Lehigh Valley Co v. Board of Public Utility Com Rs

CourtUnited States Supreme Court
Citation49 S.Ct. 69,62 A. L. R. 805,73 L.Ed. 161,278 U.S. 24
Docket NumberNo. 24 and 54,24 and 54
PartiesLEHIGH VALLEY R. CO. v. BOARD OF PUBLIC UTILITY COM'RS et al. (two cases)
Decision Date19 November 1928

Messrs. Duane E. Minard and George S. Hobert, both of Newark, N. J., for appellant.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 25-27 intentionally omitted] John O. Bigelow, of Newark, N. J., for appellees.

Mr. Chief Justice TAFT delivered the opinion of the Court.

These are two appeals from orders of a Circuit Judge and two District Judges of the United States sitting in the District Court of New Jersey, denying to the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company injunctions sought by it in that court under section 380, United States Code, title 28 (section 266 of the Judicial Code (28 USCA § 380) 33 F.(2d) 780. The defendants were the Board of Public Utility Commissioners, the Attorney General, and Francis L. Bergen, prosecutor of the pleas of Somerset county, all of New Jersey. The order sought to be enjoined was one made by the Board of Public Utility Commissioners, requiring the railroad company to eliminate two railroad grade crossings in Hillsborough township, Somerset county, New Jersey, and to substitute for both of them one overhead crossing, to cost the railroad company $324,000. It was alleged that the change would involve unreasonable expenditure and thereby violate section 15a of the act of Congress to regulate commerce, as added by the Transportation Act of 1920, c. 91, § 422, 41 Stat. 488 (49 USCA § 15a), by interposing a direct interference with interstate commerce and imposing a direct burden thereon; that it would confiscate the property of the railroad company, deny it the equal protection of the laws, and impair the obligation of a contract between the company and the state highway commission. The three federal judges heard the application for a temporary injunction and denied it, and on final hearing entered a decree dismissing the bills.

The state highway involved is route No. 16, and crosses the Lehigh Valley Railroad in a direction northeasterly and southwesterly, at an angle of 29 degrees, with approaches on either side at the grade of 5 per cent. for a distance of 125 feet from the tracks. The right of way of the railroad company at this crossing is 100 feet wide and is occupied by four main operating tracks and various railroad appurtenances; 230 feet east of the center line of the crossing is a station on the west-bound side of the railroad known as 'Royce Valley.'

At a point 1,400 feet easterly there is another grade crossing on what is called the Camp Lane road, branching off from the highway in a southeasterly direction across the railroad at a practically level grade. The order of the board would eliminate this crossing also.

In December, 1922, negotiations were opened between the railroad company and the state highway commission for the purpose of considering a plan for these eliminations. The negotiations continued until March 11 1924, when the state highway commission adopted a resolution approving a plan of their engineer. There was public objection to it, and the negotiations continued, until finally the engineering staff of both the company and the highway commission agreed on plan C, to cost $109,000. The highway commission expended some $5,000 in preliminary preparation for its execution.

No contract was ever signed, either by the railroad or the commission. The highway commission had statutory power to make such a contract, but none was made, other than the informal agreement between the engineering staffs.

The matter was then taken up in 1926 by the Board of Public Utility Commissioners, which was vested with authority to order railroad companies to eliminate grade crossings and to direct how they should be constructed. On November 24, the Board of Public Utilities issued an order to the railroad company providing for a different plan from that considered by the highway commission, to cost $324,000.

The railroad company sought to restrain the enforcement of this order by application for certiorari to a judge of the Supreme Court of New Jersey. He heard the preliminary application and an argument on the subject, together with evidence in the form of affidavits on the issue made, denied the application for a restraining order, and ordered the certiorari presented before the full Supreme Court en banc. The application was there presented on briefs and was denied. (137 A. 442, 923.)

A preliminary question is whether there was a contract made between the railroad company and the board of highway commission, so that the order by the Board of Public Utility Commissioners would be an impairment of it and a violation of the Federal Constitution. There was certainly no legal contract completed between the highway commission and the railroad company. Plans were only tentatively agreed upon. The expenditure of $5,000 in anticipation of the execution of the contract to move some tracks did not constitute an estoppel equivalent to making it or agreeing to it.

It is objected by the railroad company that the expense of the crossing of $324,000 is unreasonable, when it might have been constructed by an expenditure of at least $100,000 less.

The state of New Jersey, lying between New York and Philadelphia and the West, has always been a throughfare for intrastate and interstate commerce. The state has issued bonds to the extent of $70,000,000 for the improvements of its roads, and they now aggregate 1,500 miles in length. The highway with which we are concerned is known as route 16, and is one of the chief arteries of travel between central New Jersey and the lake and mountain regions of the northern part of the state, northeastern Pennsylvania, and the lower counties of New York. In connection with two other highway routes, it has become one of the principal roads between New York and Philadelphia. The traffic diagonally across the state is so heavy and so constantly growing that no one road can carry it all. So another route, No. 29, was authorized by the Legislature in 1927 (Laws 1927, c. 319), and, when it is completed, the traffic at Royce Valley crossing, already heavy, will be much increased. The highway here in question was an ancient county road, laid out in 1811. It has always been a road at this point, running straight 2,000 feet north of the railroad and 2,500 feet south of it.

Two plans for elimination of the two crossings were finally presented, one by the chief engineer of the Board of Public Utility Commissioners, and one, called plan C, by the railroad company. The plan of the board provided for keeping the highway straight, carrying it under a bridge of the railroad tracks with a width of 66 feet, elevating the tracks for clearance, and dividing the high way by a central pier of 5 feet, two roadways of 20 feet each, and two sidewalks of 10 feet 6 inches each.

Plan C provided for the vacation and abandonment of the highway where it crosses the railroad right of way, so that route 16 would come to a dead end both north and south of the railroad. It provides further for the laying out and establishing of a new stretch of highway which would cross the railroad about 400 feet east of the present crossing. It would first have a 6-degree curve to the east. It would then have a straight course of about 250 feet to the entrance of the tunnel under the railroad tracks. A short distance beyond the tunnel a second 6-degree curve to the west would begin, and then a third 6-degree curve to the east and the roadway would join route 16 at a point about 1,000 feet south of the intersection of the route with the center line of the railroad. It would thus have three 6-degree curves in it in about half a mile, with cuts, which at stations 100 feet apart would have 7 feet of depth at one, 10 feet of depth at another, 7 1/2 feet of depth at a third, and 5 feet at a fourth.

Plan C provided for two roadways, each 18 feet wide and a center pier 5 feet wide, making a total width of 41 feet, and would create an angle of divergence of 54 . It would make the tunnel under the railroad, measured along the center pier, about 75 feet long, as against 105 feet by the board plan. The original cost as proposed by the railroad plan was $109,000, but by including the Camp Lane elimination, and the two sidewalks on the roadway in the tunnel, both of which were plainly needed, and the increase in the width of the tunnel roadways, the cost was increased to $205,000, and to these additions and others the company ultimately acceded.

The chief increases in the cost of the board plan over plan C, as modified, are in the requirement that the highway shall remain straight, and in the circumstance that under the board plan the bridge of the railroad tracks must be raised to secure sufficient clearance for the use of the straight highway beneath. The tunnel and the bridge over it, if straight, must be 105 feet long, while under the railroad plan, with the three curves, and the cuts below the surface, the bridge would be only 75 feet, or shorter by one-third.

The witnesses for the railroad testify that 6-degree curves are not dangerous, and that the additional cost of $100,000 for preserving the straight road is not within the limit of reasonableness. The advantage of straightness in such a road through a tunnel is clear. The curves in the cuts of from 5 to 10 feet in the railroad plan would tend to increase the embarrassment of driving and to obscure the clearness with which the drivers can see those ahead in and through the tunnel and the curves. This highway is not infrequently crowded with vehicles. When route No. 29 is completed, it will certainly be more crowded. The immediate prospect of using new route 29 makes greater room in the roadways most desirable. The large expenditure to secure such advantages does not seem to be arbitrary or wasteful, when made for two busy highways, instead of one.

It is not for the court to cut down such...

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