Chapter 81

Section 1. The division of highways, in this chapter called the department, shall compile statistics relative to the public ways of counties, cities and towns, and make such investigations relative thereto as it considers expedient. It may be consulted by, and shall without charg…

Section 10. The mayor, selectmen or road commissioners or the board or officer having charge of the maintenance and care of highways, if so authorized by the city council or by the town, may agree in writing, in behalf of such city or town, to contribute money, labor or materials…

Section 11. The department shall have the same power as aldermen, selectmen or road commissioners in relation to the purchase or taking of land to furnish materials for the construction, repair or improvement of public ways in the manner provided in section thirty-eight of chapte…

Section 12. The department, with the concurrence of the county commissioners, may discontinue as a state highway any way or section of way laid out and constructed under the provisions of section five by filing in the office of the county commissioners for the county and in the o…

Section 13. State highways shall be maintained and kept in good repair and condition by the department at the expense of the commonwealth. The department shall keep all state highways reasonably clear of brush and shall cause suitable shade trees to be planted thereon if practica…

Section 13A. The department may accept in behalf of the commonwealth from owners of lands included in a strip one hundred feet deep bordering on a state highway voluntary gifts by deed or will of easements in such lands, giving the commonwealth the right to enter thereon at any t…

Section 13B. The department may acquire by eminent domain under the provisions of chapter seventy-nine or by purchase or otherwise land and rights in land within or adjacent to federal-aid highways of the commonwealth for the purpose of restoring, preserving and enhancing scenic …

Section 14. The department, if it can obtain consent of the owner, shall remove the trees, limbs of trees, shrubbery or any structure or other obstacle from lands bordering upon state highways, which in its opinion obstruct the view of persons traveling upon the highway or make t…

Section 15. The department may contract with the town in which a state highway lies or with a private person or may make other provision for the maintenance and repair thereof in accordance with the regulations of the department and subject to its supervision and approval. Such c…

Section 18. The commonwealth shall be liable for injuries sustained by persons while traveling on state highways, if the same are caused by defects within the limits of the constructed traveled roadway, in the manner and subject to the limitations, conditions and restrictions spe…

Section 19. A town shall have police jurisdiction over all state highways within its limits. It shall forthwith give written notice to the department or its employees of any defect or want of repair in such highways; but it may make necessary temporary repairs of a state highway …

Section 2. County commissioners and city and town officers who have the care of and authority over public ways shall, on request, furnish the department with any information required by it concerning such ways.

Section 20. The department shall from time to time construct sidewalks along such parts of the state highways as it determines public convenience and necessity require. Sidewalks may also be constructed along state highways and maintained in accordance with sections twenty-five a…

Section 20A. The department may illuminate, or cause to be illuminated, by means of highway lighting, traffic circles, traffic underpasses, traffic overpasses, traffic islands and other locations in the state highways wherever, in its opinion, such illumination is necessary for t…

Section 21. No state highway shall be dug up, nor opening made therein for any purpose, nor access granted thereto for any purpose, nor shall any material be dumped or placed thereon or removed therefrom, and no tree shall be planted or removed or obstruction or structure placed …

Section 22. No length of possession, or occupancy of land within the limits of a state highway by an owner or occupant of adjoining land shall give him any title thereto, and any fences, buildings or other objects encroaching upon a state highway shall, upon written notice by the…

Section 24. The department may, whenever any money is appropriated by the general court for its use in the construction or improvement of any particular way, expend such money in constructing or improving the whole or such part of said way as it deems best, either upon the locati…

Section 25. When any public way has been constructed or improved in whole, or in part, with money furnished by the commonwealth, and the way is not laid out as a state highway, the town in which the way lies shall thereafter keep and maintain in good repair and condition that par…

Section 26. There may be expended for the repair and improvement of public ways, other than state highways, in towns having valuations of less than five million dollars, as established by the valuations made for the purpose of apportioning the state tax as appearing in chapter fi…

Section 26A. The county commissioners of the county wherein any public way is to be repaired or improved under the provisions of the preceding section may contribute and expend county funds therefor in accordance with such agreements as the commissioners may make with the departm…

Section 27. Expenditure of state funds under section twenty-six shall be made only upon the written petition of the selectmen, containing such information as the department may require.

Section 28. The said towns may contract with the department for the performance of the work authorized by section twenty-six; or, if the selectmen so request, the department may have the work done by such persons and in such manner as it may determine, in which event the towns sh…

Section 29. The department shall determine, ad nearly as possible, the number of miles of such public ways in towns entitled to the benefits under section twenty-six, and shall inform the selectmen of such towns of the contributions required from them under said section.

Section 29A. The department may lay out or alter ways other than state highways in any county, city or town provided that the county commissioner of the county, or the mayor of the city or the board of selectmen of the town consents thereto. Land or rights in land may be acquired…

Section 3. Steam road rollers and other road machinery, purchased by the department and owned by the commonwealth shall be managed and maintained under the direction of the department, which may engage competent engineers and mechanics to operate and keep said machines in repair,…

Section 30. The department may make all contracts and agreements and do all other things necessary to co-operate with the United States in the construction and maintenance of highways, under an act of congress approved on July eleventh, nineteen hundred and sixteen, entitled ''An…

Section 31. The portion of the Highway Fund allocated for reimbursements to cities and towns for costs actually incurred in constructing, maintaining and policing city or town streets or roads shall annually be apportioned among the several cities and towns as follows: (a) The am…

Section 32. For the purposes of reimbursing cities and towns for the costs actually incurred in constructing, maintaining and policing city or town streets or roads as provided in section thirty-one the following words shall have the following meanings:— (a) ''Constructing'', all…

Section 4. If county commissioners, aldermen or selectmen adjudge that public necessity and convenience require that the commonwealth lay out and take charge of a new or existing way as a highway in whole or in part, in their county, city or town, they may apply, by a written pet…

Section 5. If the department determines, after public notice and a hearing of all parties interested, that public necessity and convenience require that a way should be laid out or be taken charge of by the commonwealth, it shall file in the office of the county commissioners for…

Section 6. The department may alter the location of a state highway in a city or town by filing a plan thereof and a certificate that the department has laid out and taken charge of said state highway, as altered in accordance with said plan, in the office of the county commissio…

Section 7. If it is necessary to acquire land for the purposes of a state highway outside the limits of an existing public way, the department may take the same by eminent domain on behalf of the commonwealth under chapter seventy-nine. When injury has been caused to the real est…

Section 7A. In connection with the laying out, alteration or reconstruction of a state highway, the department may alter or relocate connecting ways as may be necessary. Land or rights in land may be acquired for this purpose by eminent domain under chapter seventy-nine by the de…

Section 7B. Wherever in this chapter the department is authorized to take land by eminent domain under chapter seventy-nine, in connection with the laying out, widening or relocating of a public way, the department shall be authorized to take, or institute proceedings for the tak…

Section 7C. If the department determines that public necessity and convenience require that a limited access way shall be laid out, it shall lay out such way in the same manner as state highways. A limited access way is hereby defined to be a highway over which the easement of ac…

Section 7D. The department may grant easements within state highway locations for wires, pipes, poles, conduits and cattle passes.

Section 7E. The department may sell at public or private sale any land, or rights in land, the title to which has been acquired by the department for highway purposes, upon determination by the board of commissioners of said department that such land or rights in land are no long…

Section 7F. Whenever the department deems it necessary to make surveys, soundings, drillings or examinations to obtain information for or to expedite the construction of state highways or other projects under its jurisdiction, the department, its authorized agents or employees ma…

Section 7G. Whenever, in connection with the laying out, widening, relocating, constructing or altering of a public way by the department, land or an easement therein owned by a public utility company is taken by the department by eminent domain under chapter seventy-nine, thereb…

Section 7H. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the department may, with the approval of the governor and council, lease land adjacent to, over or under a state highway for use as a public parking facility; provided, however, (1) the term of any such lease shall not excee…

Section 7I. The department is hereby authorized to enter into agreements with railroad corporations, transit authorities or other public authorities or municipalities for the purpose of performing any work which may be necessary in connection with the construction of highways, ro…

Section 7J. In any federally aided program, the department of highways, in this section referred to as the department, is hereby authorized and directed to do all things necessary to comply with the provisions of the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Pol…

Section 7K. Whenever land or an easement therein is taken by the department by eminent domain for the purpose of relocating certain facilities of a public utility company, as authorized by section seven G, the said public utility company, its authorized agents or employees, after…

Section 7L. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the department may, with the approval of the governor, lease at one time or from time to time for a term or terms not to exceed ninety-nine years, upon such terms and conditions as the department in its discretion deems advi…

Section 7M. Whenever a federal-aid highway program or project requires the use of any land which is part of a public park, recreation area or wildlife and waterfowl refuge of national, state or local significance as determined by the federal, state or local officials having juris…

Section 8. The department, when about to construct a state highway, shall advertise in two or more newspapers published in each county in which the highway lies, and in three or more daily newspapers published in Boston, for sealed proposals for the construction of such highway, …

Section 8B. The commissioner of highways or the commissioner of conservation and recreation shall require that any person proposing to bid on any work, excepting the construction, reconstruction, repair or alteration of buildings, to be awarded by the division of highways or by t…

Section 8C. Any contract for the resurfacing, maintenance, minor reconstruction or minor repair of any major state highway or numbered route within the city of Boston, between said city and state highway route 128, of state highway route 3 as far south as the junction of state hi…