N.Y. Highway Law § 319: Obstructions and their removal

§ 319. Obstructions and their removal. 1. Obstructions, within the

meaning of this section, shall include trees which have been cut or have

fallen either on adjacent lands or within the bounds of the highway, in

such a manner as to interfere with public travel therein; limbs of trees

which have fallen within the highway, or branches of trees overhanging

the highways so as to interfere with public travel therein; lumber, wood

or logs piled within the bounds of the public highway; machines,

vehicles and implements abandoned or habitually placed within the bounds

of the highway; fences, buildings or other structures erected within the

bounds of the highway; earth, stone or other material placed in any

ditch or waterway along the highway; telegraph, telephone, trolley and

other poles, and the wires connected therewith, erected within the

bounds of the highway in such a manner as to interfere with the use of

the highway for public travel.

2. It shall be the duty of each owner or occupant of lands situate

along the highway, to remove all obstructions within the bounds of the

highway, which have been placed there, either by themselves or by their

consent. It shall be the duty of all telephone, telegraph, electric

railway and other electrical companies, to remove and reset telephone,

telegraph, trolley and other poles and the wires connected therewith,

when the same constitute obstructions to the use of the highway by the

traveling public. If temporary obstructions such as trees, lumber, wood,

logs, machinery, vehicles and similar obstructions are not removed

within forty-eight hours after the service of a notice, personally or by

mail, upon such owner or occupant, requesting the same to be done, the

town superintendent shall remove such obstruction. And if permanent

obstructions, including, among others, telegraph, telephone, trolley and

other poles and wires connected therewith, are not moved and reset

within thirty days, the town superintendent shall move and reset such

poles and wires. The expense thereby incurred shall be paid in the first

instance out of moneys levied and collected and available therefor, and

the amount thereof shall be charged against such owner, occupant or

company, and levied and collected, as provided in section one hundred

and fifty-seven.