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N.Y. HAY Law § 103-A

This is the official text of N.Y. HAY Law § 103-A, part of New York’s HAY Law — part of the compiled statutory law of New York, published by the state as "HAY Law." Browse the sections below, each linked to its official government source.

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Obstructions and removals

Official statutory text

§ 103-a. Obstructions and removals. Obstructions, within the meaning\nof this section, shall include trees which have been cut or have fallen\neither on adjacent lands or within the bounds of the highway, in such a\nmanner as to interfere with public travel therein; limbs of trees which\nhave fallen within the highway, or branches of trees overhanging the\nhighways so as to interfere with public travel therein; lumber, wood or\nlogs piled within the bounds of the public highway; machines, vehicles\nand implements abandoned or habitually placed within the bounds of the\nhighway; fences, buildings or other structures erected within the bounds\nof the highway; earth, stone or other material placed in any ditch or\nwaterway along the highway; telegraph, telephone, electric and other\npoles, and the wires connected therewith, erected within the bounds of\nthe highway in such a manner as to interfere with the use of the highway\nfor public travel.\n It shall be the duty of each owner or occupant of lands situate along\nthe highway, to remove all obstructions except such structures as have\nbeen placed or erected by a public utility corporation or for an\notherwise public purpose, within the bounds of the highway, which have\nbeen placed there by such owner or occupant or with his consent. It\nshall be the duty of all public utility corporations, to remove and\nreset poles and the wires connected therewith, when the same constitute\nobstructions to the use of the highway by the traveling public. If\ntemporary obstructions such as trees, lumber, wood, logs, machinery,\nvehicles and similar obstructions are not removed within five days after\nthe service of a notice by mail or forty-eight hours after the service\nof a notice personally, upon such owner or occupant, requesting the same\nto be done, the county superintendent of highways shall remove such\nobstruction. And if permanent obstructions, including, among others,\ntelegraph, telephone, electric and other poles and wires connected\ntherewith, are not moved and reset within thirty days after the service\nof a notice personally or by mail upon the owner of such poles or wires,\nthe county superintendent of highways shall move and reset such poles\nand wires. The cost and expenses incurred by the county superintendent\nin removing such obstructions may be recovered by the county from any\nperson or corporation responsible therefor in an action to be instituted\nby the county attorney. And all recoveries under this section shall be\ncredited to the county road fund.\n

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.