2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE NINE - Highways and Traffic (§§ 1-8 — 5725) › Chapter 15 - Highway and Transportation Authority (§§ 2001 — 2035) › § 2004 - Powers

Subject to the provisions of § 2005 of this title, the Authority is hereby empowered to:
(a) To have perpetual existence as a corporation.
(b) To adopt, alter, and use a corporate seal, which shall be judicially noticed.
(c) To adopt, amend and repeal bylaws for the regulation of its affairs and the conduct of its business.
(d) To have complete control and supervision of any traffic or transportation facilities owned, operated, constructed or acquired by it under the provisions of this chapter, including without limitation the determination of the site, location, and the establishment, limit and control of points of ingress to and egress from such facilities, and materials of construction, and the construction, maintenance, repair and operation thereof.
(e) Prepare plans, designs, cost and construction estimates, extension, improvements, expansion or repair of any traffic or transportation facilities or any structure or building, whether for residential, commercial, tourist, mixed, or industrial use, or any other public or private use allowed in an influence zone or in a special development district, or any part thereof, or arrange for these to be prepared; and to modify such plans, designs and estimates.
(f) To have complete control and supervision over the character of and necessity for all of its expenditures and the manner in which they shall be incurred, allowed and paid without regard to the provision of any laws governing the expenditure of public funds.
(g) To sue and be sued, complain and defend in all courts of justice and administrative bodies.
(h) To make contracts and to execute all instruments necessary or incidental in the exercise of any of its powers.
(i) Acquire any real or personal property or interest therein in any lawful manner, including but not limited to acquisition by purchase, whether by agreement or by the exercise of eminent domain, or by lease, bequest, devise, gift, exchange, assignment or surrender, and to hold, maintain, use and operate such property or interest therein to meet the purposes of this chapter; and for such end, without it being construed as a limitation, to acquire properties in any manner, except through the exercise of eminent domain, in an influence zone or in the special development districts themselves, when such acquisition has the purpose of avoiding inflation produced by speculation practices in the purchase or sale of real estate or of directing any kind of project that propitiate the development of influence zones or special development districts, per se or through or jointly with agencies, instrumentalities or political subdivisions of the Commonwealth or the Government of the United States, or with private entities.
(j) Determine, fix, impose, alter and collect tolls or ferriage, rentals, assessments, rates and other reasonable charges for the use of the traffic or transportation facilities owned, operated, constructed, acquired or financed by the Authority or for the services rendered thereby. In fixing or altering these charges, the Authority shall take into account such factors as will promote the use of the traffic or transportation facilities owned or operated by it in the broadest and most varied manner economically possible. To fix or alter such charges, the Authority shall hold a public hearing of an informative and quasi-legislative character before any official or officials designated by the Board for such purpose. Such hearings shall be announced reasonably in advance, stating the place and time of the hearing and the proposed charges or alteration.
(k) Appoint an Executive Director and a Secretary neither of whom shall be a member of the Board, and such other officers, agents, and employees and to confer upon them such powers and duties and pay such compensation for their services as the Board may determine.
(l) To borrow money for any of its corporate purposes, and to issue bonds of the Authority in evidence of such indebtedness and to secure payment of bonds and interest thereon by pledge of, or other lien on, all or any of its properties, revenues or other income, and subject to the provisions of § 8 of Art. VI of the Constitution of the Commonwealth, pledge to the payment of said bonds and interest thereon, the proceeds of any tax or other funds which may be made available to the Authority by the Commonwealth.
(m) To issue bonds for the purpose of funding, refunding, purchasing, paying, or discharging any of its outstanding bonds.
(n) To accept grants or loans from, and enter into contracts, leases, agreements, or other transactions with, any agency or department of the United States of America, any state, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any political subdivision or instrumentality of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and to expend the proceeds of any such grants or loans for any of its corporate purposes.
(o) Sell, exchange, and grant options for sale, sell in installments and guarantee the sales price through mortgage on the property sold; Provided, That said mortgage shall accrue interest and constitute a preferred nonsubrogable lien, within an influence zone or a special development district, without being subject to the provisions of §§ 31 et seq. of Title 28, and without being subject to the provisions of §§ 221 et seq. of Title 28; and in any other case, to sell or otherwise dispose of any real or personal property of the Authority or any interest therein that in the judgement of the Authority is no longer necessary to achieve the purposes of the Authority or of which the disposal is consistent with the ends of this chapter; and to lease properties acquired within an influence zone or a special development zone under those terms and conditions that are convenient to the purposes of this chapter and without being subject to the provisions of §§ 31 et seq. of Title 28, and without being subject to the provisions of §§ 221 et seq. of Title 28; and in any other case, to lease property under the terms and conditions that are most convenient to the purposes of this chapter.
(p) To enter upon any lands, bodies of water or premises, by permission of the owners or holders thereof, or their representatives, for the purpose of making surveys, soundings or examinations for the purposes of this chapter. Should the owners or holders, or their representatives, refuse permission to enter upon said lands, bodies of water or premises, for the aforesaid purposes, any judge of the Court of First Instance shall, upon presentation to him of an affidavit setting forth the Authority’s intent to enter upon said lands, bodies of water or premises for such purposes, issue an order authorizing any officials or employees of the Authority to enter upon the lands, bodies of water or premises described in the affidavit, for said purposes. In the absence of known owners or holders, or their representatives, the Authority may, through its officials or employees, enter without any permission.
(q) To do all acts or things necessary or desirable to the carrying out of the powers granted to the Authority by this chapter or by any other act of the Legislature of Puerto Rico; Provided, however, That neither the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico nor any of its political subdivisions shall be liable for the payment of the principal of or interest on any bonds issued by the Authority and such principal and interest shall be payable only from the funds of the Authority pledged for such payment pursuant to subsection (l) of this section.
(r) To adopt, proclaim, amend and repeal such rules and regulations as may be necessary or pertinent for the exercise of its powers and the performance of its duties according to this chapter.
(s) Construct or reconstruct any traffic or transportation facility or any part or parts thereof, and any additions, improvements or expansion of any traffic or transportation facility of the Authority through contract or contracts or under the direction of its own officials, agents or employees, or through or by mediation of the same; Provided, That it shall have the same power within an influence zone or special development district in relation to any structure or building, whether for residential, commercial, tourist, mixed, or industrial use, or any other public or private use allowed within the influence zone or the special development district.
(t) Contribute to the development of the Transportation Plan and, under instructions of the Secretary, to establish and implement the necessary mechanisms in order to efficiently plan, evaluate and develop the highway and mass transportation system. These mechanisms include the following, among others: to perform studies on mass transportation needs in Puerto Rico; to contract within the operational territorial jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Bus Authority which should not exceed the municipal limits of San Juan, Cataño, Bayamon, Toa Baja, Guaynabo, Trujillo Alto and Carolina, for the rendering of mass transportation services attune with the Transportation Plan without being subject to the provisions of §§ 1001 et seq. of Title 27, §§ 1371 et seq. of this title and §§ 601 et seq. of Title 23; to promote the search for alternatives for mass transportation financing; and to perform other germane and necessary tasks to implement the public policy on mass transportation, by request of the Secretary.
(u) Establish, when disposing of any real property it holds at present or acquires in the future, all those conditions and limitations, in terms of its use and exploitation, that it deems necessary and convenient to ensure compliance with the purposes of this chapter, in order for the end use not to facilitate or to lead to the creation of undesirable or adverse conditions for the public interest which this chapter seeks to protect. When the Authority sells or otherwise disposes of a property in an influence zone or in a special development district with the purpose of having the buyer develop the same, this shall be done, in the case of influence zones and Special Planning districts, pursuant to the procedures established by the Planning Board, and the Authority may recommend and the Planning Board shall impose, except when there is just cause which shall be consigned in writing, those restrictions it believes necessary to carry out the purposes of this chapter. In all cases, the Authority shall include a clause in which the extent of participation is provided, as well as the profits that the Authority shall have in and from the revenues, securities, sales volume or income of any kind which in respect to the land, the development and any other aspect or activity of the project shall generate for the buyer.
(v) Present illustrative maps of the influence zones and propose specific projects to be developed therein; to recommend plans to establish and define the special development districts, plan specific projects for such districts and to that effect suggest amendments and supplements for plans, maps, blueprints, rules and regulations relative to the planning, designs, design control, development and development control of such districts.
(w) The Puerto Rico Highways and Transportation Authority is authorized to establish along the expressways, avenues, streets or main public thoroughfares, informative electronic signboards or billboards to provide information on the disappearance of minors in case an Amber Alert is activated (America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response), such as the vehicle used and the direction in which it was traveling, among other things, or to issue information to send an alert or announce an emergency through the Emergency Broadcast System in the case of meteorological emergencies. The display of relevant information on the conditions of the highways is also allowed. The Puerto Rico Highways and Transportation Authority shall not be subject to the provisions of any other Commonwealth law that regulates the placement of informative electronic signboards or billboards when establishing or placing informative electronic signboards or billboards to provide information on the disappearance of minors in case an Amber Alert is activated (America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response), or to issue information to send an alert or announce an emergency through the Emergency Broadcast System in the case of meteorological emergencies. However, the use of said informative electronic signboards or billboards for any type of propaganda or announcements unrelated to the information issued about an Amber Alert or an alert or emergency through the Emergency Broadcast System in the case of meteorological emergencies or to relevant information about the conditions of the highways, is prohibited.
History —June 23, 1965, No. 74, p. 158, § 4; June 21, 1968, No. 112, p. 242, § 2; Mar. 6, 1991, No. 1, p. 1, § 4; Aug. 25, 2000, No. 207, § 3; Aug. 26, 2005, No. 84, § 1; Mar. 21, 2014, No. 41, § 3.