(a) The authority is hereby authorized to promulgate reasonable rules and regulations with respect to the use of any toll road, bridge, or tunnel project. The rules and regulations shall relate to vehicular speeds, loads, weights and sizes, safety devices, rules of the road, and any other matters as may be necessary and proper to regulate traffic in the interest of safety and the maximum convenience of the persons using the project. The rules and regulations shall apply according to their terms to all sections of any toll road, bridge, or tunnel project under the jurisdiction of the authority, and to its structures and other appurtenances. Insofar as the rules and regulations may be inconsistent with the rules and regulations of the department or with the laws of the state relating to offenses with respect to highways, the rules and regulations promulgated by the authority shall be controlling. The authority may prescribe reasonable rules and regulations as it may deem advisable for the protection and preservation of and for the maintenance and preservation of good order within the property under its jurisdiction and control and to prevent unnecessary trespassing upon or injury to or upon any part of the right-of-way or other property of any toll road, bridge, or tunnel project. The authority shall not be subject to the provisions of the Alabama Administrative Procedure Act..

(b) Any rules and regulations shall provide that law enforcement officers and other emergency vehicles shall be afforded ready access, while in the performance of their official duty, to all property under the jurisdiction of the authority without the payment of tolls. Violation of the rules and regulations shall be a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than $1.00 nor more than $500.00, and, at the discretion of the judge trying the case, also by sentence to hard labor for the county for a term not to exceed six months. The rules and regulations shall not take effect until duly filed in the office of the Secretary of State or as hereafter may be provided by law and published in a newspaper of general circulation in each county in which the toll road, bridge, and tunnel project affected is located and in such other manner as the authority shall prescribe.

(c) The authority may utilize appropriate law enforcement officers to secure each project as it deems necessary. The police officers shall have power to prefer charges against and make arrests of any person or persons violating any law of the State of Alabama, or any of the bylaws, rules, or regulations of the authority, as authorized herein on property owned or controlled by the authority. The jurisdiction of such police officers shall not be restricted to any one county but shall extend to all the counties in the state in which any toll road, bridge, or tunnel project is located.