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Digital phone service, also known as Personal Communication Systems (PCS), is becoming the preferred choice in wireless phone systems. PCS requires a communications transmittal network, which involves the placement of antennae about one mile apart. This report provides information about community reaction in other states to placing a wireless infrastructure in the right-of-way. It provides a general summary of the industry, a general summary of community reaction to wireless infrastructure placed in rights-of-way, and a summary of issues and topics related to community reaction to wireless infrastructure. The report includes a three-part bibliography that includes essential reading on the topic, items specific to the economic aspects, collocation, and aesthetics of wireless infrastructure, and other selected items that provide background information.

The report examines policy issues related to the placement of utilities beneath public rights-of-way. The principal issues discussed are: recognition of the present and future value of the space beneath public rights-of-way in space allocation decisions, methodologies for assessing the full societal costs of utility work in congested roadways, implementation of contractual practices and fee structures to mitigate conditions involving high societal costs, and the work that would be necessary to attempt to include the impact of utility cuts on life-cycle pavement costs.

This Minnesota Department of Transportation-sponsored research effort examined innovative right-of-way projects nationwide, focusing on how new and innovative practices for redeveloping transportation assets can meet ambitious goals such as mitigating environmental impacts, encouraging placemaking, and enhancing economic opportunity while continuing to meet their transportation purpose. The team explored case studies from across the nation and identified best practices and lessons learned to inform future agencies and planners of new trends in transportation right-of-way projects.

This Minnesota Department of Transportation-sponsored research effort examined innovative right-of-way projects nationwide, focusing on how new and innovative practices for redeveloping transportation assets can meet ambitious goals such as mitigating environmental impacts, encouraging placemaking, and enhancing economic opportunity while continuing to meet their transportation purpose. The team explored case studies from across the nation and identified best practices and lessons learned to inform future agencies and planners of new trends in transportation right-of-way projects.

This report addresses the question of whether there are financial benefits to acquiring transportation right of way far in advance of when the improvement will be done. The first part of the analysis is very general, comparing rates of price increase for different types of properties to the opportunity costs of holding land, over a long historical period. The second part of the analysis focuses on Minnesota and examines property price increases by county over shorter, more recent, time periods. While it is almost certainly worthwhile to acquire land that is in danger of becoming developed, this analysis did not find much apparent financial value in early purchase of land that is already developed, or is not likely to become developed. While there could be localized exceptions, prices of these types of land do not in general rise fast enough to offset the opportunity cost of the money that is used to purchase them. However, there could be other, non-financial benefits associated with early purchase that could compensate for some of the costs involved.

Any Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) project conducted by Mn/DOT that impacts property owners requires the coordination of cadastral (land ownership) and highway right-of-way information. The timely and accurate identification sharing and coordination of cadastral information is the basis for well-managed highway projects. Mn/DOT has already taken a step towards improving coordination between Mn/DOT offices and other government agencies with the State Parcel Map Inventory (SPMI), a resource with information about the status and accuracy of cadastral information in 87 Minnesota counties. Government agencies have seen the potential in the SPMI to better optimize data development and exchange through the use of GIS technologies. The finding of this project suggest that the SPMI is a starting point for helping coordination, but more targeted efforts are called for. Considering the heterogeneity of local government, individual relationships between organizational staff are crucial to overcoming institutional and technical obstacles.

Many urban counties and cities in Minnesota spend more than 30% of their transportation project budgets for right-of-way (ROW) acquisition and it continues to become more expensive, difficult, and time consuming for project implementation. This project identified barriers and obstacles that occur during the ROW acquisition process that result in cost increases and delays and developed recommendations for change to improve the existing ROW acquisition process and practices. The findings of this project were drawn from literature review, questionnaire survey and follow-up interviews, case studies, and a workshop. In total, 22 barriers were identified under the categories of project delivery, agencys internal capability, relationship with the public, appraisal and acquisition, and legislative and other issues. The root causes of those barriers were also analyzed, including uncooperative work environment, lack of tools and methods, distrust of property owners, and adverse effect of eminent domain law. This project has developed 25 different recommendation ideas for change. Implementation of these ideas is anticipated to greatly enhance the ROW acquisition process, but strong leadership and support from top management to implement those ideas are required.

The most expensive part of many transportation projects, especially roadway expansions, is acquiring the Right-of- Way (ROW). One approach that the Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) has used to decrease these costs is through a practice known as advanced acquisition. This study documents Mn/DOT's current advanced acquisition practices and investigates the appreciation rates of parcels adjacent to transportation corridors. Current practices were documented by surveying the eight Mn/DOT district offices and city officials. These surveys identified current problems with advanced acquisition practices, such as excess land acquisition, lack of guidelines on preservation tools, and the increased need for communication between cities, counties, and Mn/DOT. The corridor case studies showed that the effect of being adjacent to a transportation corridor is heterogeneous across the three corridors studied. A binomial logit model was developed and the only significant variable was the subdivided. This indicates that a parcel that has subdivided is strongly correlated with an appreciation rate above 25% per year. From these findings we developed two recommendations. First, we recommend Mn/DOT develop a set of guidelines for Mn/DOT district managers regarding how and when to use certain ROW preservation tools. Second, we recommend Mn/DOT develop a monitoring program for transportation corridors in the Twin Cities that can identify properties on the verge of subdivision or a land use change.

This Technical Summary pertains to report 2022-12, Remote Sensing in Unsheltered Encampments, published June 2022.