Article 51

Roadwork and Material Placement on the Streets

1. Those who are carrying out construction projects and leaving materials and tools on the streets are required to:

a) Carry out the work and store materials and tools in a manner that does not obstruct traffic. If such obstruction cannot be avoided, the work sites and materials must be marked in accordance with Article 13, which governs the marking of roadwork,

(b) to fence off trenches or other areas of the construction sites that pose a danger to traffic and to mark them in accordance with Article 13.

2. It is prohibited to dump soil or waste materials on the street (including road surfaces, curbs, sidewalks, pedestrian walkways, and ditches). For the removal of the above materials, paragraph 3.

3. a) Any cut or excavation in the road surface, subgrade, pedestrian walkway, or sidewalk on a national, provincial, municipal, or community road—which is necessary for the construction of a project carried out by a public utility, an organization, legal entity, or individual, may be carried out only with a permit from the agency responsible for road maintenance, which must be endorsed by the competent police authority prior to the commencement of work. This permit specifies the timeframe within which the damage to the road surface must be fully repaired by the company or person on whose behalf the work is being carried out. The competent road maintenance agencies are required, upon the expiration of the deadline specified in the permit, to repair the damage caused and to charge the related cost to the organization, the organization, company, or individual carrying out the project or on whose behalf the project is being carried out, in accordance with the provisions governing the collection of public revenues.

(b) Companies that perform installation, routine, and emergency maintenance work are not covered by the scope of this article or by paragraph 7 of Article 7 of Law 3481/2006 (A’ 162), companies that perform installation, routine, and emergency maintenance work on underground natural gas distribution networks and pipelines, including the installation, routine, and emergency maintenance of natural gas metering and regulating devices, as well as thermal energy production and distribution companies for the installation of underground heat distribution networks, to which paragraph 3 of Article 7 of Law 2364/1995 applies (A’252).

4. Workers on the roads are required to wear special safety vests that are reflective and fluorescent so that they can be easily distinguished from vehicles traveling on the roads. Employers are responsible for providing these vests to workers on the roads.

5. Violations of paragraph 2 are classified as Category E3-A. Violations of paragraph 4 are classified as Category E1-A. Anyone who violates the other provisions of this law, as well as anyone who causes, in any way—even through negligence— causes damage to the road, safety barriers, traffic islands, or, in general, to road equipment or its components and accessories, shall be punished by imprisonment for up to two (2) years, unless a more severe penalty is provided for by another provision.