Opinion ID: 185233
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Certification

Text: 10 Because this case presented a question that will likely rise again in the context of litigation over the so-called orphan bridges to which neither the railroads nor the municipalities claim title, and because state law governing ownership of the bridge is dispositive of the question of contractual allocation of maintenance agreements, we concluded that an authoritative response to the question would assist in establishing uniformity in future proceedings. We further concluded that the precise effect of the ordinance contracts on questions of bridge ownership is purely a question of state law. We therefore petitioned the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania for certification of the question of state law under 204 Pa. Code § 29.451 (1999). The Pennsylvania Supreme Court helpfully granted our petition, and has now decided the certified question. 11 Based on the undisputed facts, that court held that it has long been recognized as the law in Pennsylvania that where a railroad company has constructed at its own expense a bridge over its tracks at a street crossing, and the bridge is to constitute part of a public highway and be maintained by the municipality, title to the bridge rests in the municipality.City of Philadelphia v. Consolidated Rail Corp., 560 Pa. 587, 747 A.2d 352, 354 (2000) (citing Pennsylvania R.R. v. Greensburg, J. & P. Street Ry., 176 Pa. 559, 575, 35 A. 122, 129 (1896)). As further authority, the Supreme Court cited North Pennsylvania Railroad Co. v. Inland Traction Co., 205 Pa. 579, 587-89, 55 A. 774, 775-76 (1903), which held that a railroad lacked standing to object to proposed use by streetcars of a highway bridge that it constructed over its right-of-way, inasmuch as the bridge became part of the public highway, and the railroad thus had no property interest that would be affected. Consolidated Rail, 747 A.2d at 354. The court further recognized as a longestablished principle that a bridge carrying a public street is deemed to be a part of the street, and, as such, it is owned by the entity that owns the street. Id. (citing Heinlein v. Allegheny County, 374 Pa. 496, 499, 98 A.2d 36, 38 (1953)).As it is undisputed that the City owns the public street that is supported by the 41st Street bridge, it has owned the bridge since the completion of its reconstruction in 1929. 2