Ancillary uses of highway corridors

[Pete from Boston]

The recent installation of fields of solar panels in the fallow land inside the loop ramps along the Mass Pike got me to thinking, what other non-road opportunities have agencies exploited along road corridors? 

Another here was the laying of fiber optic lines along the Mass Pike fifteen or so years ago, taking advantage of its right of way across the length of the state.

What else?

[Chris19001]

Good question.  Do you mean the highway agency owns the assets, or commerical items that are potentially in the corridor?  Electric lines, Telephone Wires, Billboards, and potentially pipelines are the obvious ones I can think of, on top of rest stops and solar generation.
Relatedly, I believe I once read in PA that it was illegal to construct a highway that followed an electic line (high tension wires) corridor.  I would think that pipelines may have the same restrictions, but again I'm going off a hazy memory, and not sure about the validity of the wire path restrictions.  Sorry if this comes across as a thread diversion.

[Pete from Boston]

I just meant innovative other uses of the right of way.

[ekt8750]

Relatedly, I believe I once read in PA that it was illegal to construct a highway that followed an electic line (high tension wires) corridor.  I would think that pipelines may have the same restrictions, but again I'm going off a hazy memory, and not sure about the validity of the wire path restrictions.  Sorry if this comes across as a thread diversion.

That must no longer be a thing since there is a high tension line that runs along 95 just past the PHL Airport and I'm pretty sure the lines were there for a few years before that portion of 95 was built.

[hbelkins]

Lots of water lines are laid in the ditchlines of roads here in Kentucky. We require the lines to be buried at least four feet deep, but lots of cheap contractors don't bury them deep enough, and as a result, the lines get broken when we do routine maintenance ditching.

[Mr_Northside]

Relatedly, I believe I once read in PA that it was illegal to construct a highway that followed an electic line (high tension wires) corridor.  I would think that pipelines may have the same restrictions, but again I'm going off a hazy memory, and not sure about the validity of the wire path restrictions.  Sorry if this comes across as a thread diversion.

That must no longer be a thing since there is a high tension line that runs along 95 just past the PHL Airport and I'm pretty sure the lines were there for a few years before that portion of 95 was built.

Yeah.... I don't think that's a thing.  If a highway corridor gets approved, something like that would have to be taken into account - if they can live close to each other without one affecting the other, I doubt there is a problem.  Where that does happen, I'm sure either corridor modification are considered in the design phase, or if cost/benefit says it's cheaper to pay the utility to do some relocation, they'll do that instead.  That can get expensive, especially with the higher voltage lines, so I'm sure they try to avoid it when they can.
Also, while there may be stretches where a highway & power line corridors closely parallel each other (in essence, sharing a corridor), I doubt there are many that would overlap over a real significant distance. 

[froggie]

The recent installation of fields of solar panels in the fallow land inside the loop ramps along the Mass Pike

MnDOT has been looking at doing something similar.

what other non-road opportunities have agencies exploited along road corridors? 

Also in Minnesota:  both the western north-south leg of I-494 and much of I-94 in central Minnesota have high-tension power lines utilizing the Interstate right-of-way.

[Brandon]

Lots of water lines are laid in the ditchlines of roads here in Kentucky. We require the lines to be buried at least four feet deep, but lots of cheap contractors don't bury them deep enough, and as a result, the lines get broken when we do routine maintenance ditching.

Wouldn't they just freeze and burst anyway during the winter if not buried four feet or more deep?

[txstateends]

A few years ago, TxDOT was allowing farmers/ranchers to bale hay from the grass in the middle and side medians of highways (as long as it was feasible) when there was drought/little rain/not much hay (can't remember the exact situation or timeframe).

I don't remember seeing anything else other than rest areas or cemeteries where medians/ROWs are used for other allowed applications.

[peterj920]

Wisconsin and Iowa have a program where farmers are encouraged to leave 8-16 rows of corn along highways to ease snowdrifts along highways.

http://wisbusiness.com/index.iml?Article=228411

[SteveG1988]

Septa has a train in the median of i-95 in philly.

[kurumi]

In 1974, ConnDOT proposed using the empty 4-level stack interchange, intended for I-291, as transit parking for Hartford commuters. (In 1992, CT 9 was extended to I-84, so now half the stack is in use.)

[1995hoo]

The I-70 and I-95 rights-of-way in Maryland have park-and-ride facilities plopped right where the road would go.

I can think of multiple highways with train lines in the median. Aside from the one already mentioned, off the top of my head the following come readily to mind, and I'm sure there are others I don't know about or have forgotten:

I-66 (WMATA Orange Line, and a segment of the new Silver Line using the pre-existing tracks)
Dulles Access Highway (WMATA Silver Line)
Georgia State Route 400 (one of the MARTA subway lines)
I-25 near Santa Fe (RailRunner train service connecting Santa Fe and Albuquerque)
I-195 in Richmond (Amtrak line runs down the median for a short distance; the Auto Train uses this route)

The I-66 right of way also includes a bike path (the Custis Trail) along roughly four or five miles of the highway's eastern segment.

[triplemultiplex]

Instead of just mowing the median and shoulders of interstates, some western states allow the bailing of hay out of the grass growing in the r/w.  I've seen it in multiple states.

A use you can't really see, but often times a highway r/w or centerline becomes a municipal boundary, especially in areas where the boundaries of cities/towns/whatevers are not locked in place.

DOT facilities.  Maintenance garages, salt sheds, vehicle and equipment storage; lots of states park this type of thing in the wide median of a freeway or interchange.  WisDOT has one in middle of the Badger Interchange.

[cl94]

I-670 in Columbus has a bike path between Exits 6 and 7. West of Nelson Rd, the bike path is on the expressway side of the noise barrier.

[kphoger]

Does the space under an elevated highway count as ROW?

[Rothman]

In NY, fiber optic lines have been installed in highway ROW.

[Buffaboy]

In NY, fiber optic lines have been installed in highway ROW.

In NYC or the state? I'm unaware of this.

[empirestate]

In NY, fiber optic lines have been installed in highway ROW.

In NYC or the state? I'm unaware of this.

There was an ongoing project on the Thruway for quite some time.


iPhone

[vdeane]

I know the fiber is there between exits 24 and 25 specifically.  My boss mentioned that as a reason why that section can never be widened; it would be too hard to deal with the cable.

[hbelkins]

I know the fiber is there between exits 24 and 25 specifically.  My boss mentioned that as a reason why that section can never be widened; it would be too hard to deal with the cable.

Allowing a third party to use highway ROW in such a way to restrict future improvements to the highway is short-sighted and stupid.

[cl94]

I know the fiber is there between exits 24 and 25 specifically.  My boss mentioned that as a reason why that section can never be widened; it would be too hard to deal with the cable.

Allowing a third party to use highway ROW in such a way to restrict future improvements to the highway is short-sighted and stupid.

It's probably a cop-out excuse. The ROW there is so wide in most places that, unless there are wires immediately on both sides of both carriageways, you could add another lane or two per direction if warranted. Of course, what is really needed there is conversion of the middle lane into an option lane, but don't tell that to NYSTA.

[Duke87]

Lots of water lines are laid in the ditchlines of roads here in Kentucky. We require the lines to be buried at least four feet deep, but lots of cheap contractors don't bury them deep enough, and as a result, the lines get broken when we do routine maintenance ditching.

Wouldn't they just freeze and burst anyway during the winter if not buried four feet or more deep?

Not necessarily. Depends on how deep the frost line is in the area...


Looks like 15 inches is deep enough to avoid that problem in most of Kentucky, with the extreme in the mountains in the east being about 30 inches (2 1/2 feet).

[dgolub]

Trail View State Park on Long Island was built on the right-of-way for the unbuilt extension of the Bethpage Parkway.

[allniter89]

Just off FL 85 between Niceville & Crestview there is a single gravestone within 10' of the pavement.
They were probably buried before FL 85 became a 4 lane, & likely someone from a family that has lived in the area for a gazillion yrs.