Executive Summary

Overview

An effective transportation system is an essential requirement for developing and maintaining the economic strength of organized society. Planning, designing, and executing successful transportation projects require applying sound strategies to ensure the optimum use and management of scarce resources while, at the same time, addressing a variety of constraints and challenges, many of which are external to the agencies responsible for developing the projects.

Many transportation projects require the acquisition of land and other property interests as well as proper consideration of the accommodation and potential relocation of existing utility facilities in the right-of-way. A critical requirement for the successful completion of those projects is the judicious application of sound engineering and management principles during the right-of-way and utility processes. These requirements are particularly evident in urbanized areas, where land use is more intensive and project costs related to right-of-way acquisition and utility relocation tend to be greater.

Managing acquired right-of-way assets and the accommodation of utilities within those assets is a continuous activity at transportation agencies. Nationwide, transportation agencies are responsible for managing millions of acres of land that provide right-of-way to transportation corridors. Managing this extensive and valuable right-of-way asset involves considerable resources and integration of numerous business processes, including determining right-of-way boundaries; inventorying roadside features; preparing right-of-way maps; buying, selling, and leasing assets; regulating the accommodation of utilities in the right-of-way; and preparing reports documenting right-of-way assets. In general, ready access to right-of-way asset data is a key requirement not just to streamline project delivery, but also to effectively manage the right-of-way asset throughout the lifetime of a transportation facility.

In September 2008, the scan team visited Australia and Canada to learn about innovative practices for right-of-way and utility processes that might be applicable for implementation in the United States. The study team visited four state transportation agencies in Australia: the Road and Traffic Authority (RTA) in Sydney, New South Wales (NSW); the Department of Main Roads in Brisbane, Queensland; the Department for Transport, Energy, and Infrastructure (DTEI) in Adelaide, South Australia; and the Roads Corporation (VicRoads) in Melbourne, Victoria. In Canada, the study team visited Alberta Transportation in Edmonton (Alberta) and the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO) in St. Catharines. The 2008 scanning study of Australia and Canada complemented a 2000 scanning study of European countries, which covered Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United Kingdom.

Objectives for the 2008 scanning study included the following:

• Alternative project delivery methods. Determine the experience of other nations with public-private partnerships and other alternative project delivery methods in addressing right-of-way and utility needs, and how integration of right-of-way and utility processes with design and construction has improved project delivery, including cost, schedule, and quality.
• Long-range planning process. Determine how other nations coordinate right-of-way and utility activities with the planning process to identify critical future transportation (highway) corridors, manage right-of-way acquisition and utility relocation costs (e.g., by using corridor preservation and access management techniques), and identify the impact of right-of-way and utilities on project schedule, funding, and programming.
• Design process. Identify how other nations coordinate right-of-way and utility activities with the project development process to reduce costs and delays associated with late plan changes, addition of required parcels, changes in access requirements, and accommodation of utilities.
• Environmental process. Determine how other nations coordinate right-of-way and utility activities with the environmental process to facilitate construction permit approvals, acquire land for environmental mitigation, acquire parcels containing contaminated or hazardous materials, streamline the project development process, and minimize environmental and project development impacts.
• Utility property right acquisition and accommodation. Determine how other nations acquire and accommodate property rights and facilities owned by utility companies as a component feature of the planning, environmental, and design processes; coordinate utility relocation activities to accelerate project delivery; and manage relationships and conflicts with other stakeholders (e.g., railroads).
• Right-of-way property asset management strategies. Determine how other nations manage right-of-way assets, including the use of performance measures; technology-based tools to inventory, track, and manage assets; and methods to maximize benefits from right-of-way assets, including nontraditional strategies such as revenue generation and multiple public uses.
• Project team, training, and professional development strategies. Identify how other nations integrate right-of-way and utility professionals into the project development and delivery process, and what techniques and strategies those nations follow to address the urgent need for succession planning through recruitment, retention, education, and professional development.

To assist in the discussion with host country officials, the study team prepared a series of amplifying questions before the scan tour to provide additional insight about the motivation and objectives of the scan.

Summary of Findings

Australia

Lessons learned from the meetings with RTA, Main Roads, DTEI, and VicRoads include the following:

• Business approach to operations and emphasis on good working relationships. The study team perceived a strong emphasis on entrepreneurship and the application of sound business principles to department of transportation (DOT) operations, including right-of-way and utility coordination. Examples of business approach strategies include an emphasis on strategic planning, a clear understanding of the agency's mandate to maintain high levels of performance and customer satisfaction, consideration of long-term right-of-way needs in transportation facility management, and an understanding of the critical need to develop and maintain good working relationships with other stakeholders of the road reserve. An emphasis on effective communications, appropriate performance measurement, and customer satisfaction has resulted in some of the agencies visited being ranked among the highest in their states on public satisfaction with their performance.

• Alliance contracting approach. The alliance contracting approach is gaining popularity in Australia, particularly when there are significant uncertainties about the optimum solution for a project. Uncertainties can include unpredictable risks, a project that is difficult to scope or for tenderers to price, time pressures, and the state's desire for breakthroughs and innovation.

  In the alliance approach, the transportation agency uses an early contractor involvement model that focuses on assembling and integrating the best possible leadership, management, and project execution teams based on qualifications and experience. Following a "best-for-project" approach, each team can include participants from the selected consortium and/or the transportation agency, depending on the specific expertise area needed.

  An early contractor involvement approach means the alliance team is involved during the project scoping and design phases. Because no bidding occurs at the end of the design phase (since the consortium was selected earlier), the alliance approach requires transparent communications between the parties, particularly on compensation and cost structures. Strategies to achieve this goal include establishing a fee structure for all direct project costs that uses open-book accounting and is viewable by all parties, a separate corporate overhead and profit calculation, and clear gainshare-painshare arrangements. Gain-share provisions include establishing how to share any net monetary savings at the end of the project.

  In general, the alliance team is responsible for coordinating effectively with utilities early and finding optimum relocation strategies. Only one team interacts with utilities during the design and construction phases. The alliance team also presents a unified front for dealing and negotiating with property owners.

• Training and professional development. Australian states use a variety of approaches to promote training and professional development opportunities. For example, several universities offer formal educational programs for property valuers. A typical full-time, 3-year program offers a degree with a major in property. Coursework usually covers areas such as accounting, construction, property valuation, contract law, statistics, business finance, marketing, geographic information systems (GIS), property economics, property law, planning and environmental law, and property and asset management.

  In New South Wales, the NSW Streets Opening Conference sponsored the development of a pilot training course for transportation and utility personnel involved in locating utility facilities in the field. The training course will provide the foundation for a formal accreditation process for utility location services.

  Through VicRoads International (VRI), VicRoads has an active presence abroad. An integral component of the VRI program is to provide staff members with the opportunity to travel and work abroad, which in the long term benefits VicRoads because it promotes personal growth and professional development. VicRoads also promotes VRI as a recruitment strategy.

• Road reserve.The concepts of road reserve and road right-of-way (as applied in the United States) share many similarities. However, the treatment of the road reserve in Australian legislation historically has been stronger and more centralized than the treatment of the right-of-way in the United States. Australian states have also benefited from the application of more centralized land use practices as well as high-level planning and land title registration offices that work with ministries of transportation and other state agencies to provide orderly, coordinated land use planning.

• Corridor preservation. Australian states have a number of tools that facilitate the preservation of corridors for future transportation use. Examples include the requirement to register transportation plans with the state land title registration office, the ability of these offices to add notes or caveats to title certificates on the future use of a corridor, the ability to control building setbacks on corridors designated for future road expansion, and the ability of the transportation agency to acquire parcels during the planning phase.

• Appraiser-legal representation fees and right-of-way negotiation process. Australian states routinely reimburse property owners for reasonable expenses (including attorney fees) related to the appraisal and negotiation process. Further, in Australian practice, property owners are encouraged to become informed and seek professional help to assist them in that process. In addition, Australian states routinely share appraisal reports with property owners (or their representatives). Additional innovative right-of-way acquisition practices include reconciliation of professional opinions, the use of lease agreements with property owners to facilitate early right of entry to the property, in-kind compensation, exchange of surplus property for required property, and reliance on appraisals by independent bodies.

  Combined, these features result in a more cooperative, less adversarial relationship with property owners, which can result in more effective property acquisition practices and earlier access to property needed for project completion.

• Use of technology to support the right-of-way acquisition and property management processes. It is customary for Australian states to use GIS-based applications to manage the right-of-way acquisition process, including corridor preservation, as well as property management activities. The use of GIS technology is supported by the use of public acquisition overlays during the planning process to illustrate the extent of the road reserve, the requirement to register transportation plans with the state land title registration office, and the integration of parcel databases into georeferenced data repositories that facilitate data exchange among stakeholders.

  Through the alliance contracting approach, Australian states are beginning to experiment with the use of visualization techniques to assist in the right-of-way acquisition process (e.g., by using three-dimensional visualization techniques and posting video clips on the Internet to explain the project to a wide audience).

• Dial Before You Dig. "Dial Before You Dig" is a referral system for information on underground utility installations. It is a voluntary national organization with members from all states and territories. It is similar to utility one-call centers in the United States, with two major differences. First, membership includes not just utility owners and operators, but also transportation agencies and railroads (under the premise that these agencies can also provide information about the assets they own to parties that request it). Second, Dial Before You Dig encourages the use of the service earlier in the project development process than is customary in the United States.

• Reimbursement of utility relocations. Australian states normally reimburse utility interests for the relocation of utility facilities (but not for betterments). Historically, most utility owners and operators have been government entities. As a result, it does not really matter who pays for the relocation since funding for it comes from the same source. For simplicity, the policy is that the agency responsible for the transportation project that causes the need for the utility relocation is also responsible for relocation costs. In recent years, the Australian utility industry has undergone deregulation, with a large percentage of utility interests now in private hands. However, the policy for reimbursing utility relocation costs continues.

• Multilevel memorandum of understanding (MOU) approach with utilities. In Australia, several states are exploring a variety of MOUs and agreements with utilities to facilitate the cooperation and coordination process. In a typical situation, a high-level MOU sets forth general principles and the intent of both parties to work cooperatively. This MOU is normally signed by the parties at the executive director level. To ensure the MOU is a living document, it may include attachments and other agreements that discuss specific issues, such as standards, specifications, and general procedures for resolving conflicts. Typically, technical personnel from both organizations prepare these documents. There may also be contract-level details and specific provisions that the higher-level MOU, attachments, or agreements do not address.

  The multilevel MOU concept is also used in the United States. However, the study team's impression is that Australian MOUs are more elaborate and stringent than those in the United States. Utility accommodation policies or rules at the State level govern the accommodation of utilities on the State right-of-way in the United States, but a similar concept does not appear to exist in Australia (which could explain in part the need for more comprehensive MOUs). Nonetheless, the study team noticed several advantages in the Australian MOU concept worth considering for implementation in the United States.

  MOUs with telecommunication providers in Australia appear particularly critical, considering that telecommunications in that country are governed by federal legislation (rather than state legislation, as is the case for other utilities) that, in general, is weak on the power given to the agencies responsible for the road reserves to regulate the accommodation of telecommunication facilities.

  Related to the implementation of the MOUs is the NSW Streets Opening Conference, which started in Sydney in 1909 as a focal point for discussing common transportation and utility issues. The association's objectives include establishing roadside allocations and recommended practices for providing utility services; fostering coordination; encouraging the use of agreed-on codes and practices for excavation, backfilling, and roadway reconstruction; and minimizing the impact of excavations. Membership includes utility owners, local government and road authorities, light rail operators, other government agencies, consultants, and other groups interested in utility issues.

Canada

Lessons learned from the meetings with Alberta Transportation and MTO include the following:

• Appraisal sharing. As in the Australian states, Alberta Transportation and MTO share appraisal reports in full disclosure to achieve transparency with property owners. Both agencies also reimburse property owners for reasonable costs, including appraisal, engineering reports, and planning reports.

• Corridor preservation and setback control. Alberta and Ontario have legislation that enables the provincial transportation agency to regulate the type of development (including utilities) that takes place within a certain distance from the road centerline or the property line. In Alberta, the extent of the land under regulation varies by road type. For example, according to a regulation now under development, the extent of land under regulation will be 150 meters (m) (492 feet (ft)) from the right-of-way line for minor provincial highways and 300 m (984 ft) from the right-of-way line for multilane provincial highways. In Ontario, regulation tools at MTO's disposal cover encroachments and utility installations, buildings and land use, signs, and highway access. The minimum setback for new buildings or other structures varies by road type and proposed development. For example, in the case of controlled-access highways, the control area within which all development is subject to permit requirements from the ministry is 45 m (148 ft) from the right-of-way. This permit area extends up to 395 m (1,296 ft) at interchanges.

• Transportation and utility corridors. In Alberta, the Government Organization Act enabled the establishment of restricted development areas (RDAs) to coordinate and regulate the development and use of certain areas. The Calgary and Edmonton RDAs are of particular interest because of the designation of transportation and utility corridors (TUCs) in those RDAs. The TUCs were established on the principle that long-term planning for the accommodation of a number of transportation and utility facilities in a TUC can maximize its use. The TUCs protect ring road and utility alignments from advancing urban development. Advantages to the use of TUCs include land conservation, limited environmental disruption, administrative efficiency, safety, land use certainty, assured alignments for future users, and open space use.

• Reversal of trend to outsource most work. Alberta Transportation outsources most work, including right-of-way acquisition and utility coordination. However, the agency is revisiting its 100 percent commitment to outsourcing. MTO outsources much of its work except right-of-way acquisition, but has begun to do more work internally. This trend highlights the need to develop in-house expertise to address needs such as succession planning, the ability to provide needed services, and the management of services that continue to be outsourced.

Recommendations and Planned Implementation Actions

The study team identified some 20 potential implementation ideas that merit consideration in the United States. Of those ideas, the study team considers the following the top priorities for implementation:

• Integrate right-of-way acquisition and utility coordination in an alliance contract approach.
• Enhance cooperative relationships with property owners to facilitate timely property acquisition.
• Promote visualization techniques to communicate anticipated project impacts to property owners.
• Develop a framework to establish proficiency of right-of-way and utility professionals in core disciplines.
• Promote incentive-based reimbursement for utility relocations.
• Pursue strategies to facilitate corridor preservation.
• Promote the use of a multiple-level MOU structure among transportation and utility interests.
• Develop GIS-based right-of-way project and asset management systems.
• Promote the use of best practices in utility coordination during the construction phase.

With the 2000 and 2008 scans, the United States now has a sizable database of effective right-of-way and utility practices and strategies covering at least six industrialized nations on three continents. The fact that some of those strategies and practices are used in all or most of those nations is an additional indication of the strength and benefit derived from them, further highlighting the value of their potential implementation in the United States. Taking into consideration that the United States is already implementing several recommendations from the 2000 scan, a valid recommendation would be to evaluate (if not now, possibly within the next 5 to 8 years) which recommendations from the 2000 and 2008 scans have become accepted practice in the United States (and to what degree). For example, the Federal Highway Administration recently facilitated a peer exchange to evaluate the concept of voluntary incentives for right-of-way acquisition and relocation, one of the recommendations from the 2000 scan. The peer exchange noted 13 pilot voluntary incentive applications from eight States.