BRIDGE ADMINISTRATION CIVIL PENALTIES
1.
Purpose. The purpose of the Bridge Administration Program is
to support Congressional intent to retain exclusive
jurisdiction over navigable waters in the United States; to
maintain freedom of navigation on the navigable waters of
the United States and to prevent impairment to navigable
streams. The Coast Guard has the duty and responsibility,
under authorities delegated to the Commandant, to preserve
the public right of navigation (33 U.S.C. 401, 491 to 507,
and 525 through 534).
2.
Background. General civil penalty procedures have been
developed to provide a consistent approach to nationwide
activity to facilitate safe passage of vessels through
bridge locations by deterring any inconvenience or
impediment to navigation which may result from the location,
construction, modification, maintenance, or operation of
bridges across navigable waters of the United States.
Additionally, criminal penalties are assessable under 33
U.S.C. 519 and 533.
3.
Enforcement Policy. The Bridge Administration Program
emphasis is compliance first and enforcement second. The
great majority of people willingly comply with the law, when
each knows what the law is. The Bridge Administration
enforcement program attempts to resolve issues on an
informal basis at the lowest practicable administrative
level consistent with the need to develop accurate,
relevant, timely and complete violation histories. Civil
penalties are assessed generally against those who are
uncooperative, are repeat offenders, or completely fail to
comply with the law (33 CFR 114.40 - Violations of law).
4.
Civil Penalty Ranges.
a.
Penalty cases should be forwarded to the civil penalty
hearing officer only when the situation is beyond use of
the informal process by the district bridge
administration program manager. The district program
manager should recommend to the civil penalty hearing
officer a penalty amount at a level high enough to
insure compliance and to provide an incentive to avoid
such violations in the future. A penalty set too low
could be viewed as the cost of a Coast Guard "license"
to continue committing violations.
b.
Bridge Administration regulations are listed in table 4-
A, with the maximum penalty permitted by law being
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,000 per day or occurrence, as appropriate. The
penalty list is not intended to be all-inclusive. Table
4-A also contains recommended dollar ranges of penalties
for each violation for use by the district program
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