| (a) | take a vehicle onto a national road except at an entrance provided for that purpose; |
| (b) | take a vehicle off a national road except at an exit provided for that purpose; |
| (c) | enter a national road which is fenced, except at an entrance provided for that purpose; |
| (d) | leave a national road which is fenced, except at an exit provided for that purpose. |
| (2) | Only the Board and any person acting on its written authority may provide or authorise an entrance to or an exit from a national road. |
| (3) | Such an authorisation must be reduced to writing and may be granted by the Agency on any conditions that it considers desirable, including conditions with regard to the nature of the entrance or exit that is authorised, the place where or manner in which the entrance or exit may be erected, constructed or otherwise provided, or its use. The Agency may at any time alter, substitute or cancel such a condition or impose a new condition and insert it in the authorisation. |
| (4) | An entrance to or exit from a national road— |
| (b) | which is lawfully in existence and in use immediately before the date on which the road or route in question is declared under section 40(1)(a) to be a national road, |
will, until the Agency has issued a written authorisation in respect of it under subsection or has removed or closed it under subsection (5), be regarded and treated for all purposes as if it had been provided or authorised under subsection (2), subject—
| (i) | in the case of an entrance or exit mentioned in paragraph (a), to the conditions or requirements which immediately before the incorporation date applied with regard to its nature, establishment or use; |
| (ii) | in the case of an entrance or exit mentioned in paragraph (b), to the condition that its nature may not be changed and that it may not be used for a purpose for which it was not used before the date mentioned in that paragraph, except if authorised in writing by the Agency. |
| (5) | Despite any contrary provision of any other law, an entrance to or exit from any national road, or to or from any road in a building restriction area mentioned in paragraph (b) of the definition of ‘‘building restriction area’’ in section 1, may be removed or closed to traffic by the Agency which may, if considered necessary, provide another entrance or exit and take whatever other steps it considers necessary to make the other entrance or exit suitable for use. |
| (6) | The Agency in its discretion may compensate a person who suffers any direct loss as a result of the removal or closure of an entrance or exit under subsection (5). |
However, in considering compensation, the Agency must take into account the existence of an alternative entrance or exit or the provision of another entrance or exit under that subsection.
| (7) | For the purposes of this section, ‘‘entrance’’ and ‘‘exit’’, with regard to a road, means any road (whether a public road or not), bridge, subway, gate, sty, passage or other means by which the road can be entered or left, respectively. |
| (8) | A person is guilty of an offence— |
| (a) | upon contravening the provisions of subsection (1), and liable on conviction to a term of imprisonment not longer than three months, or a fine; |
| (b) | when providing or making an entrance to or exit from a national road without the Agency’s written authorisation in terms of subsection (2), and liable on conviction to a term of imprisonment not longer than six months, or a fine, or to both the term of imprisonment and the fine. |
