As used in this chapter, unless the
context requires otherwise, “county court” includes board of county
commissioners.
FERRIES UNDER DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATIONWhenever the Department of Transportation finds and
determines that the operation of a ferry across any stream, river, bay,
arm of the ocean or other body of water is necessary and convenient in
connection with the use of any state highway, the department may acquire,
construct, establish, maintain and operate the ferry. The department may
operate the ferry under a contract, or with its own employees or under a
license or permit granted by the department, the license or permit to
contain such conditions, requirements, terms and provisions as to the
department seem best. The maintenance or operation of any such ferry is
subject, however, to the federal laws and requirements governing
navigation. The Department of
Transportation may itself, or under a cooperative agreement with any
county, construct the necessary approaches, ramps, docks, wharves, ferry
slips or other such appurtenances as are necessary for the maintenance
and operation of a ferry mentioned in ORS 384.105, or the department may
require the construction of such approaches, ramps, docks, wharves, ferry
slips and other necessary approaches by the licensee in the event that
the ferry is operated under a license or permit.In the acquisition, establishment, construction
or operation of a ferry mentioned in ORS 384.105, the Department of
Transportation and the county court of any county within which is located
any stream, river, bay, arm of the ocean or other body of water over
which it is contemplated and found necessary to operate ferries, may
enter into a cooperative agreement for the acquisition, construction,
operation or maintenance of the ferry upon such terms and conditions as
the county court and the department agree. When the ferry is operated
under a cooperative agreement between the county court and the
department, the cost and expense incident to the acquisition,
construction, operation or maintenance of the ferry shall be apportioned
between the county and the state in such manner and amount as is agreed
upon.It is discretionary with the Department of Transportation whether
a ferry mentioned in ORS 384.105 be operated by the state. If operated by
the state and the county under a cooperative agreement, it is
discretionary with the Department of Transportation and the county court
whether the ferry be operated as a free public ferry or as a charge or
toll ferry. When a ferry mentioned
in ORS 384.105 is acquired, constructed, operated and maintained by the
Department of Transportation alone, the entire cost and expense may be
paid out of the State Highway Fund. If the ferry has been acquired,
constructed and is being operated and maintained under a cooperative
agreement between the state and a county, the proportion of the cost and
expense to be borne by the state, as agreed upon, shall be paid out of
the State Highway Fund and the proportion to be paid by the county shall
be paid out of county road funds. (1) The Department of Transportation
may fix, alter and establish from time to time the rate of ferriage to be
levied and collected, and may, in its judgment, whenever circumstances
warrant and require, alter or change any such rate.
(2) Whenever the Department of Transportation grants a license to
keep and operate a ferry across any stream, river, bay, arm of the ocean
or other body of water, the department shall establish the rates of
ferriage which may be lawfully demanded for the transportation of persons
and property across the body of water, having due regard to the width,
situation and location of the body of water and the damages and
difficulties incident to the operation of the ferry. Every person licensed to keep and
operate a ferry as provided in ORS 384.105 shall post in some conspicuous
place near the ferry landing a written or printed list of the rates of
ferriage which are chargeable under the orders of the Department of
Transportation. The list of rates shall at all times be written or
printed in a plain, legible manner and posted so near the place where
persons pass across the ferry that it may be readily read. Persons
licensed by the Department of Transportation to maintain and operate a
ferry under ORS 384.105 to 384.150 shall be required to furnish a bond or
an irrevocable letter of credit issued by an insured institution as
defined in ORS 706.008 in such amount as the department requires. The
bond or letter of credit shall be conditioned upon the faithful
compliance with and performance of all the conditions, requirements and
provisions contained in the license, and shall be in such form as the
department may prescribe. The bond or letter of credit shall be made
payable to the state. [Amended by 1991 c.331 §61; 1997 c.631 §469] (1) If any keeper or operator
of a ferry at any time demands and receives more than the amount
designated for ferrying or fails to keep or perform the conditions of the
license or contract, the Department of Transportation may revoke the
license or permit and may require the keeper or operator to discontinue
further operation of the ferry.
(2) If at any time the keeper of a ferry mentioned in ORS 384.105
neglects or refuses to post and keep up the list of the rates of ferriage
mentioned in ORS 384.135, the Department of Transportation may cancel and
revoke the license. Any ferry operated
and maintained as provided in ORS 384.105 to 384.145 is part of the state
highway system.INTERSTATE FERRIES UNDER DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, COUNTIES, CITIES,
TOWNS AND PORTSThe state acting by and
through the Department of Transportation, and any county, city, town or
port of the State of Oregon adjoining or bordering on any interstate
river or stream of water, is each and every one authorized to:
(1) Establish, maintain and operate ferry service in and to any
adjoining state, and for such purpose may acquire by gift, purchase,
lease, contract, agreement, condemnation or otherwise, real, personal and
mixed property, rights, rights of way, approaches, licenses, privileges
and easements, equipment and facilities in the State of Oregon or any
adjoining state, necessary or convenient for the proper construction,
maintenance and operation of any such ferry service or services; or
(2) Contract with others for the purpose of operating and
maintaining such ferry service. In carrying out the provisions
of ORS 384.305 to 384.360, the Department of Transportation, and each of
the counties, cities, towns or ports mentioned in ORS 384.305, may act
independent of or in conjunction with each other upon the terms and
conditions agreed upon by the contracting parties.For the purpose of carrying out or putting into effect any
right, power and authority granted by ORS 384.305 to 384.360 or any other
law, the Department of Transportation, and each and all of the public
bodies or agencies mentioned in ORS 384.305, may make and enter into
agreements with:
(1) The Government of the United States or any of its agencies.
(2) Any adjoining state, its county, municipality, port or other
political subdivisions or agencies.
(3) Any persons, associations, corporations, domestic or foreign. The Department
of Transportation, and any county, city, town or port mentioned in ORS
384.305, may pay out of its respective funds, or any other funds to any
of them available, all or any part of the cost of the construction,
maintenance and operation of the ferry service.The construction, purchase, maintenance and operation of any
ferry service under ORS 384.305 to 384.360 may be financed in whole or in
part by loans obtained from the United States Government or any of its
agencies, or from any other sources. As security for the payment of such
loans the revenues derived from the ferry service, over and above the
cost of its maintenance and operation, may be hypothecated or pledged,
but no such hypothecation or pledge of revenues shall constitute in any
manner, or to any extent be made to constitute, a general obligation of
the State of Oregon, or of any county, city, town or port making the
pledge.
For the purpose of procuring funds, when necessary, with which to
construct, maintain and operate the ferry service, the authority
constructing, maintaining and operating the service may issue and sell
revenue certificates, which shall not be the general obligation of the
authority issuing them but shall be redeemable and payable solely from
revenues accruing from the ferry service, over and above the cost of
operating and maintaining the service. Such certificates may be purchased
by the State of Oregon. The
Department of Transportation, and every other public body and agency
mentioned in ORS 384.305 may:
(1) Accept from the United States or any of its agencies, such
funds as are available to this state or to any such public body or
agency, for any of the purposes contemplated by ORS 384.305 to 384.360,
and enter into such contracts and agreements with the United States or
any of its agencies as may be necessary, proper and convenient, and not
contrary to the laws of the state.
(2) Accept from any source any grant or donation of land, any gift
of money or any other valuable thing, made to the state or any such
county, city, town or port, for any of the purposes contemplated by ORS
384.305 to 384.360. The Department of Transportation, and any
county, city, town or port mentioned in ORS 384.305 to 384.360, may
exercise the power of eminent domain to carry out any of the provisions
of ORS 384.305 to 384.360, in accordance with the procedure provided in
ORS chapter 35. [Amended by 1971 c.741 §30] Any ferry
constructed, purchased or otherwise acquired and operated under ORS
384.305 to 384.360 may be operated free to the public or on toll. If
operated on toll, the revenues derived therefrom may be pledged as
provided in ORS 384.305 to 384.360. If any ferry
constructed, maintained and operated under ORS 384.305 to 384.360 is
needed by the United States for any purpose in connection with national
defense, then the authority which constructed and is maintaining and
operating the ferry may sell it to the United States or may, by contract,
make the ferry available to the United States.
Any ferry service maintained and operated under ORS 384.305 to 384.360
shall connect, or provision shall be made for such connection, with a
state and federal highway in this state and a state and federal highway
in the adjoining state to which the ferry service is maintained. Such
ferry service is a part of the Oregon highway system. The
authority conferred by ORS 384.305 to 384.355 is in addition and
supplemental to the authority conferred by any other law.Whenever the county court of any county determines that the
construction or maintenance of a ferry in a state adjoining such county
or connecting the county with the adjoining state, where there is then no
ferry licensed and maintained, is a necessity or convenience to the
citizens of the county, the county court may enter into a contract for
the construction or maintenance of such ferry or make contributions
deemed advisable toward the construction or maintenance thereof.OREGON-WASHINGTON COOPERATIVE INTERSTATE FERRIES The
Department of Transportation, in the name of this state, if and when it
appears to the department to be for the best interest of this state and
the citizens thereof, may enter into a written agreement with the State
of Washington, by and through its Director of Highways or other lawfully
constituted authority, whereby there shall be established and maintained
ferry service for the transportation of persons and property across the
Columbia River at such sites or locations as are mutually agreed upon by
the Oregon Department of Transportation and the Director of Highways of
the State of Washington. No ferry service shall be established or
maintained under ORS 384.405 to 384.440 unless it connects a state and
federal highway in the State of Oregon with a state and federal highway
in the State of Washington. For the purpose
of carrying out the objects of ORS 384.405 to 384.440 the Department of
Transportation, acting jointly with the State of Washington, may:
(1) Purchase, acquire and operate ferries between such places; or
(2) Lease, rent or hire and operate ferries; or
(3) Contract with others for the operation of ferries between such
places. This state
shall not be obligated to pay, nor shall it pay for such ferry service,
whether furnished by the facilities owned, acquired or operated by the
state jointly or under contract with others, any sum in excess of 50
percent of the total cost of the service. The Department of
Transportation may pay Oregon’s part of the cost of the ferry service out
of state highway funds in the same manner that other disbursements are
made out of such funds. Any ferry operated
under ORS 384.405 to 384.440 and the approach roads thereto on the Oregon
side of the Columbia River are a part of the state highway system and
shall be so declared and designated by an appropriate resolution entered
in the minutes of the Department of Transportation. (1) The
Department of Transportation shall, jointly with the proper officials of
the State of Washington, for the protection of the general public and for
the safeguarding of the interests of the State of Oregon, its officers,
agents and employees, prescribe all necessary rules and regulations for
the proper and efficient operation of any ferry mentioned in ORS 384.405.
(2) The operation of any ferry under ORS 384.405 to 384.440 shall
conform in all respects to all federal or state laws, rules or
regulations. The
Department of Transportation may, for the use and benefit of the state,
its officers, agents or employees and of the general public, carry public
liability insurance if ferries mentioned in ORS 384.405 are owned and
operated by the state. The department shall require such public liability
insurance if the ferry service is provided under contract with others. In
addition to such public liability insurance the department may require
such other insurance as in the department’s judgment the interest of the
state and the general public require.Any ferry operated under ORS 384.405
to 384.440 may be operated free of tolls.
(1) The County Court of Umatilla County, Oregon, and the Department of
Transportation, in cooperation, may enter into such agreement, as in
their judgment is advisable, with the County Court of Benton County,
Washington, and the Director of Highways of the State of Washington, for
the establishment, maintenance and operation of a public ferry across the
Columbia River between Umatilla, Oregon, and Plymouth, Washington, and
for connecting the ferry with and making it a part of the state highway
systems of Oregon and Washington.
(2) The County Court of Umatilla County, Oregon, and the Department
of Transportation may use such portions of the county and state road
funds as in their discretion they deem advisable for such purpose.
(3) Such public ferry and county road connecting it with the state
highway hereby are made a part of the Oregon state highway system.
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