B;
(d) to sue and be sued in its own name, plead and be impleaded;
(e) to own, construct, maintain, repair, reconstruct, improve, rehabilitate, use, police, administer, control and operate the turnpike or any part thereof and, consistent with agreements entered into with the highway department to the extent applicable, the metropolitan highway system or any part thereof, as it may determine; provided, however, that the provisions of chapter ninety-one shall not apply to the authority, except for any parts or areas thereof subject to said chapter ninety-one on March first, nineteen hundred and ninety-seven;
(f) to acquire sites abutting the turnpike or the metropolitan highway system and to construct or contract for the construction of buildings and appurtenances for gasoline stations, restaurants, parking facilities, tourist information centers and other services and to lease such facilities in such manner and under such terms as it may determine;
(g) to issue notes or bonds for any of its corporate purposes related to the turnpike payable solely from turnpike revenues or portions thereof pledged for their payment and to refund its notes or bonds pertaining to the turnpike or any part thereof or payable from such revenues, as provided in this chapter;
(h) to issue notes or bonds for any of its corporate purposes related to the metropolitan highway system payable solely from the metropolitan highway system revenues or portions thereof pledged for their payment and to refund its notes or bonds pertaining to the metropolitan highway system or any part thereof or payable from such revenues, as provided in this chapter;
(i) to fix and revise from time to time and charge and collect tolls for transit over the turnpike; provided, however, that it shall furnish upon request to a user of the turnpike a toll receipt showing the amount of toll paid, the classification of the vehicle, the date of payment and place of exit from said turnpike; provided further, that the authority shall convene at least two public hearings, each to be held in a community within the turnpike corridor, at least 30 days prior to the effective date of any proposed change in toll structure on the turnpike and shall allow for a one week comment period, after each such hearing, during which written testimony and comments shall be accepted;
(j) to fix and revise from time to time and charge and collect tolls for transit over the metropolitan highway system; provided, however, that it shall furnish upon request to a user of the metropolitan highway system a toll receipt showing the amount of toll paid, the classification of the vehicle and the date of payment; provided further, that the authority shall convene at least two public hearings to be held within the metropolitan Boston area at least 30 days prior to the effective date of any proposed change in toll structure within the metropolitan highway system and shall allow for a one week comment period after each such hearing during which written testimony and comments shall be accepted;
(k) to adopt such rules and regulations pursuant to the provisions of chapter thirty A and not repugnant to the provisions of the General Laws made applicable to the authority, as the authority determines necessary or appropriate to provide for or govern the construction or reconstruction, including contractor qualification, operation, maintenance, repair, rehabilitation, improvement, use, policing, control or administration of the turnpike, the metropolitan highway system or the authority’s business or property affairs. Such regulations may include the authority to grant easements, permits or other forms of authorization for the installation, construction, maintenance, repair, renewal, relocation and removal of tracks, pipes, pipelines, mains, conduits, cables, wires, towers, poles and other equipment and appliances of any public utility, private entity or corporation or person owning or operating such facilities in, on, along, over or under the turnpike or the metropolitan highway system.
Such regulations may impose penalties for violations thereof which, in the case of civil penalties, may be recovered only after notice and hearing conducted by the authority or its designee and subject to judicial review and enforcement pursuant to the provisions of said chapter thirty A or such other civil proceedings under the laws of the commonwealth or the United States as the law may provide and, in the case of criminal penalties, may be recovered in a proceeding in a trial court of the commonwealth by indictment or complaint. The amount of any such civil or criminal penalty, with the exception of penalties imposed under section nineteen, shall not exceed five hundred dollars for each offense, unless the law otherwise provides. The full amount of a civil penalty shall be paid to the authority and eighty percent of a penalty recovered in a criminal proceeding shall be accounted for and paid to the authority. The authority may further provide in such regulations for adjudicatory proceedings that it or its designee conducts which are subject to judicial review and enforcement according to the provisions of said chapter thirty A;
(l) to acquire, lease, hold and dispose of real and personal property or any interest therein in the exercise of its powers and the performance of its duties pursuant to this chapter provided, however, that the authority shall issue semi-annual reports to the secretary of administration and finance, the house and senate committees on ways and means, the joint committee on transportation and the joint committee on bonding, capital expenditures and state assets, detailing the financial transactions and revenues associated with the sale, concession or lease of real property held in the name of or under the control of the authority, whether by purchase or otherwise, and any transactions relating to real property currently pending; and provided further, that the semi-annual report shall include the current market values of the real properties related to the transactions;
(m) to place and maintain or grant permission by easement or otherwise to any public utility, corporation or person to place and maintain on or under or within the turnpike or the metropolitan highway system or any part thereof, ducts, pipes, pipelines, mains, conduits, cables, wires, towers, poles or other structures to be so located as not to interfere with the safe and convenient operation and maintenance of the turnpike or metropolitan highway system and to contract with any such public utility, corporation or person for such permission on such terms and conditions as may be fixed by the authority. The construction, maintenance and repair of any such ducts, pipes, pipelines, mains, conduits, cable, wires, towers, poles or other structures shall be subject to such directions and regulations as the authority may impose.
Whenever the authority shall determine that it is necessary that any such ducts, pipes, pipelines, mains, conduits, cable, wires, towers, poles or other structures which are now or hereafter may be located in, on, along, over or under the turnpike or the metropolitan highway system be relocated or removed, the public utility, corporation or person owning or operating such facilities shall relocate or remove the same in accordance with the order of the authority. In case of any such relocation or removal of facilities, the public utility, corporation or person owning or operating the same, its successors or assigns may maintain and operate such facilities, with the necessary appurtenances, in the new location for as long a period and upon the same terms and conditions as it had the right to maintain and operate such facilities in their former location;
(n) to acquire in the name of the authority by purchase or otherwise, on such terms and conditions and in such manner as it may deem proper or by the exercise of the power of eminent domain in accordance with the provisions of chapter seventy-nine or any alternative method now or hereafter provided by law, such public lands and any fee simple absolute or lesser interest in such private property, or part thereof or rights therein as it may deem necessary for carrying out the provisions of this chapter;
(o) To designate the locations and establish, limit and control such points of ingress to and egress from the turnpike or metropolitan highway system as may be necessary, convenient or desirable in the judgment of the authority to insure the proper operation and maintenance of the turnpike or metropolitan highway system to prohibit entrance to the turnpike or metropolitan highway system from any point or points not so designated;
(p) to (i) construct grade separations at locations where the turnpike or metropolitan highway system intersect with or abut public highways or rail lines and to change and adjust the lines and grades of such highways or rail lines so as to accommodate the same to the design of such grade separation; and (ii) change the location of any portion of any public highway or rail line which intersects or abuts the turnpike or the metropolitan highway system in order to improve the safety or efficiency of the turnpike or metropolitan highway system; provided, however, that if the authority shall find it necessary to change the location of a public highway, it shall, after consultation with the highway department, reconstruct the same in as good a condition as the original highway and at such location as the authority, after such consultation, deems most favorable. All costs incident to construction, realignment or reconstruction conducted pursuant to this clause shall be borne by the authority;
(q) to enter upon any lands, waters and premises in the commonwealth for the purpose of making surveys, soundings, drillings and examinations as the authority may deem necessary, convenient or desirable for carrying out the purposes of this chapter and such entry shall not be deemed a trespass nor shall an entry for such purposes be deemed an entry under any condemnation proceedings which may be then pending. The authority shall provide reimbursement for any actual damage resulting to such lands, waters and premises as a result of such activities. The commonwealth hereby consents to the use of all lands owned by it, including lands lying underwater, which are deemed by the authority to be necessary, convenient or desirable for the construction, operation or maintenance of the turnpike and the metropolitan highway system;
(r) to make and enter into all contracts and agreements necessary, convenient or desirable in the performance of its duties and the execution of its powers under this chapter including, but not limited to, contracts or agreements with state, local or regional public agencies and authorities which the authority deems necessary, convenient, or desirable for the ownership, construction, operation, maintenance, repair, reconstruction, improvement, rehabilitation, use, control, administration or policing of the turnpike or any part thereof and the metropolitan highway system or any part thereof and agreements with the highway department and the Federal Highway Administration with respect to compliance with the provisions of Titles 23 and 49 of the United States Code as they may apply to the turnpike or the metropolitan highway system; provided, however, that sections twenty-six to twenty-nine, inclusive, and sections forty-four A to forty-four J, inclusive, of chapter one hundred and forty-nine and sections thirty-nine F to thirty-nine M, inclusive, of chapter thirty shall apply to contracts of the authority to the same extent and in the same manner as they are applicable to the commonwealth. Notwithstanding the provisions of this clause, the authority may, with the approval of the secretary of the executive office of transportation and construction, without competitive bids and notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, award a contract, otherwise subject to this section, limited to the performance of emergency repairs necessary to preserve the safety of persons or property;
(s) to employ consulting engineers, attorneys, accountants, construction and financial experts, superintendents, managers, toll collectors and such other employees and agents as may be necessary in its judgment, and to fix their compensation;
(t) to receive and accept from any federal agency grants for or in aid of the ownership, construction, operation, maintenance, repair, reconstruction, improvement, rehabilitation, use, control, administration or policing of the turnpike or any part thereof and the metropolitan highway system or any part thereof and to receive and accept aid or contributions from any source of either money, property, labor or other things of value to be held, used and applied only for the purposes for which such grants and contributions may be made; and
(u) to do all acts and things necessary, convenient or desirable to carry out the powers expressly granted in this chapter.