Section 652.6 - Powers and duties of commissionThe Commission shall have the following powers and duties:
(1) It shall maintain a principal office at such place as shall be designated by the Commission.(2) The Commission may contract and be contracted with in its own name.(3) The Commission may sue and be sued in its own name, plead and be impleaded. Any and all actions at law or in equity against the Commission shall be brought only in the proper courts at the County of Dauphin.(4) The Commission shall have an official seal.(5) The Commission shall make necessary rules and regulations for its own government, and shall have power and authority to acquire, own, use, hire, lease, operate, and dispose of, personal property, real property and interests in real property, and to make and enter into all contracts and agreements necessary or incidental to the performance of its duties and the execution of its powers under this act, and to employ engineering, traffic, architectural and construction experts and inspectors, and attorneys, and such other employes as may in its judgment be necessary, and fix their compensation. All contracts and agreements relating to the construction of the turnpike and connecting roads, tunnels and bridges shall be approved by the Department of Highways, and the turnpike and connecting roads, tunnels and bridges shall be constructed under the supervision of the Department of Highways.(6) The turnpike when completed and opened to traffic shall be maintained and repaired by and under the control of the Commission through the Department of Highways of the Commonwealth, and all charges and costs for such maintenance and repairs actually expended by said Department of Highways shall be paid to it by the Commission, upon certification thereof, out of tolls. The turnpike shall also the policed and operated by such force of police, tolltakers and other operating employes as the Commission may, in its discretion, employ.(7) The Commission shall have authority, at its own cost, to provide grade separations with respect to all public roads and State highways intersected by the turnpike and to change and adjust the lines and grades thereof so as to accommodate the same to the design of such grade separation. The damages incurred in changing and adjusting the lines and grades of such public roads and State highways shall be ascertained and paid by the Commission in the same manner as it provided for by this act in regard to the location and construction of the turnpike.(8) If the Commission shall find it necessary to provide a grade separation or change the site of any portion of any State highway or public road, or vacate the same, it shall cause it to be reconstructed and restored forthwith, at the Commission's own proper expense, on the most favorable location and in as satisfactory a manner as the original road, or vacate it, as the case may be: Provided, That the method of acquiring the right-of-way and determining damages incurred in changing the location of or vacating such road or State highway shall be ascertained and paid for by the Commission in the same manner as is provided for by this act in regard to the location and construction of the turnpike. In such cases, the plan of such reconstruction and restoration or vacation shall be submitted to the supervisors of the proper township for approval, and in the event of failure of the supervisors to approve the plan, then it shall be submitted to the Department of Highways for final approval. In the case of State highways, the plan shall be submitted to the Department of Highways for its approval.(9) The Commission shall also have authority to petition the court of quarter sessions of the county wherein is situate any public road or part thereof affected by the location therein of the turnpike, for the vacation, relocation, or supply of the same, or any part thereof, with the same force and effect as is now given by existing laws to the inhabitants of any township of such county, and the proceedings upon such petition, whether it be for the appointment of viewers or otherwise, shall be the same as provided by existing law for similar proceedings upon such petitions.(10) The Commission shall otherwise have all of the powers and perform all of the duties prescribed by the act of May twenty-one, one thousand nine hundred thirty-seven (Pamphlet Laws 774), and any supplements or amendments thereto. (11) Adequate compensation shall be made by the Commission out of funds provided under the authority of this act for damages to all public or private property taken, injured or destroyed in carrying out the powers granted by this act, or such property may be restored or repaired and placed in its original condition as nearly as practicable, as the Commission may deem it expedient in any particular case.1956, May 15, P.L. (1955) 1589, § 6.