CHAPTER 163
FORMERLY
HOUSE BILL NO. 311
AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER 1, TITLE 17, DELAWARE CODE, RELATING TO THE CREATION OF AN ACCESS TO A STATE-MAINTAINED HIGHWAY.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE:
Section 1. Amend §146, Chapter 1, Title 17, Delaware Code by striking said section in its entirety and substituting in lieu thereof a new section 146 to read as follows:
"§146. Access to State-maintained Highways
(a) The Department is authorized to adopt standards and regulations for the location, design, construction, reconstruction, maintenance, use and control of vehicular and pedestrian access to and from any State-maintained highway in order to protect public safety, to maintain smooth traffic flow, to maintain highway right-of-way drainage, to regulate drainage from property leading into or carried by the Highway Drainage System and any other public purpose, as determined by the Department.
(b) No person, firm, corporation or the like shall construct, open, reconstruct, maintain, modify or use any crossing or entrance onto a State-maintained highway, street or road; including any drainage modifications leading into or carried by the Highway Drainage System, without first having comnlied with Standards and Regulations adopted by the Department and having obtained a permit issu& by the Department.
(e) Any person, firm, corporation or the like who constructs, opens, reconstructs, maintains, uses or modifies an entrance onto or an exit from a State-maintained highway, street or road without first having complied with Standards and Regulations adopted by the Department and having obtained a permit from the Department for such entrance or exit shall be punished by a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $1,000 for each offense, and a further sum in an amount equal to the amount fined for the initial offense for each and every day such violation exists.
For purposes of this Section, whenever the use to which a property is being put is changed such that there will be a significant alteration in the character, flow or volume of traffic, as determined within the sole discretion of the Department, a new permit shall be required.
(d) The Justice of the Peace Courts shall have jurisdiction over violations of this Section.
(e) In addition to whatever legal or equitable remedies are available, the Department may install barricades across or remove any entrance or exit constructed, opened, reconstructed, maintained, modified or used in violation of this Section and the standards or regulations adopted pursuant thereto, at the expense of the property owner.
Approved July 14, 1981.