Section 530.120  Fees or Assessments

a)         The Department charges no fees for the administration of the utility occupancy policy for conventional highways.

b)         Compensation, based upon an appraisal by the Department of the fair market value of an easement or leasehold for such use of the highway right-of-way, will be charged for longitudinal utility accommodations located upon, under, or along fully access-controlled highways.  Such compensation may include in-kind compensation. All fees may be reviewed once every five years and may be adjusted by the Department based on changes in the fair market value for the use of the highway right-of-way.  The Department will charge reimbursement fees for engineering, legal, and other expenses incurred in evaluating applications and in establishing such compensation.

c)         Charges will also be assessed for the attachment of utility facilities to bridge structures.

1)         Assessment charges for utility attachments to highway structures are not intended to produce revenue.  The charges are assessed to cover the cost of the engineering analysis required and as compensation for the addition of weight that reduces the available live-load capacity of existing bridges and enters into the cost of proposed new bridges.

2)         The assessment charge for utility attachment is based on the ratio of the weight of the proposed utility elements to the live-load for which the structure was or will be designed.  The factor arrived at from the foregoing ratio is applied against the cost of the load-bearing elements of the structure, including piers or abutments.

3)         The minimum charge for any utility attachment to a highway structure will be $300.