---
kind: "section"
citation: "33 U.S.C. § 535c"
title: "33"
title_heading: "Navigation and Navigable Waters"
number: "535c"
heading: "Approval of Secretary; commencement and completion requirements; extension of time limits"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/33/535c"
units:
  - "Chapter 11 — Bridges Over Navigable Waters"
  - "Subchapter IV — International Bridges"
---

# §535c. Approval of Secretary; commencement and completion requirements; extension of time limits


The approval of the [Secretary](/usc/33/426h–1.md?p=2) of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating, as required by [section 491 of this title](/usc/33/491.md), shall be given only subsequent to the President’s approval, as provided for in [section 535b of this title](/usc/33/535b.md), and shall be null and void unless the construction of the bridge is commenced within two years and completed within five years from the date of the [Secretary](/usc/33/426h–1.md?p=2)’s approval: Provided, however, That the [Secretary](/usc/33/426h–1.md?p=2), for good cause shown, may extend for a reasonable time either or both of the time limits herein provided.


## Source credit

(Pub. L. 92–434, § 5, Sept. 26, 1972, 86 Stat. 732; Pub. L. 114–120, title III, § 306(b)(6)(A), Feb. 8, 2016, 130 Stat. 56.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Amendments

2016—Pub. L. 114–120 substituted “Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating” for “Secretary of Transportation”.