Virginia Law

Article I. Parties and Titles.

The Parties to this Compact are the Commonwealth of Virginia, the State of Maryland and the District of Columbia. This agreement shall be known as the Potomac River Bridge Towing Compact.

Article II. Findings and Purpose.

The Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge, Rochambeau Memorial Bridge, George Mason Memorial Bridge, Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Bridge, Francis Scott Key Bridge, Chain Bridge, Harry W. Nice Bridge, Sandy Hook Bridge, Brunswick Bridge, Point of Rocks Bridge, and American Legion Memorial Bridge all pass through the territorial jurisdiction of two or more of the three Parties. Experience has shown that traffic back-ups often prevent state troopers or police officers of the appropriate jurisdiction from arriving at the scene of a disabled or abandoned vehicle to take corrective action. The purpose of this Compact is to facilitate the prompt and orderly removal of disabled and abandoned vehicles from the bridges by giving all three Parties jurisdiction to exercise appropriate authority anywhere on the bridges.

Article III. Authority to Direct Traffic and Authorize Removal of Vehicles.

The Parties hereby give one another all necessary power and authority to have their respective state troopers or local law-enforcement officers direct traffic and authorize the removal of disabled or abandoned vehicles, trailers, semitrailers or the parts or contents thereof, from any part of the Potomac River bridges, to the same extent and in the same manner that such troopers and local law-enforcement officers may exercise such authority in their own jurisdictions. However, no Party, acting through its troopers or local law-enforcement officers, shall have the authority to direct or authorize the towing or removal of any vehicle or other thing to a destination outside its own jurisdiction, unless the consent of an officer or trooper of the destination jurisdiction has been obtained.

Article IV. Disposition of Towed Vehicles.

All vehicles and their contents towed or removed from the Potomac River bridges pursuant to this Compact shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the place to which such vehicle and its contents are taken, and the handling and disposition of such vehicle and its contents shall be governed by the laws and procedures of that jurisdiction.

Article V. No Agency.

Each of the Parties shall act solely on its own authority within the jurisdiction granted. This Compact shall not be construed as creating any agency relationship between the Parties.

Article VI. Effective Date.

The provisions of this Compact shall take effect thirty days after the legislative bodies of the Parties having jurisdiction over one or several of the bridges identified in Article II have enacted Compacts substantially identical to this Compact.

Article VII. Termination.

The Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia or State of Maryland, or the Mayor of the District of Columbia may withdraw from this Compact at any time upon thirty days' written notice to the other Parties.

1991, c. 452; 2019, c. 403.