Soo Line R. Co. v. MINN. DEPT. OF TRANSP.

• Decision Date: 13 March 1981
• Docket Number: No. 51126.,51126.
• Citation: 304 NW 2d 301
• Parties: SOO LINE RAILROAD COMPANY, petitioner, Appellant, v. MINNESOTA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, Respondent, City of Bemidji, Respondent.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

304 N.W.2d 301 (1981)

SOO LINE RAILROAD COMPANY, petitioner, Appellant, v. MINNESOTA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, Respondent City of Bemidji, Respondent.

No. 51126.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

March 13, 1981.

Wayne C. Serkland, Minneapolis, for appellant.

Warren Spannaus, Atty. Gen., and Gilbert S. Buffington, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., St. Paul, for Minnesota Dept. of Transportation.

Eugene R. Ouradnik, City Atty., Bemidji, for City of Bemidji.

Heard, considered and decided by the court en banc.

YETKA, Justice.

On February 24, 1978, the City of Bemidji requested the Minnesota Department of Transportation to investigate the closing of the Irvine Avenue bridge over the Soo Line Railroad tracks. Proceedings were conducted before a hearing examiner who recommended that a new bridge, 18 feet wide, be built at the expense of Soo Line Railroad.

Soo Line filed exceptions to the hearing examiner's report with the Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Transportation. The commissioner agreed that a new bridge was needed, but concluded that it should be 28 feet wide, with the cost of the additional width to be borne by the Department of Transportation. Soo Line was ordered to build the bridge, and the Department of Transportation agreed to contribute $65,000 of the total cost. In all other respects, the hearing examiner's recommendation was adopted.

Soo Line petitioned for review in Hennepin County District Court. The district court affirmed the commissioner's order and Soo Line brought this appeal. We reverse and remand to the commissioner for the taking of additional evidence and for new findings.

At the south end of Irvine Avenue in the City of Bemidji lies a small residential district. It is situated on a peninsula that extends into a lake. Three streets connect this district with the main part of Bemidji — Irvine Avenue, Minnesota Avenue, and Park Avenue. These three streets run parallel to each other and provide the only motor vehicle access between this residential district and the rest of the city.

Two sets of railroad tracks intersect each of the three streets. One set of tracks is owned by Soo Line and the other by Burlington Northern. Because the railroad tracks separate this residential district from the rest of the city, any motor vehicle driving into or out of the residential district must cross both sets of tracks.

Park Avenue and Minnesota Avenue intersect the railroad tracks at grade crossings — where the tracks and the street are at the same ground level. Occasionally a train will block the grade crossings at both streets simultaneously. When this occurs, motor vehicle traffic cannot pass through.

Irvine Avenue crosses the railroad tracks with two overhead bridges. The bridge over the Burlington Northern tracks is presently in good condition, but the bridge over the Soo Line tracks is not.

In 1910 the Bemidji City Council requested Soo Line's predecessor, the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railway, to erect a bridge over its tracks along Irvine Avenue. The railroad voluntarily complied with the city's request and the bridge was built at the railroad's expense. In October of 1975, after an inspection revealed the bridge had deteriorated, the bridge was restricted to traffic weighing less than 3 tons. One year later, Soo Line recommended to the city that the bridge be closed because it was unsafe for any traffic. The city barricaded the bridge, but pedestrians and snow-mobiles continued to use it. Soo Line then removed the end spans on the bridge making passage impossible.

At the hearing, Soo Line proposed that the bridge be replaced with a grade crossing. This proposal was rejected by the hearing examiner because the crossing would be blocked to automobile traffic when trains came through. The hearing examiner found that this would prevent firetrucks and ambulances from responding quickly to emergency calls, a problem that exists already at the other grade crossings. As a result, the hearing examiner concluded that a new bridge was needed for reasons of public safety. This conclusion was adopted by the commissioner.

The Irvine Avenue bridge is approximately 18 feet wide. The hearing examiner found that a new bridge of identical width would cost $107,000. All new bridges built over railroad tracks, however, are required to be 28 feet wide. Minn.Stat. § 165.06 (1980). Rebuilding the Irvine Avenue bridge to conform with this requirement was found to increase the cost of construction by 50 or 60 percent.

The hearing examiner recommended that the commissioner waive the statutory width requirement and permit the new bridge to be built to a width of 18 feet. The commissioner rejected this recommendation and ordered Soo Line to build the bridge 28 feet wide.

The hearing examiner also recommended that Soo Line bear the entire cost of building the new bridge. This recommendation was adopted by the commissioner with the exception that the Department of Transportation would contribute $65,000 toward the construction cost. This contribution was the approximate additional cost of building a new bridge 28 feet wide instead of 18 feet wide.

The commissioner entered an order in accordance with his modified findings and conclusions, and this order was affirmed in its entirety by the district court.

The issues raised on appeal are:

1. Does Minn.Stat. § 219.40 (1978) (amended 1980) require the cost of building a bridge over railroad tracks to be apportioned on the basis of benefits to the users?

2. Did the commissioner properly apportion the cost as required by the statute?

3. Were the commissioner's findings of benefits supported by substantial evidence?

At the initial hearing, Soo Line contested the need for a new bridge and argued that a grade crossing was a better alternative. That issue has not been presented to this court. As a result, the need for a new bridge is not disputed and the central issue in this appeal is how to determine who should pay for it.

1. Soo Line argues that Minn.Stat. § 219.40 (1978) (amended 1980)¹ governs the apportionment of costs in this case and that this statute requires costs to be apportioned on the basis of benefits enjoyed by whoever uses the bridge.

At common law, railroads were required to erect bridges over their tracks at their own expense whenever the public safety required that this should be done. See, e.g., State ex rel. City of St. Paul v. Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway, 122 Minn. 280, 281, 142 N.W. 312, 312 (1913). The City of Bemidji argues that this common-law rule is still in effect.

In 1923, however, the common-law rule was modified to empower a state agency to order railroads to build bridges with costs to be apportioned in a "just and equitable" manner among the parties affected. Act of Apr. 3, 1923, ch. 134, § 2, 1923 Minn.Laws 143, 143 (current version at Minn.Stat. § 219.40 (1980)); see State v. Northern Pacific Railway, 176 Minn. 501, 507, 223 N.W. 915, 917 (1929) (construing "just and equitable" standard in predecessor of section 219.40; affirming order of railroad and warehouse commission that required state and railroad each to pay one-half the cost of building a bridge). A 1963 amendment to the same statute required costs to be apportioned "on the basis of benefit to the users." Act of May 3, 1963, ch. 458, § 2, 1963 Minn.Laws 688, 689 (current version at Minn.Stat. § 219.40 (1980) (emphasis added). This benefit standard has remained a part of the statute since that time.

In 1978 the statute provided:

If a complaint is made under section 219.39, the commissioner shall determine whether the crossing is dangerous and may with or without a hearing require the railroad company complained of to provide flagmen at such crossing, or to adopt such safety devices as the commissioner may deem necessary for the proper protection of the crossing, or may require the removal of any structure, embankment or other obstruction to the view, or may require the crossing complained of or other crossing in the vicinity thereof closed, or it may require the railroad company to construct an overhead or maintain an underground crossing and divide the cost thereof between the railroad company, the town, county, municipal corporation, or state transportation department interested, on such terms and conditions as may seem just and equitable. Where the railroad has been constructed or the grade thereof lowered after the laying out of the highway and the railroad tracks are seven feet or more below the natural surface of the ground the commissioner may require the maintenance of an overhead bridge with suitable approaches and require the complaining city, town, or county to remove any embankment, structure or other obstruction to the view as may be reasonable and necessary to properly protect the crossing; provided, that no highway shall be laid out over any railroad so as to cross at the same grade until such crossing has been approved by the commissioner. If the complainant or the railroad files exceptions to an order of the commissioner made under this section without a hearing, the commissioner shall convene a hearing on the original complaint. If the commissioner or his designee after notice and hearing orders the installation of a safety device, or the construction, reconstruction, modernization or replacement of major parts, as defined by rule of the commissioner, of said safety device, gates, or other type of special protection, or the removal of a structure, embankment or other obstruction to the view, or orders the construction, reconstruction or maintenance of an underground or overhead crossing on any public road, street, or highway, he may in the same order direct that the costs thereof be divided between the railroad company and the public authority involved on such basis as the parties may agree, or, if they fail to agree, then the costs thereof shall be as determined by the commissioner or his designee on the basis of

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