O.C.G.A.
Code text and O.C.G.A. statutory annotations on this page reflect the 2019 Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Public.Resource.Org Release 73, 2019-08-21; public domain per Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). The Syfert case-law annotations in Notes of Decisions, below, are current.
(a) It shall be the duty of the department to maintain all overpasses involving railroads on the state highway system. (b) It shall be the duty of the county or the municipality to maintain at its own expense the drainage, surface, pavement, approaches, and guardrails of all overpasses involving railroads on its respective public road system. It shall be the duty of the railroad involved to maintain at its own expense any floors constructed of wood and the foundations, piers, abutments, and superstructures of all overpasses on the county or municipal public road system. (c) It shall be the duty of the railroad or railroads involved to maintain all underpasses except the lighting, drainage, and pavement of the public roads thereunder, which shall be maintained by the department, counties, or municipalities on their respective public road systems. (d) All maintenance required by this Code section of the department shall be at the expense of the department, and all maintenance required by this Code section of the railroad shall be at the expense of such railroad, provided that the duty of maintenance imposed upon the department by this Code section shall not operate to subject the department to liability for damages resulting from any failure to maintain properly. (e) Except as provided in subsection (b) of Code Section 32-6-195, nothing in this article shall be construed as voiding agreements executed prior to July 1, 1973.
History
Ga. L. 1927, p. 299, § 9; Code 1933, § 95-1909; Ga. L. 1950, p. 419, § 1; Code 1933, § 95A-1011, enacted by
Ga. L. 1973, p. 947, § 1; Ga. L. 1985, p. 149, § 32.
Annotations
JUDICIAL DECISIONS Traffic control devices. - Nothing in O.C.G.A. § 32-6-197 places any duty on a railroad regarding the installation or maintenance of traffic control devices in
the area around a railroad overpass. City of Fairburn v. Cook, 188 Ga. App. 58, 372 S.E.2d 245, cert. denied, 188 Ga. App. 911, 372 S.E.2d 245 (1988).
Exclusive duty of county to maintain road and warning devices. - Statutory duty to maintain a public road and warning devices thereon leading to the former site of a timber bridge spanning a railroad track was exclusively that
of the county, both at the time the bridge was removed and at the time of the accident giving rise to a negligence action against the railroad. Kitchen v. CSX Transp., Inc., 265 Ga. 206, 453 S.E.2d 712 (1995).
Notes of Decisions
City of Fairburn v. Cook, 372 S.E.2d 245 (Ga. Ct. App. 1988).
· cites it 8× “That statute merely references a railroad's duty to maintain the underpass itself, and exempts the railroad from maintaining even the "lighting, drainage, and pavement of the public roads thereunder.”
Fortner v. Town of Register, 604 S.E.2d 175 (Ga. 2004).
· cites it 4× “Our actual holding in Kitchen, supra at 208 (1), was that, pursuant to OCGA§ 32-6-197 (b), the GCPT obliged the governmental body, but not the railroad, to maintain a public road and any warning devices thereon leading to a bridge over railroad tracks.”
Evans Timber Co. v. Cent. of Georgia R.R., 519 S.E.2d 706 (Ga. Ct. App. 1999).
· cites it 4× “L. 1973, p. 947, § 1, was enacted to revise, classify, consolidate and repeal other laws relating to all public roads and bridges, and to establish new laws relating thereto.”
Kitchen v. CSX Transp., Inc., 453 S.E.2d 712 (Ga. 1995).
· cites it 2× “OCGA § 32-6-197 (b) provides: It shall be the duty of the county or the municipality to maintain at its own expense the drainage, surface, pavement, approaches, and guardrails of all overpasses involving railroads on its respective public road system. It shall be the duty of the…”
Crouch v. CSX Transp., Inc., 417 S.E.2d 216 (Ga. Ct. App. 1992).
· cites it 6× “Appellant submitted the deposition of Archie Burnham (“Burnham”), a former official with the Georgia Department of Transportation (“DOT”), who offered, by way of hearsay testimony from unidentified Cobb County officials, that the bridge was under the jurisdiction of the railroad…”
Bentley v. CSX Transp., Inc., 437 F. Supp. 2d 1327 (N.D. Ga. 2006).
· cites it 2× “In Kitchen , the Georgia Supreme Court held that, pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 32-6-197(b), the county had the exclusive duty to maintain the public road and any warning devices thereon leading to the abandoned bridge that ran over the railroad track.”
— 32-6-197(b) — 4 cases
Fortner v. Town of Register, 604 S.E.2d 175 (Ga. 2004).
“Our actual holding in Kitchen, supra at 208 (1), was that, pursuant to OCGA§ 32-6-197 (b), the GCPT obliged the governmental body, but not the railroad, to maintain a public road and any warning devices thereon leading to a bridge over railroad tracks.”
Evans Timber Co. v. Cent. of Georgia R.R., 519 S.E.2d 706 (Ga. Ct. App. 1999).
“L. 1973, p. 947, § 1, was enacted to revise, classify, consolidate and repeal other laws relating to all public roads and bridges, and to establish new laws relating thereto.”
Bentley v. CSX Transp., Inc., 437 F. Supp. 2d 1327 (N.D. Ga. 2006).
“In Kitchen , the Georgia Supreme Court held that, pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 32-6-197(b), the county had the exclusive duty to maintain the public road and any warning devices thereon leading to the abandoned bridge that ran over the railroad track.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.