                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

(CONTINGENT EXPIRATION DATE — SEE EDITOR&#8217;S NOTE) POTOMAC RIVER BRIDGE
TOWING COMPACT (§ 46.2-1239.1)

Article I.  Parties and Titles.
		The Parties to this Compact are the Commonwealth of Virginia, the State of
Maryland and the District of Columbia. This agreement shall be known as the
Potomac River Bridge Towing Compact.
		Article II.  Findings and Purpose.
		The Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge, Rochambeau Memorial Bridge, George Mason
Memorial Bridge, Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Bridge, Francis Scott Key Bridge,
Chain Bridge, Harry W. Nice Bridge, Sandy Hook Bridge, Brunswick Bridge, Point
of Rocks Bridge, and American Legion Memorial Bridge all pass through the
territorial jurisdiction of two or more of the three Parties. Experience has
shown that traffic back-ups often prevent state troopers or police officers of
the appropriate jurisdiction from arriving at the scene of a disabled or
abandoned vehicle to take corrective action. The purpose of this Compact is to
facilitate the prompt and orderly removal of disabled and abandoned vehicles
from the bridges by giving all three Parties jurisdiction to exercise
appropriate authority anywhere on the bridges.
		Article III.  Authority to Direct Traffic and Authorize Removal of Vehicles.
		The Parties hereby give one another all necessary power and authority to have
their respective state troopers or local law-enforcement officers direct traffic
and authorize the removal of disabled or abandoned vehicles, trailers,
semitrailers or the parts or contents thereof, from any part of the Potomac
River bridges, to the same extent and in the same manner that such troopers and
local law-enforcement officers may exercise such authority in their own
jurisdictions. However, no Party, acting through its troopers or local
law-enforcement officers, shall have the authority to direct or authorize the
towing or removal of any vehicle or other thing to a destination outside its own
jurisdiction, unless the consent of an officer or trooper of the destination
jurisdiction has been obtained.
		Article IV.  Disposition of Towed Vehicles.
		All vehicles and their contents towed or removed from the Potomac River
bridges pursuant to this Compact shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction
of the place to which such vehicle and its contents are taken, and the handling
and disposition of such vehicle and its contents shall be governed by the laws
and procedures of that jurisdiction.
		Article V.  No Agency.
		Each of the Parties shall act solely on its own authority within the
jurisdiction granted. This Compact shall not be construed as creating any agency
relationship between the Parties.
		Article VI.  Effective Date.
		The provisions of this Compact shall take effect thirty days after the
legislative bodies of the Parties having jurisdiction over one or several of the
bridges identified in Article II have enacted Compacts substantially identical
to this Compact.
		Article VII.  Termination.
		The Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia or State of Maryland, or the
Mayor of the District of Columbia may withdraw from this Compact at any time
upon thirty days&#8217; written notice to the other Parties.

HISTORY: 1991, c. 452; 2019, c. 403.