Title 24, Title 24 Title 24

Every town which shall neglect to keep in good repair its highways and bridges shall be fined not less than fifty dollars ($50.00) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500), and execution shall issue therefor against the town.

(a) The cities and towns shall also be liable to all persons who may in any way suffer injury to their persons or property by reason of any neglect, to be recovered in a civil action except as provided in subsection (b). (b) If any person shall incur damage to his or her motor ve…

The several towns shall provide by ordinance in a manner and under such penalties as they may deem expedient, for removing snow from the public highways so as to render the public highways passable with teams, sleds, and sleighs; but nothing contained in this chapter shall be so …

If the snow is allowed to remain in any public highway in any town so as to obstruct any person in passing along the highway with his or her team, sled, or sleigh, for twenty-four (24) hours after the highway shall become obstructed, the town shall be fined not less than ten doll…

No surveyor of highways shall cause any watercourse in any highway to be so conveyed as to incommode any person’s land, house, store, shop or other building, or to obstruct any person in the prosecution of his or her business or occupation, without the consent or approbation of t…

Any person who may consider himself or herself aggrieved by a watercourse may complain to the town council; and the council on receiving his or her complaint and examining into the circumstances of the complaint, shall, if they think reasonable, direct the surveyor to alter the w…

Whenever any artificial watercourse has been or shall be made under, through or by the side of any highway previously existing, the proprietors or occupants of the watercourse shall make and maintain all necessary bridges over the watercourse and all fences which may be necessary…

Whenever any highway has been or shall be laid out, over, or by the side of any artificial watercourse made previously to the laying out of the highway, the town laying out the highway shall make and maintain the necessary bridges over the watercourse and the fences along the sid…

The town council of each town shall divide the town into highway districts not exceeding four (4) in number, or shall constitute the entire town one highway district, and shall annually elect one surveyor of highways for each highway district, and fix his or her compensation; pro…

All public bridges, except such as are part of the state highway system, on the dividing lines between towns shall be established and kept in repair at the expense of the towns adjoining the bridges; and every public bridge except such as are part of the state highway system on t…

If any town adjoining any boundary line bridge shall refuse or neglect to keep in good repair the part of the bridge within and next adjoining the line of the town, the town so neglecting or refusing shall be fined not less than twenty dollars ($20.00) nor more than one thousand …

Whenever any highway has been or shall be laid out over any tract or parcel of land used at the time of the laying out as a highway, the laying out shall not be deemed or construed to affect or in any way alter the rights or duties of the town, or any individual, as to the mainte…

Any person owning land adjoining any public highway may build such bridges or culverts over the ditches, which may be made in the highway for the passage of water, as may be necessary to render the passage from the land to the highway safe and convenient; and no bridge or culvert…

No surveyor of highways shall remove the earth so near to any wall or fence erected upon or without the limits of a highway as to undermine or overthrow the wall or fence, unless the undermining or overthrowing shall be absolutely necessary for the security or convenience of the …

Surveyors of highways shall be paid out of the town treasury at the rate of two dollars ($2.00) per day for all the time necessarily spent in the discharge of the duties of their office, whenever no other mode or amount of compensation shall have been provided by any town or town…

Every surveyor of highways who shall neglect the duties of his or her trust shall forfeit twenty dollars ($20.00) for every neglect, to be recovered in the name of the town treasurer to the use of the town.

Nothing herein contained shall be construed to affect the right of any city to maintain and repair its highways in the manner now provided by law for that city.

The several town councils shall, at their meeting held next after the first day of October in each year, determine the corners and angles of all roads within their respective towns at which it shall be necessary to erect and maintain guideposts, and shall keep a record of their d…

Every town council which shall, at their meeting held next after the first day of October in any year, neglect or refuse to determine upon proper places at which guideposts shall be erected and maintained, shall be fined five dollars ($5.00) for every month they shall so neglect …

Each town, at some regularly called meeting of the electors thereof who are entitled to vote upon any proposition to impose a tax, shall annually appropriate such sum of money as the electors shall deem necessary for the maintenance and repair of its highways and bridges, and the…

The town councils shall cause to be erected and maintained, at the several corners and angles as determined pursuant to § 24-5-28, substantial posts not less than eight feet (8′) high, upon the upper end of which shall be placed a board upon which shall be plainly and legibly pai…

The inhabitants of any town may agree upon some suitable substitute for the guideposts, and appoint any proper person to superintend the erection and support of the guideposts.

Every town which shall neglect or refuse to keep, at all times, guideposts erected and maintained at the places and in the manner above prescribed, shall be fined three dollars ($3.00) for every month it shall so neglect or refuse.

Every person who shall injure, mar or deface any guidepost or its substitute, agreed upon as provided in § 24-5-31, or board which shall be set up as is provided by this chapter, shall be fined not exceeding twenty dollars ($20.00) nor less than five dollars ($5.00) to the use of…

The provisions of §§ 24-5-28 — 24-5-33 shall not apply to the towns of Jamestown and New Shoreham.

The department of transportation is hereby authorized and directed to establish a toll-free telephone hotline (1-800-pothole or 1-888-pothole, if available) for the purpose of reporting potholes to the state. If the department determines that a given pothole is not on a state hig…

Whenever any town shall make an annual appropriation equal to or in addition to the sum of twenty cents ($.20) on each one hundred dollars ($100) of the ratable property of such town, and whenever the electors at the meeting shall direct that the appropriation be expended under t…

Town councils shall determine and allot the proportion of the annual appropriation for the maintenance and repair of highways and bridges, which shall be expended within the limits of each highway district in their respective towns, and so much of the appropriation as shall be ex…

Whenever any town council shall be of the opinion that it is preferable to do so, they may provide for the expenditure by contract of a portion or all of the money allotted to be expended in any one or more highway districts; and if the work so done by contract shall extend into …

Whenever any town shall make, in addition to its annual appropriation for the maintenance and repair of its highways and bridges, a special appropriation for the building or repair of any particular highway or bridge or other highway work, and shall not provide that the appropria…

Every surveyor of highways shall execute the directions given to the surveyor by the town council or the committee thereof as provided for in this chapter, and shall purchase and use such materials and employ such personnel, teams, and road making apparatus as may be necessary th…

Surveyors of highways may cut down, lop off, dig up, and remove all sorts of trees, bushes, stones, fences, rails, gates, bars, enclosures, or other matter or thing that shall in any manner straighten, obstruct, or incommode any highway; provided, that nothing herein contained sh…