The Florida Senate

337.403  Relocation of utility; expenses.--

(1)  Any utility heretofore or hereafter placed upon, under, over, or along any public road or publicly owned rail corridor that is found by the authority to be unreasonably interfering in any way with the convenient, safe, or continuous use, or the maintenance, improvement, extension, or expansion, of such public road or publicly owned rail corridor shall, upon 30 days' written notice to the utility or its agent by the authority, be removed or relocated by such utility at its own expense except as provided in paragraphs (a), (b), and (c).

(a)  If the relocation of utility facilities, as referred to in s. 111 of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, Pub. L. No. 627 of the 84th Congress, is necessitated by the construction of a project on the federal-aid interstate system, including extensions thereof within urban areas, and the cost of such project is eligible and approved for reimbursement by the Federal Government to the extent of 90 percent or more under the Federal Aid Highway Act, or any amendment thereof, then in that event the utility owning or operating such facilities shall relocate such facilities upon order of the department, and the state shall pay the entire expense properly attributable to such relocation after deducting therefrom any increase in the value of the new facility and any salvage value derived from the old facility.

(b)  When a joint agreement between the department and the utility is executed for utility improvement, relocation, or removal work to be accomplished as part of a contract for construction of a transportation facility, the department may participate in those utility improvement, relocation, or removal costs that exceed the department's official estimate of the cost of such work by more than 10 percent. The amount of such participation shall be limited to the difference between the official estimate of all the work in the joint agreement plus 10 percent and the amount awarded for this work in the construction contract for such work. The department may not participate in any utility improvement, relocation, or removal costs that occur as a result of changes or additions during the course of the contract.

(c)  When an agreement between the department and utility is executed for utility improvement, relocation, or removal work to be accomplished in advance of a contract for construction of a transportation facility, the department may participate in the cost of clearing and grubbing necessary to perform such work.

(2)  If such removal or relocation is incidental to work to be done on such road or publicly owned rail corridor, the notice shall be given at the same time the contract for the work is advertised for bids, or 30 days prior to the commencement of such work by the authority.

(3)  Whenever an order of the authority requires such removal or change in the location of any utility from the right-of-way of a public road or publicly owned rail corridor, and the owner thereof fails to remove or change the same at his or her own expense to conform to the order within the time stated in the notice, the authority shall proceed to cause the utility to be removed. The expense thereby incurred shall be paid out of any money available therefor, and such expense shall, except as provided in subsection (1), be charged against the owner and levied and collected and paid into the fund from which the expense of such relocation was paid.

History.--s. 129, ch. 29965, 1955; s. 1, ch. 57-135; s. 1, ch. 57-1978; ss. 23, 35, ch. 69-106; s. 143, ch. 84-309; s. 12, ch. 87-100; s. 28, ch. 94-237; s. 970, ch. 95-148; s. 25, ch. 99-385.

Note.--Former s. 338.19.