Chap. 0047 An Act further to define the duties of county commissioners in the alteration of crossings.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

Section 1. Section twenty-three of Part I of chapter four hundred and sixty-three of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and six, as amended by section one of chapter five hundred and forty-two of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and eight, is hereby further amended by inserting after the word " situated ", in the twelfth line, the words: - in whole or in part, - so as to read as follows: - Section 23. If a public way and a railroad cross each other, and the board of aldermen of the city or the selectmen of the town in which the crossing is situated, or the directors of the railroad corporation, or the directors of a street railway company having tracks on the said way are of opinion that it is necessary for the security or convenience of the public that an alteration which does not involve the abolition of a crossing at grade should be made in the crossing, the approaches thereto, the location of the railroad or way, or in a bridge at the crossing, they shall apply to the county commissioners, or, if the crossing is situated, in whole or in part, in the city of Boston, to the board of railroad commissioners, who shall, after public notice, hear all parties interested, and, if they decide that such alteration is necessary, shall prescribe the manner and limits within which it shall be made, and shall forthwith certify their decision to the parties and to said board. This proceeding may include any case where there is need of the rebuilding of a highway bridge or any structural change or renewal for the purpose of strengthen-
ing or improving it. In case any street railway company is authorized to lay and use tracks upon the said way, the said company shall bear such part of the expense of building, rebuilding, changing, renewing, repairing or improving a bridge forming a part of said way, or of altering or improving the approaches thereto, as shall be deemed to be just by the commission provided for in sections twenty-five and twenty-six.
Section 2. The board of railroad commissioners shall have jurisdiction of the petition heretofore filed with said board for the alteration and rebuilding of the bridge at the crossing of Mystic avenue over tracks of the Boston and Albany Railroad Company and the Boston and Maine Railroad, therein described as within the city of Boston, notwithstanding the fact that said crossing and said bridge and its abutments and approaches may be located partly in the city of Boston and partly in the city of Somerville, as if section one of this act had been in force at the date of said petition.
Section 3.   This act shall take effect upon its passage.
Approved February 9, 1009.