6/20/2025 - 8:30am-9:25am

A substantial portion of the project’s cost is right of way acquisition. Designs are critiqued by owners, supported by a full team of experts, with the goal of maximizing the Department’s exposure to damages. By the time a design reaches the Right of Way acquisition phase, the parcels are mapped and defined, and it is too late to make substantial design changes without significant impacts to the project schedule. The Department has the advantage of coordinating with owners, local governments, and utilities early in the process, understanding their concerns, and designing the project with reasonable accommodations. The requisite reasonable necessity for a property interest must be justified and consider and weigh the criteria of costs, safety, alternative sites, alignment alternatives, long-range planning, and environmental factors. Local governments should be coordinated with to ensure properties can be cured, and owners receive reasonable accommodations for land development code relief. Utilities should buy-in on the design and begin coordinating arrangements for design accommodations and relocations, such as: what type of property interest is needed to cure the utility, and which entity will acquire that replacement right. These considerations are relevant to developing a right of way cost estimate as well as providing proper analysis towards minimizing the owner’s impacts. Communication with Right of Way Design Support staff is essential to projecting the best available information for the cost estimate and reviewing problem areas for early intervention and problem solving when solutions exist, ensuring an effective transition to the acquisition phase. Proactive coordination and information gathering can aid in reducing the right of way costs in the early stages of design. We will discuss some common design considerations, advantages of early coordination, and consequences of discovering issues late in the design process.

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