AGRICULTURAL AWARENESS COMMITTEE MINNESOTA REGIONAL COMMON GROUND ALLIANCE (MNCGA)

Transcription

1 AGRICULTURAL AWARENESS COMMITTEE MINNESOTA REGIONAL COMMON GROUND ALLIANCE (MNCGA) MNCGA Damage Prevention Bulletin No Farming Road Right-Of-Way, by Claude Anderson, MNOPS A public road Right-Of-Way (ROW) may be established in a variety of ways. For example, a road is often established by a developer at the time a land parcel is platted. Alternatively, a road authority may establish or increase a ROW, when the road is improved. A road ROW is typically at least 66 (4 rods) the minimum width for roads established under MN State Statute Some statutory exceptions are available for cartways and dedicated roads, for example, roads that are not formally established, but are maintained by a road authority for 6-years. Road ROW often includes the traffic surface, road shoulders, ditches and possibly a clear zone area maintained between the ditch and the outside edge of the ROW. All of these features would require various types and frequencies of maintenance activities on a routine basis. Utilities frequently use road ROW s for their facilities. To minimize damage that can occur from repairing a road ROW, ditch cleaning or other planned/unplanned maintenance activities (FIG. 1), facilities are typically installed in the clear area at the outer edge of the ROW. Above ground overhead power lines, gas regulators, pipeline markers and communication pedestals are readily observable examples of this practice. Although not generally visible, underground utilities are also often installed along the outer edge of the road ROW. Examples of these utilities in rural areas include gas lines, water lines, sewer lines, electrical cables and fiber optic cables. The rapid pace of new utility installation, such as fiber optic cable is rapidly increasing the frequency and density of facility installation. Statutes such as MN State Statute (a) (2) have been enacted to prohibit plowing and planting of non-permanent vegetative cover in the road ROW. Furthermore under MN State Statute ROWs are to be maintained in permanent vegetative cover to enhance wildlife habitat, improve water quality and provide for safe sight distance. Under existing statutes, property owners may still be permitted to mow the right of way and harvest grasses for personal use, with these activities not requiring routine excavation. In addition to state law, county and township easements and ordinances also need to be reviewed for possible additional requirements on a particular roadway ROW. Page 1

2 FIG. 1 Unplanned excavation Along with the wildlife habitat destruction, ROW annual cropping operations of the type shown in FIG. 2 create higher maintenance costs for the road authority. As fields and ROW s are plowed, soil from the field is deposited in the ditches, limiting their drainage capacity and resulting in softer sub-grades of the gravel road putting underground utilities at greater risk from overhead loads and soil subsidence. Without permanent vegetative cover, exposed soil adjacent to the roadway, erodes and plugs culverts crating larger drainage issues. Increased soil from adjacent fields is also deposited directly in the ditches, further limiting their drainage capacity. These factors create serious safety concerns and higher maintenance costs. To avoid these concerns, these activities are subsequently classified as misdemeanors under MN State Statute (a) (7). Leaving road right of ways unaltered can reduce the potential for water problems and maintain the proper environmental conditions for road sub-grades and downstream waterways. Another safety issue that arises by removing permanent cover to grow row crops is the detrimental effect on available site lines. A corn cropping pattern in the road ROW as shown in FIG. 3 would severely limit lines of sight at intersection or driveways for oncoming traffic. This reduction in site distance creates a significant safety hazard for drivers as sight lines become blocked due to the growing crops. Page 2

3 FIG. 2 Agricultural operations encroaching on road ditch Road authority effectiveness in obtaining compliance with existing statutes and overall enforcement of the ROW statute is mixed. Generally, state and county road authorities have an enforcement program to administer existing ROW statutes covering farming on state and county roads. Unfortunately townships (which control approximately 47% of the roads in Minnesota) have shown varying responses to the issue. As townships have low population densities, township governments often have personal relationships with their landowners (voters) and sometime find it problematic to enforce existing statutes and regulations. In addition, some townships hesitate to enforce these statutes because of some uncertainty as to the correct right-of-way width for specific roads under their jurisdiction. Page 3

4 FIG. 3 Row crop farm operations impacting intersection visibility by limiting sightlines. Along with the safety and environmental issues described above, road ROW encroachment is an important, even though not well-publicized, damage prevention issue for utility facility protection. FIG. 4 illustrates the current relationship in Minnesota of incorporated and unincorporated township roads with the states interstate pipeline system. Even though many other underground utilities known to be present are not represented on this map; nevertheless it is apparent that significant opportunities for utility conflict exist when farming in township ROW. Initially, there may be no or few underground facilities in a rural road ROW. However, as time progresses, population density and customer demand result in underground facilities being installed. The increased utility density in the ROW, often concentrated along the outside ROW edge, result in utilities being away from the road surface but adjacent to cultivated land. This factor combined with increasing value of crops and farmland can incentivize farming of every possible acre of tillable land. As a result, farmers may slowly encroach into the ROW even though not allowed under existing statutes. In this way, farming practices are compromising a utilities safety factors that were inherent when the utility was installed. For example, this may result that even with normal farming practices, equipment may directly hit underground facilities. Also, as ditch banks erode from row cropping practices, cover over underground utilities is reduced; thereby increasing the likelihood of underground facilities being damaged by farm implements. In Minnesota, when conventional farming practices are used (depths less than 18-inches), a variety of routine farming operations in the ROW are exempt from the state damage prevention law (MN State Page 4

5 Statute 216D) and its related regulations. The exemption never applies to excavations deeper than 18- inch depth which may include well drilling, sub-soiling, ditching, or repairing/installing drain tile. The excavation exemption applies regardless of whether the farming occurs on a typical agricultural field or on a road ROW (as shown in FIG. 5), but does apply even if the farmer is violating other statutes. However, a farm equipment operator can always voluntarily call 811 to obtain locates for agricultural operations. There is not any cost to the farmer making the call to 811, even when an exemption applies. Making the call to 811 provides notice to relevant utilities that excavation will be occurring and requires the utility to mark their underground facilities or inform the excavator they do not have a conflict. This provides the farmer information as to whether the utilities are present in the area being farmed, allows the farmer to avoid the area, or to hand dig to precisely locate the marked utility. If a call to 811 is not made, the affected utility would have no notice that excavation was occurring near its facility and the facility would not be located. This not only increases the likelihood of damage, but also increases the liability to the farmer for any resulting damage. Page 5

6 FIG. 4 Minnesota Major Pipeline and Township Road System Page 6 Page 6

7 FIG. 5 Row crop farm operations encroaching on road ROW Road ROW tillage affects the safety of farm equipment operators and the continuity of utility service. This in turn often affects the safety of the utility customer and the general public. Every year, facilities are being damaged by farm equipment and/or buried or covered by crop growth. Damaged gas pipelines or cut communications cables can have severe impacts on those affected. Increased costs for maintenance and repair are passed onto the customers. Even though agricultural operations on road ROW are not explicitly addressed by the Minnesota One-call statute, the agricultural community including farmers, equipment operators and rural road authorities need to do their part in this effort to keep everyone safe and help their rural communities have better utility services at reasonable prices. As a first step, all road authorities can enforce existing statutes regarding cultivation on road ROWs. Road authorities and utilities can educate landowners abutting existing ROWs regarding safe farming practices. Landowners and farmers need to comply with existing statutes limiting ROW agricultural operations, and call 811 when tilling on the ROW is permitted. Interested stakeholders may obtain further information and can get involved with the MNCGA Agricultural Awareness Committee by contacting MNCGA at Page 7