The following procedures shall be followed to assure the
proper completion of utility relocation necessitated by the State Highway
Program. To provide uniformity and avoid duplication, these procedures shall be
followed on all State Highway Projects whether or not Federal Aid participation
is involved. The FHWA's reimbursement to the New Mexico State Highway and
Transportation Department will be governed by State Law and State Regulations,
as well as the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 23, Part 645, Subpart A and
Subpart B. When State Law or Regulation differs from the aforementioned Code,
(Part 645, Utilities), a determination shall be made by the Department, subject
to concurrence by FHWA, as to which standards shall govern, and the record will
be documented accordingly for each relocation in which the differing procedural
action is undertaken. The Department shall develop a Utility Cooperative
Agreement for handling the relocation of utilities. The Agreement shall clearly
stipulate the responsibilities of each party for financing and accomplishing
the relocation work, shall incorporate the appropriate regulation(s) by
reference and designate the method to be used for performing the work. The
method for developing all relocation costs, including engineering and
relocation construction, shall be acceptable to the Department and to the
Federal Highway Administration on Federal Aid projects. When applicable, the
Agreement shall specify the terms and amounts of any contributions or
repayments made or to be made by the utility to the Department under
eligibility provisions of State Laws and Federal Regulations. When the
relocation involves both work to be done at the Department's expense and work
to be done at the expense of the utility, the Agreement shall state the share
to be borne by each party. Except as otherwise provided by this Agreement,
authorization by the Department to the utility to proceed with the relocation
work may be given after it has been included in an approved program and
fulfills State and Federal requirements. If the utility does not have the
necessary resources to perform the relocation, such work may be done as
follows:
(3) an
existing continuing contract, provided the costs to the Department are
reasonable. All contract work performed for the utility under a contract let by
the Department shall be reported separately from the other contract items on
the highway project. All utility relocation costs shall be recorded by means of
work orders in accordance with a work order system approved by the Department,
except when another method of developing and recording costs, such as a
lump-sum agreement, has been approved by the Department, and the Federal
Highway Administration when applicable. The utility shall keep its work order
system or other accounting procedure approved by the Department in such a
manner as to show the nature and cost of each item. The current Federal Aid
Policy Guide shall be used as a guide for all cost development and
reimbursement matters. All reimbursed costs shall be subject to state audit for
a period of three years following the date of final payment.
A.
Locating utilities: On all
proposed highway construction and/or maintenance projects, utilities shall be
located horizontally, vertically, shall be identified as to type and ownership,
and their locations tied to the project center line. The locating process
should meet, as a minimum, survey requirements outlined in the Department's
Survey Manual, unless otherwise specified. Railroad facilities must also be
treated as a utility, the facilities located and tied to the center line of
track or other railroad structure, and referenced to existing railroad mile
posts. The location should be conducted early enough in the project development
process so as to allow for inclusion of the utility and/or railroad information
in the highway construction Field Design Inspection plans.
B.
Location stage: The Railroad
and Utility Section of the Department shall become involved at the inception of
each State Highway Project. The earliest conceptual design information
available shall be reviewed to determine whether possible serious utility
conflict can be avoided by minor highway alignment revisions without undue
added cost. The assigned Agent should discuss the possibility of alignment
changes with the assigned Project Development and Design Engineers as
appropriate, and any other observations that have been made that might improve
cost benefits to the project concerning the utility facilities. Liaison with
the utility owners involved shall begin at this stage to avoid the installation
of new utilities by the utility owners that could conflict to an even greater
extent. If preliminary right-of-way maps are available, a preliminary review
could disclose the extent of the utility involvement and give the Agent a
workable idea as to the eligibility each owner may have for utility relocation
reimbursement. Preliminary coordination meetings with all of the affected
utilities in attendance should serve to avoid future problems concerning where
each utility owner must place their relocated utilities to avoid conflict with
the other utilities involved.
C.
Project programming procedures: Utility adjustments eligible for
reimbursement on Federal-Aid Highway Projects shall be programmed in accordance
with the requirements set forth in Title 23 of the Code of Federal Regulations,
Part 630(A). Generally, utility relocations and utility relocation engineering
will be programmed when the initial state highway project programming is
accomplished. Preliminary Engineering for the use of Consultant Engineers
engaged by the utility owner will be programmed each time these services are
required and authorized by the Department and the FHWA. The utility lead time
cannot commence until the Utility Section has access to plans sufficiently
completed to permit the utilities to design their relocations. Therefore, the
plans should be in the post Grade & Drain or pre-Plan-in-Hand stage, with
definite line grades, right-of-way, access control and other major features
shown before they may be sent to the utilities with the formal authorization to
proceed with their preliminary engineering. Prior to this stage, any plans
provided to utilities must clearly be marked as "preliminary" with a statement
that they are not yet authorized to proceed on any basis.
D.
Preliminary engineering:
Before preliminary engineering is authorized on a project, the basic
eligibility for reimbursement of utility adjustment cost must be determined
from a plan review. This eligibility is to be in conformity with the
reimbursement policy set forth in Paragraph 19 [now
17.4.2.19 NMAC] herein. Plan
review will, in most cases, resolve questions of such eligibility.
E.
Engineering by utility's staff, or
a consultant engineer: Preliminary engineering for utility relocation
design can be accomplished by any of the following methods:
(1) By utilization of the utility owner's
engineering staff;
(2) By
utilization of a consultant engineer selected by the Department after
consultation with the utility owner; contract shall be administered by the
Department with the consent of the utility; or
(3) By the utilization of a consultant
engineer selected by the utility owner under a contract approved by the
Department and FHWA; the contract shall be administered by the utility
owner.
(4) When the utility is not
adequately staffed to perform the necessary preliminary engineering work
related to the utility relocation on a State Highway Construction Project,
Department and Federal funds may be used to reimburse the utility owner for
amounts paid to engineers, architects, and others for allied services, provided
such amounts are not based on a percentage of the relocation costs. The
Department, utility owner and the engineering consultant shall agree in writing
as to the services to be performed and the fee amount to be paid for the work
in advance of the commencement of the engineering services agreed upon. The
approval of these arrangements by the FHWA shall be obtained on all Federal Aid
Projects.
(5) State and Federal
funds may participate in the cost of consultant engineering services performed
on existing continuing contracts between the utility and the consultant when it
can be demonstrated that such work is performed regularly for the utility at a
reasonable cost.
(6) The basic
eligibility for reimbursement for the utility relocation costs must be
determined from near final highway construction Plan and Profile Sheets
developed after the Department's Grade and Drain Inspection. A utility owner
must be otherwise entitled to utility relocation reimbursement costs to be
eligible for payment for utility relocation preliminary engineering (PE). The
PE written authorization is a commitment by the Department to reimburse the
utility for PE, subject to compliance with these regulations.
(7) If the utility relocation preliminary
engineering is determined to be ineligible for reimbursement after the plan
review, a non-reimbursable PE notice will be sent to the utility owner
requesting that they commence their relocation design effort at their own
expense, and on a schedule which would insure that the utility relocation
construction would be completed in a timely manner.
(8) If the project should be abandoned,
postponed, or delayed by the Department, the utility is entitled to be paid for
their design effort from the date of the PE authorization to the date of
abandonment, but only if the utility was eligible initially for utility
relocation PE.
(9) If a highway
project is delayed, substantially revised or even abandoned and the utility has
incurred engineering costs at the request of the Department, such costs are not
eligible for reimbursement if the relocation is not reimbursable.
(10) It should be noted by the utility owner
that any costs incurred by the utility owner in the initial negotiation phase,
including early engineering reviews and relocation planning, will not be
reimbursed. The Department shall not be liable for reimbursing any utility PE
costs prior to notification and proof by the utility of its compensable
property rights and after the Department has provided the utility written
authorization of its intent to reimburse the utility for its costs of
relocation.
