Appendix C: Amplifying Questions

To assist in the discussion with host country officials, the scan team prepared a series of amplifying questions that provide additional insights about the motivation and objectives of the scan. The amplifying questions cover the following subject areas:

1. Legal framework for right-of-way and utility processes
2. Transportation project delivery methods
3. Project development process
4. Environmental impacts
5. Right-of-way acquisition
6. Utility coordination and utility conflict management
7. Real property management
8. Project team strategies, training, and professional development

For each subject area, the scan team is particularly interested in learning about innovative practices, techniques, uses of technology, and strategies the host countries have implemented to optimize or otherwise improve right-of-way and utility processes and integrate such processes into the project development phase to positively affect cost, project schedule, and quality. The scan team is also be interested in the implementation of strategies and techniques affecting right- of-way and utility issues at different levels of government (national, regional, and local).

1. Legal Framework for Right-of-Way and Utility Processes
   • A. 1. Can you provide an overview of applicable laws, regulations, and policies for voluntary and involuntary public acquisition and use of private or public property for highway purposes?
   • A. 2. Can you provide an overview of applicable laws, regulations, and policies for ownership, accommodation and occupation, relocation, and reimbursement and compensation of utility facilities on highway rights-of-way?
   • A. 3. Please describe the utility industry's rights and authority to acquire property for utility relocation to accommodate highway projects.
   • A. 4. Please describe your agency's rights and authorities to acquire property for utility relocation to accommodate highway projects.
2. Transportation (Highway) Project Delivery Methods
   • B. 1. What is the experience of your agency, region, or country in incorporating right-ofway acquisition and utility accommodation activities with various project delivery methods (e.g., design-bid-build, designbuild, design-build-finance-operate, design-build-operate-maintain, performance contracting, framework contracts, and concessions)? What impact on project cost, schedule, and/or quality have you found in any of these alternative project delivery methods?
   • B. 2. What types of project agreements does your agency, region, or country use to document the parties, roles and responsibilities, scope, schedule, and budget of highway projects?
   • B. 3. What laws are in place requiring compensation for impacts caused by highway projects to property not acquired, such as noise, business interruption, access denial, and construction inconvenience?
3. Project Development Process
   • C.1. What role does your agency play in the oversight of your region or country's transportation (highway) program?
   • C.2. Can you provide an overview of your longrange (5- to 20-year) transportation planning process and the level of integration of rightof- way and utility needs and activities within this process (primarily for highways)?
   • C.3. If the future planning process includes the identification of corridors for preservation (i.e., the application of strategies to protect future highway corridors from unwanted land development and unnecessary environmental, social, and economic impacts), are utility owners asked to provide input on future expansion of their facilities in the proposed corridor areas?
   • C.4. What are the steps of the highway project development process in your agency, region, or country and how does the process vary by project type? How are right-of-way and utility needs addressed in each step?
   • C.5. Please describe your region's or country's legal requirements and procedures for public involvement in the various stages of the project development process.
4. Environmental Impacts
   • D.1. Please provide an overview of applicable laws, regulations, and requirements covering environmental impacts associated with highway projects.
   • D.2. What are the steps of the environmental process in your agency, region, or country and how does the process vary by project type?
   • D.3. At what phase in the project development process does your agency consider real property requirements to address environmental mitigation needs?
   • D.4. At what phase in the project development process does your agency consider environmental impacts associated with utility relocation activities?
   • D.5. Please describe your experience with innovative techniques for addressing environmental mitigation needs, such as land banking, use of public lands, private property ownership with covenants, and conservation easements.
5. Right-of-Way Acquisition
   • E.1. Please describe the process for identifying right-of-way requirements and how those requirements and impacts are integrated into all phases of the project development process.
   • E.2. Please describe performance measures or metrics used to evaluate the effectiveness of integrating right-of-way activities into all phases of the project development process.
   • E.3. Does your agency, region, or country use corridor preservation strategies to protect future highway corridors from unwanted land development and unnecessary environmental, social, and economic impacts? If so, please describe the acquisition, legal requirements and restrictions, procedures, and other preservation techniques used to restrict land development.
   • E.4. What types of property interests do you acquire and what strategies, methods, and processes do you use to secure those interests?
   • E.5. What methods do you use to determine property values and compensation levels to property owners and tenants?
   • E.6. Please describe your experience with acquisition incentive (or risk management) strategies, such as using signing bonuses and land exchanges, raising nominal monetary thresholds for low-cost parcels, allowing negotiators to offer above fair market value offers, letting landowners select the appraiser from an approved list, and offering a "highest supportable value."
   • E.7. Please describe the process for negotiation and property interest acquisition.
   • E.8. What information management systems does your agency, region, or country use to identify, document, and manage real property data during the project development process?
   • E.9. What specifications and quality assurancequality control methods does your agency use to ensure that project and right-of-way schematics and plans are sufficiently complete to proceed with right-of-way acquisition and minimize changes during project development, design, and construction?
   • E.10. What types of performance measures for right-of-way acquisition and tracking does your agency, region, or country use?
6. Utility Coordination and Utility Conflict Management
   • F.1. What is the process for integrating utility activities (including determination and evaluation of utility impacts, relocations required, and relocation schedule and cost) in the project development process?
   • F.2. Please describe utility coordination and utility conflict management and resolution practices and strategies in your agency, region, or country.
   • F.3. Please describe engineering and industry standards as well as policies and regulations that govern the depiction of utilities, accommodation, and relocation of utilities within the highway right-of-way.
   • F.4. Is it common to include utility relocation work in the highway construction contract? If utilities are responsible for the cost, do you require them to deposit the funds to cover the expense prior to contract award?
   • F.5. Please describe practices during the construction phase (both utility relocation and highway construction), including utility relocation inspection and management of utility conflicts during construction.
   • F.6. What data collection standards and specifications, practices, technologies, and information management systems does your agency, region, or country use to accurately identify, document, and manage utility installation and utility conflict data?
   • F.7. Please describe any postconstruction procedures, including the production of as-built documentation and follow-up reviews to identify problems with project design, project schedule, and conflict resolution.
   • F.8. What performance measures or metrics do you use to determine the effectiveness of the utility process at monitoring utility activities?
7. Real Property Management
   • G.1. What is your agency's process for the disposition or disposal (sale, lease, or donation) of property no longer needed for highway purposes (i.e., excess property)?
   • G.2. Please describe information management systems used to identify, document, and manage real property data.
   • G.3. Do you lease airspace over or along the right-of-way? What laws, regulations, and policies do you have on airspace use?
   • G.4. Does your highway agency protect roadway capacity, safety, and aesthetics by controlling access to the roadway system? If so, how and where do you control access to the right-ofway? Do you use police powers or do you acquire access rights?
   • G.5. What property management activities does your agency perform after acquisition and before construction of the project?
8. Project Team Strategies for Information Exchange, Training, and Professional Development
   • H.1. Do you have a formal communication strategy in place to provide information exchange about the right-of-way and utility activities associated with your highway program?
   • H.2. What is your level of interaction with rightof- way and utility stakeholders, including organizations, associations, and other professional venues?
   • H.3. What practices and strategies does your agency, region, or country use to assist in the recruitment, retention, education, and professional development needs of right-of- way and utility personnel?