A city may by ordinance require a railway company operating railway tracks on or across a city street to construct or reconstruct, and maintain, an overpass or underpass to permit the street to pass over or under the tracks, and may establish specifications for the construction or reconstruction of such an overpass or underpass, subject to the following:
 1. The requirement may not be enforced until the Iowa state department of transportation approves the specifications for a construction or reconstruction, after examination and a determination that the overpass or underpass is necessary for public safety and convenience.

Terms Used In Iowa Code 364.8

  • Appraisal: A determination of property value.
  • Council: means the governing body of a city. See Iowa Code 362.2
  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • 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
  • Ordinance: means a city law of a general and permanent nature. See Iowa Code 362.2
  • property: includes personal and real property. See Iowa Code 4.1
  • state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories, and the words "United States" may include the said district and territories. See Iowa Code 4.1
  • year: means twelve consecutive months. See Iowa Code 4.1
 2. The council shall hold a hearing on the matter and shall give not less than twenty days’ notice of the hearing to the railway companies involved, served in the same manner as an original notice.
 3. A city may not require overpasses or underpasses of the same railway company to be constructed closer than on every fourth parallel street, nor require a company to construct or contribute to the construction of more than one overpass or underpass each year, nor require the construction of approaches longer than a total of eight hundred feet for a single overpass or underpass.
 4. A city which requires construction or reconstruction of an overpass or underpass shall provide for appraisal and assessment of resulting damage to private property, and shall pay the damages assessed, all as provided in chapter 6B.
 5. A city shall pay one half of all required maintenance costs, and may allocate costs between railway companies whose tracks are to be crossed by an overpass or underpass.
 6. A city may enforce a requirement made as provided in this section by an action in mandamus, to be conducted and enforced as provided in section 327C.16 for actions brought by the state department of transportation. If the city prevails in the mandamus action, in addition to other remedies it may cause the required construction, reconstruction, or maintenance work to be done, and have judgment for the cost of the work against the companies.
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