1. An obstruction in a highway right-of-way which constitutes an immediate and dangerous hazard shall, without notice or liability in damages, be removed by the highway authority.

Terms Used In Iowa Code 318.5

  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Days: means calendar days. See Iowa Code 322G.2
  • following: when used by way of reference to a chapter or other part of a statute mean the next preceding or next following chapter or other part. See Iowa Code 4.1
  • highway: means the entire width between property lines of every way or place of whatever nature when any part thereof is open to the use of the public, as a matter of right, for purposes of vehicular travel, except in public areas in which the boundary shall be thirty-three feet each side of the center line of the roadway. See Iowa Code 321I.1
  • Highway authority: means the county board of supervisors, in the case of secondary roads, and the department, in the case of primary roads. See Iowa Code 318.1
  • Highway right-of-way: means the total area of land, whether reserved by public ownership or easement, that is reserved for the operation and maintenance of a legally established public roadway. See Iowa Code 318.1
  • Obstruction: means an obstacle in the highway right-of-way, or an impediment or hindrance which impedes, opposes, or interferes with free passage along the highway right-of-way, not including utility structures installed in accordance with an approved permit. See Iowa Code 318.1
  • Officer: means any department employee, county employee, or elected county official. See Iowa Code 318.1
  • Owner: means a person, other than a lienholder, having the property right in or title to an all-terrain vehicle. See Iowa Code 321I.1
  • Person: includes any individual, firm, corporation, partnership, joint adventure, or association, and the plural as well as the singular number. See Iowa Code 321H.2
  • property: includes personal and real property. See Iowa Code 4.1
  • Vehicle: means any vehicle as defined in chapter 321. See Iowa Code 321H.2
 2. An obstruction not constituting an immediate and dangerous hazard shall be removed by the highway authority without liability after forty-eight-hour notice served in the same manner in which an original notice is served, or in writing by certified mail, or in any other manner reasonably calculated to apprise the person responsible for the obstruction that the obstruction will be removed at the person’s expense. The highway authority shall assess the removal cost.
 3. Upon removal of the obstruction, the highway authority may immediately send a statement of the cost to the person responsible for the obstruction. If within ten days after sending the statement the cost is not paid, the highway authority may institute legal proceedings to collect the cost of removal. The removal costs shall be assessed against the following persons, as applicable:

 a. The vehicle owner in the case of an abandoned vehicle.
 b. The abutting property owner in the case of a fence, other than a right-of-way line fence, or other temporary obstruction placed within the highway right-of-way by the owner or tenant of the abutting property.
 c. The owner or person responsible for placement of any other obstruction.
 4. All removals shall be without liability on the part of any officer ordering or effecting such removal.
  Previous section
Next section  
 Chapter 318 Contents