54-11-308 - Commissioner of transportation authorized to acquire and operate ferries connecting state roads Operation of other ferries limited Citizen advisory committees.
54-11-308. Commissioner of transportation authorized to acquire and operate ferries connecting state roads Operation of other ferries limited Citizen advisory committees.
(a) The commissioner of transportation has the power to acquire by donation, purchase, or exercise of the power of eminent domain under the general law the assets of any ferry service business operating as a connection between state roads and is authorized to operate the business as a function of the department.
(b) The department may continue to operate any ferries now operated by the department, but in the future shall only operate ferries connecting state roads.
(c) The department may discontinue any ferry service business when it is no longer financially feasible, on reasonable public notice, except the department shall continue to operate the Cumberland City ferry or, in the alternative, arrange for and cause to be implemented another method for its continued operation by another public body.
(d) (1) The commissioner shall charge reasonable tolls for the use of a ferry service business based on a user classification schedule. School buses and state and county vehicles shall be exempt from the payment of the toll. The fee charges that are established for the Cumberland City ferry shall provide that the fee shall not exceed seventy-five cents (75¢) per day for local residents who use the ferry.
(2) As used in subdivision (d)(1), local residents includes residents of Stewart, Montgomery, and Houston counties.
(e) The commissioner is authorized to appoint advisory committees composed of three (3) citizens in the communities affected by ferry service business to make recommendations concerning the efficient operation of the ferry service.
[Acts 1981, ch. 255, §§ 1-4; 1982, ch. 918, § 1.]