DIYbanter - View Single Post - What "nail" marks lines in private road pavement permanently

Mad Roger

On Tue, 30 May 2017 22:09:24 -0400,
wrote:

The relationship between the road C/L and the ROW is tenuous at best.

I agree with you that there is only a vague relationship between the
centerline of the road and the centerline of the 40 foot (20 to each side)
right of way.

For one thing, the ROW chains are straight sections while the road is
curved.

They just have to stay within that boundary.

I'm not so sure. In fact, I know the ROW and the road only share a tenuous
relationship (see above). In some places, the ROW goes 40 feet OFF the
road, off into the distance (usually on curves) and in other places it's
skewed to one side so that there are 0 feet on the pavement on one side and
40 feet to the other.

Only on the very straight sections is the centerline of the road the same
or similar as the centerline of the 20 foot to each side ROW.

I asked them once how they handle that and they explained that it only
matters when it matters.

I spent a day with the
surveyor here and he says they never trust the road as a benchmark.

Much agreed. Every time we have a landslkide or a treefall or a rock in the
road, etc., the crews come out. When they have to bulldoze or fix
something, they bring the surveyors who mark the centerlines which is
usually but not always in the road.

Then they put wood stakes with orange tape at the edges 20 feet to the side
(usually only on one side where the work needs to be done).

As you said originally, there is only a tenuous relationship between the
road and the ROW.

The utility poles are a better marker according to him since they
usually run just inside the ROW to be as far from the road as
possible. He said if you nailed your fence to your side of the poles
you would only be cheating a few inches. :-)

Out here, a guy put up a fence in the ROW and they took it down.
They put a notice on it and gave him a couple of weeks and he left it there
and they pulled it out and stacked all the wood neatly.

I asked them at the time how it works and it's really just a legal thing.

1. They told me that the maintenance crews will cut trees and bulldoze
rocks and weed whack and groom 'about ten feet' to each side of the road,
without consulting maps UNLESS someone has explicitly told them to stay
away from a tree or garden or whatever AND if that thing they need to stay
away from is NOT in the ROW.

Basically, the road maintenance guys just use the road as their guideline.

2. When CONSTRUCTION work is involved, then they strictly follow the ROW,
where they don't touch anything outside the ROW. If destruction is involved
within the ROW, they give two week's notice and that's it.

So, the ROW only matters when it matters.
But as you said, the ROW only tenuously follows the road.