Whenever the owner of any toll bridge is a corporation whose sole activity is the ownership and operation of a toll bridge, the agreement of sale may provide that the Commonwealth shall acquire title to the bridge by the purchase of all of the outstanding shares of stock of the corporation. To arrive at the price to be paid for such stock, the Secretary of Highways shall ascertain or estimate the value of the toll bridge, as in other cases, and such valuation or the valuation which may be fixed after negotiations between the owners and the Secretary of Highways shall be the total price to be paid for such stock. Such valuation shall exclude all property and assets of the corporation not deemed by the Secretary of Highways to be essential in connection with the operation of the toll bridge and from the total amount of such valuation, all indebtedness of the corporation shall be deducted or arrangements made for payment thereof. In the event of such purchase, all of the stock of the corporation shall be transferred to the Secretary of Highways, to be held by him or his successor in office in his official capacity for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and from the date of such transfer the bridge shall be deemed to be the property of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, to be operated or maintained in the same manner, as hereinafter provided, for the operation and maintenance of the bridge had it been acquired by condemnation. After the Secretary of Highways shall have received all of the shares of stock of a corporation whose toll bridge property, including the franchise, has been acquired by the purchase of stock, he shall have authority to vote such shares of stock for the purpose of procuring a conveyance of the toll bridge and all property and assets used in connection with the operation thereof to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and for the purpose of procuring the dissolution of the corporation by proceedings to be promptly instituted by the Secretary of Highways, and for any other lawful purpose necessary to effect the acquisition of the bridge property by the Commonwealth.

Any agreement providing for the acquisition of a toll bridge by the purchase of all outstanding stock of the owner corporation shall be contingent upon payment of all debts and obligations of the corporation, or shall provide a plan for the payment of such outstanding debts or obligations by the deposit of funds, in escrow, for payment thereof.

If any bridge is to be acquired by purchase of the bridge property or by purchase of the stock of the corporation, as hereinbefore provided, the agreement for such purchase or transfer may provide for the payment of the purchase price in installments, in such amounts and at such times as mutually may be agreed upon by the owners and the Secretary of Highways.