Chapter 84

Section 1. Highways and town ways, including railroad crossings at grade with such highways and town ways, shall be kept in repair at the expense of the town in which they are situated, so that they may be reasonably safe and convenient for travelers, with their horses, teams, ve…

Section 10. The selectmen or road commissioners may enter upon, use or survey or take by eminent domain under chapter seventy-nine any land they may deem necessary for the purpose of securing or protecting a public way; and any person thereby injured in his property and any owner…

Section 11. The department of highways may co-operate with the proper officers of cities, towns and counties in keeping open and reasonably passable for vehicles during the winter months such highways as may be selected by said department, having regard to the importance thereof …

Section 11A. When a public way other than a state highway has been constructed or improved in whole or in part by aid of money contributed by a county, the said way shall be kept and maintained in good repair and condition by the town in which the same lies, but the county may ai…

Section 12. If four or more persons are the proprietors and rightful occupants of a private way or bridge, and three of them make application in writing to a clerk of the district court of the district or the clerk of the city or town wherein the private way or bridge is located …

Section 13. A proprietor or occupant who refuses or neglects to comply with such vote, when required by the surveyor, shall be liable to him in contract for the amount of his proportion, with ten per cent interest thereon. If a person chosen clerk or surveyor under the preceding …

Section 14. The proprietors and occupants may, at a meeting for that purpose, authorize any person to contract for making and keeping in repair such private way or bridge, may vote to raise such amount as they consider necessary for carrying such contracts into effect; and may ch…

Section 15. If a person sustains bodily injury or damage in his property by reason of a defect or a want of repair or a want of a sufficient railing in or upon a way, and such injury or damage might have been prevented, or such defect or want of repair or want of railing might ha…

Section 16. If a person, without the consent of the county, city, town or person required by law to keep a bridge in repair or his or its agent, permits more than twenty neat cattle or horses to be upon a bridge which is more than fifty feet from one abutment, pier or trestle par…

Section 17. A county, city or town shall not be liable for an injury or damage sustained upon a public way by reason of snow or ice thereon, if the place at which the injury or damage was sustained was at the time of the accident otherwise reasonably safe and convenient for trave…

Section 18. A person so injured shall, within thirty days thereafter, give to the county, city, town or person by law obliged to keep said way in repair, notice of the name and place of residence of the person injured, and the time, place and cause of said injury or damage; and i…

Section 19. Such notice shall be in writing, signed by the person injured or by some one in his behalf, and may be given, in the case of a county, to one of the county commissioners or the county treasurer; in the case of a city, to the mayor, the city clerk or treasurer; in the …

Section 2. If two or more towns within the same county which are required by law to maintain or keep in repair a bridge upon a highway or town way, differ as to the mode or time of doing the same, the county commissioners, upon application of either of said towns, after notice to…

Section 20. A defendant shall not avail himself in defence of any omission to state in such notice the name or place of residence of the person injured, or the time, place or cause of the injury or damage, unless, within five days after receipt of a notice, given within the time …

Section 21. Sections eighteen, nineteen and twenty shall apply to actions against persons founded upon the defective condition of their premises, or of adjoining ways, when caused by or consisting in part of snow or ice resulting from rain or snow and weather conditions; provided…

Section 22. If a town neglects to repair any way which it is obliged to keep in repair, or neglects to make the same reasonably safe and convenient when encumbered with snow, it shall pay such fine as the court may impose.

Section 23. A way opened and dedicated to the public use, which has not become a public way, shall not, except as provided in the two following sections, be chargeable upon a town as a highway or town way unless laid out and established in the manner prescribed by statute.

Section 24. The board or officer having authority over public ways in a town shall, if the public safety so requires, cause such ways to be closed where they enter upon and unite with an existing public way or may by other sufficient means caution the public against entering ther…

Section 25. If, upon the trial of an indictment or action brought to recover damages for an injury received by reason of a defect or want of repair or want of sufficient railing in any way, it appears that the defendant has, within six years before such injury, made repairs on su…

Section 26. If the owner of a lot abutting upon a public way in a city dedicates to the public or permits it to use a portion of his land lying between said way and a building fronting on the same, he shall keep such portion in such condition as, in the opinion of the aldermen, t…

Section 27. If, on premises abutting on a public way, an excavation is a hazard to travelers upon such way who are in the exercise of due care, the person in control of such premises shall be liable in tort to any such traveler who, by reason of a want of a sufficient railing or …

Section 27A. The owner of any land which abuts a public way and on which an excavation has been made within fifty feet of said way shall cause a fence or other barrier not less than five feet in height to be erected at the street line of such way. Such fence or barrier shall not …

Section 3. If any town does not comply with any orders passed by the county commissioners under the preceding section, within the time and in the manner prescribed in such orders and to the acceptance of the commissioners, the commissioners shall forthwith cause such bridge to be…

Section 4. If a delinquent town does not pay its proportion of such expenses and charges within sixty days after the date of such notice, with interest at a rate to be fixed by the county commissioners, not exceeding ten per cent a year from the time when the same was paid by the…

Section 5. When a highway runs through two or more towns, they may appropriate money for the construction, repair, maintenance or improvement thereof in common, and may purchase road machinery therefor in common. Money so appropriated shall be expended by such persons and in such…

Section 5A. The selectmen, highway surveyor, highway commissioners, or other board or officer having charge of the maintenance of highways in any town which accepts this section may enter into agreements for the removal of snow or ice from, including sanding on, such public ways …

Section 6. Any public way which has been spread with tar, oil or similar substance, shall, within three hours thereafter, be covered with sand, gravel, peastone or other similar material in such manner as to render the way safe for travel. But such way may be so treated without b…

Section 7. Surveyors of highways and road commissioners shall remove whatever obstructs the public ways within their respective towns or districts, or endangers, hinders or incommodes persons traveling thereon; and shall forthwith cause snow to be removed or trodden down so as to…

Section 7A. Surveyors of highways, road commissioners, or any other person, agency, or authority responsible for road or highway repairs shall notify the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority not later than forty-eight hours prior to the repair, construction or reconstructio…

Section 8. No surveyor, road commissioner or other person shall, without an order from the board of health, remove or take down fences, gates or bars which have been placed on a way for the purpose of preventing the spread of a disease dangerous to the public health.

Section 9. A surveyor or road commissioner may cause a watercourse occasioned by the wash of a way to be conveyed by the side of the way; but the aldermen or selectmen, upon complaint of a person whose building has been incommoded or whose business has been obstructed thereby, ma…