Whenever any county bridge shall be carried away or destroyed by flood or windstorm, the county commissioners of the county in which such bridge is located or when such bridge crosses the boundary line between two counties, then the commissioners of both counties may apply by petition to the court, setting forth fully in said petition the location of such bridge, the time when a bridge was first erected in the same location as a county bridge, the time when the bridge was carried away or destroyed by flood or windstorm, the character of the bridge so carried away or destroyed, and the probable cost of replacing the same. Whereupon it shall be the duty of the court to appoint five viewers, one of whom shall be a civil engineer, and not more than two of whom shall be residents of the county wherein such bridge is proposed to be built.
The Attorney General shall be given due notice of the time of filing the petition and the application for viewers, and it shall be his duty to appear for and defend the interests of the Commonwealth in all such proceedings.
36 P.S. § 670-774