Title 54, Highways, Bridges And Ferries

(a) The provisions of the Scenic Highway System Act of 1971, compiled in part 1 of this chapter, regarding signs, outdoor advertising devices, junkyards, and trash dumping applies to the Tennessee parkway system. If a conflict exists between this part and part 1 of this chapter r…

Additions to the parkway system shall be part of the system of state highways, and the commissioner of transportation shall have the same powers set forth in §§ 54-5-101 and 54-5-102 with regard to designating the parkway system as the commissioner has to designate the system of …

If any provision of this part or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications of this part which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to that end the provisions of t…

The department of transportation, with the cooperation of the department of economic and community development, and counties, cities and towns of the state, with the cooperation of their respective planning commissions, are authorized to enter into cooperative planning agreements…

Cooperative agreements shall include an organizational framework for carrying out the planning process in a manner that ensures that decisions are reflective of, and responsive to, both the programs of the department of transportation and the needs and desires of the local govern…

(1) Planning may include, but shall not be limited to:(1) The collection, analysis, and interpretation of pertinent data concerning transportation facilities, travel patterns, land use, economic activity, (population and employment), financial resources, and existing legislation;…

It is the intent of this part to fit transportation planning with comprehensive local planning and state highway planning into a coordinated whole, and that the state agencies and local governments involved are to be authorized to do everything necessary and proper to achieve tha…

(1) As used in this part, unless the context otherwise requires:(1) “Board” means the board of adjustment required by this part, a board of zoning appeals designated to act as a board of adjustment, a county board of adjustment, and a municipal board of adjustment;(2) “Building” …

Counties and municipalities are authorized under the conditions and procedures in this part to develop, establish, and preserve plans for coordinated, efficient and economic highway systems through the adoption and amendment of official highway maps.

(1) The objectives in adopting and amending official maps shall be to:(1) Protect private property rights and values;(2) Provide a means by which private construction and development may anticipate highway location and relocation, and thus prevent the loss in property values and …

(a) After the preparation of a master plan or at least a major street plan, the planning commission may make studies or surveys of new, extended, widened, or narrowed highways, or of the vacation or abandonment of highways, and may make and certify to the legislative body a map o…

(a) Upon receipt of the certified map, the legislative body shall hold a public hearing on the map, notice of the time and place of which shall be given no less than fifteen (15) days prior to the time fixed for the hearing by one (1) publication in a newspaper of general circula…

(a) After the public hearing, the legislative body may adopt, by resolution or ordinance, the map as certified by the planning commission as the official map. (b) Any proposed addition, change or modification of the certified map that is not in accordance with the major highway p…

(a) Notice of any resolution or ordinance adopting an official map, or making any change, addition or modification of the map, shall be published at least once in a newspaper of general circulation, and the resolution or ordinance shall not be in force until a notice of the resol…

(a) The making or certifying of a map by the planning commission or the adoption or amendment of an official map by the legislative body shall not constitute the opening or establishment of any highway or the taking or acceptance of any land for highway purposes. (b) Any highway …

(a) From and after the adoption of an official map, the legislative body may establish, by resolution or ordinance, a fund for the advance acquisition of rights-of-way for highways of the county or municipality shown on the official map. In establishing the fund, any revenues may…

(a) Except utilities in highways at the time of the adoption of the official map, no public water facilities, sewer, or other public utility or improvement shall be constructed in any highway unless shown on the official map or as may be otherwise authorized in title 13, chapter …

(a) After the adoption of the official map, no building shall be constructed within the boundaries of a mapped highway nor on a highway shown on the map as a proposed abandonment or relocation until a permit has been obtained, except that building construction may be undertaken w…

(a) Applications for permits to build within mapped highways or on highways proposed for abandonment shall be made to a board of adjustment to be appointed by the legislative body. The application shall contain adequate information concerning the location and nature of the buildi…

(a) Before issuing a permit, the board shall hold a public hearing on each application, proper notice of the time and place of which shall be given by fifteen (15) days' notice to the applicant by mail at the address specified in the application and to other interested persons by…

The board shall grant a permit for the construction of a building within the boundaries of a mapped highway or on a highway shown on the map proposed for abandonment when the board finds that the building will not substantially destroy the objectives of the official map.

(a) Should the board find and by resolution declare that the construction of a building will substantially destroy the objectives of the official map, the board may delay the granting of a permit for a period not to exceed forty (40) days from the date of adoption of the resoluti…

Unless the owner proceeds to take the permit within thirty (30) days following the expiration of the forty-day period and proceeds with the construction of the building or structure in accordance with the permit within a period of twelve (12) months, then the owner shall not be e…

A judicial review of the decision of the board of adjustment shall be available under title 27, chapter 9.

(a) The owner, lessee, tenant, or person otherwise in control of any land located within the lines of any mapped highway as shown on an official map, or the agent of the owner, lessee, tenant or controller who erects or constructs on the land any building contrary to or in violat…

The legislative body may provide by resolution or ordinance that no permit for the erection of any building shall be issued, unless a highway giving access to the proposed building existed and was established by law as a public highway at the time of the establishment of the offi…

(a) This part shall not be construed as repealing or impairing any provision of any special or private act relating to the regulation of buildings in mapped highways, and all the provisions of the private act shall remain in full force and effect; but insofar as this part is not …

This part shall be known and may be cited as the “Junkyard Control Act of 1967.”

(a) For the purpose of promoting the public safety, health, welfare, convenience and enjoyment of public travel, to protect the public investment in public highways, and to preserve and enhance the scenic beauty of lands bordering public highways, it is declared to be in the publ…

(1) As used in this part:(1) “Automobile graveyard” means any establishment or place of business that is maintained, used or operated for storing, keeping, buying, or selling wrecked, scrapped, ruined, or dismantled motor vehicles or motor vehicle parts. Ten (10) or more of those…

(1) No person shall establish, operate, or maintain a junkyard, any portion of which is within one thousand feet (1,000′) of the nearest edge of the right-of-way of any interstate or primary highway, except the following:(1) Those that are screened by natural objects, plantings, …

Any junkyard lawfully in existence on October 1, 1969, that is within one thousand feet (1,000′) of the nearest edge of the right-of-way and visible from the main traveled way of any highway on the interstate or primary system, shall be screened, if feasible, by the department at…

The commissioner is given the authority to promulgate and enforce rules and regulations required to carry out this part and 23 U.S.C. § 136, and to define those types of materials suitable for screening.

(a) Whenever the department determines that the topography of the land adjoining the highway will not permit adequate screening of the junkyards, or the screening of the junkyards would not be economically feasible, the department shall have the authority to acquire by gift, purc…

(a) The department may apply to any court in the county in which the junkyards are located for an injunction to abate the nuisance. (b) The district attorneys general are authorized to assist the department in the enforcement of this part.

Nothing in this part shall be construed to abrogate or affect any lawful ordinance, regulation, or resolution that is more restrictive than this part.

The commissioner is authorized to enter into agreements with the United States secretary of transportation as provided by title 23 of the United States Code relating to the control of junkyards in areas adjacent to the interstate and primary systems, and to take action in the nam…

(a) It is unlawful for any junkyard located within one thousand feet (1,000′) of the nearest edge of the right-of-way of any interstate or primary highway to operate without a junkyard control permit, which permits are authorized to be issued by the commissioner. (b) Permits shal…

(a) Nothing contained in this part shall be construed as prohibiting the legislative authority of cities and towns from regulating junkyards within their respective jurisdictions; provided, that the rules or regulations are at least as stringent as those promulgated pursuant to t…

(a) All provisions of this part, except § 54-20-113, shall apply to automotive dismantlers and recyclers, as defined in § 55-17-102, that are licensed pursuant to §§ 55-17-109(b) and 55-17-112. (b) It is the express legislative intent that this part not include a city street unle…

(a) Any person who establishes, operates or maintains a junkyard, or who fails to obtain a permit, contrary to this part commits a Class C misdemeanor. (b) Each day's subsequent violation constitutes a separate offense.

(1) As used in this part:(1) “Automobile graveyard” means any lot or place that is exposed to the weather and upon which more than five (5) motor vehicles of any kind, incapable of being operated, and that it would not be economically practical to make operative, are placed, loca…

(a) No automobile graveyard shall hereafter be established within five hundred feet (500′) of any state highway in this state, nor shall any automobile graveyard hereafter be established within one thousand feet (1,000′) of any state highway in this state designated as a United S…

(a) Any person who maintains an automobile graveyard, any part of which is within five hundred feet (500′) of any state highway, shall erect and maintain a fence or hedge around the automobile graveyard. (b) The fence or hedge shall be at least six feet (6′) high and sufficient t…

If any automobile graveyard is located within the limitations fixed in § 54-20-202 to any state highway, the automobile graveyard is not operated as a business by anyone, is not used for any purpose whatsoever, and no one claims ownership of the automobile graveyard, then the own…

(a) Any citizen of this state may obtain a warrant for the arrest of anyone violating this part, but it is declared to be a specific duty for the members of the Tennessee highway patrol to enforce this part. (b) A person violating any provision of this part commits a Class C misd…