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Title 33, Navigation and Navigable WatersRelease 119-102

§528 Statement of Construction Costs of Privately Owned Interstate Bridges; Investigation of Costs; Conclusiveness of Findings; Review

Title 33 › CHAPTER 11 — BRIDGES OVER NAVIGABLE WATERS › SUBCHAPTER III — GENERAL BRIDGE AUTHORITY › § 528

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

The owner must file, within ninety days after the bridge is finished, a signed, item-by-item statement under oath with the Secretary of Transportation and the highway departments of the states where the bridge is located. The statement must show what it actually cost to build the bridge and approaches, to buy needed land, and to pay financing and promotion costs. The Secretary can investigate those costs, and must do so if a state highway department asks, any time within three years after completion. The owner and any later owners must let the Secretary see all records about building, financing, and promoting the bridge. The Secretary’s findings are final for the purposes in section 527, except a court can review them for fraud or gross mistake.

Full Legal Text

Title 33, §528

Navigation and Navigable Waters, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

Within ninety days after the completion of a privately owned interstate toll bridge, the owner shall file with the Secretary of Transportation and with the highway departments of the States in which the bridge is located, a sworn itemized statement showing the actual original cost of constructing the bridge and its approaches, the actual cost of acquiring any interest in real property necessary therefor, and the actual financing and promotion costs. The Secretary of Transportation may, and upon request of a highway department shall, at any time within three years after the completion of such bridge, investigate such costs and determine the accuracy and the reasonableness of the costs alleged in the statement of costs so filed, and shall make a finding of the actual and reasonable costs of constructing, financing, and promoting such bridge. For the purpose of such investigation the said individual, firm, or corporation, its successors and assigns, shall make available all of its records in connection with the construction, financing, and promotion thereof. The findings of the Secretary of Transportation as to the reasonable costs of the construction, financing, and promotion of the bridge shall be conclusive for the purposes mentioned in section 527 of this title subject only to review in a court of equity for fraud or gross mistake.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1983—Pub. L. 97–449 substituted “Secretary of Transportation” for “Secretary of War” wherever appearing. See

Transfer of Functions

note below.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Transfer of Functions

section 6(g)(6)(C) of Pub. L. 89–670 transferred functions, powers, and duties of Secretary of the Army [formerly War] and other offices and officers of Department of the Army [formerly War] under this subchapter to extent that they relate generally to location and clearances of bridges and causeways in navigable waters of United States to Secretary of Transportation. Pub. L. 97–449 amended this section to reflect transfer made by section 6(g)(6)(C) of Pub. L. 89–670, and repealed section 6(g)(6)(C).

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

33 U.S.C. § 528

Title 33, Navigation and Navigable Waters

Last Updated

Aug 21, 2026

Release point: 119-102