Section 10. Definitions

Part I. Definitions

The following words and terms when used in this chapter shall have the following meanings unless the context indicates otherwise:

"Backfill" means replacement of suitable material compacted as specified around and over a pipe, conduit, casing, or gallery.

"Boring" means a method of installation that is done underground and by which a carrier or casing is jacked through an oversize bore. The bore is carved progressively ahead of the leading edge of the advancing pipe as soil is forced back through the pipe. Directional drilling, coring, jacking, etc., are also considered boring.

"Carrier" means a pipe directly enclosing a transmitted liquid or gas.

"Casing" means a larger pipe enclosing a carrier.

"Central Office Permit Manager" means the VDOT employee assigned to provide management, oversight, and technical support for the state-wide land use permit program.

"Clear zone" means the total border area of a roadway, including, if any, parking lanes or planting strips, that is sufficiently wide for an errant vehicle to avoid a serious accident. Details on the clear zone are in VDOT's Road Design Manual (see 24VAC30-151-760).

"Code of Federal Regulations" or "CFR" means the regulations promulgated by the administrative and regulatory agencies of the federal government.

"Commercial entrance" means any entrance serving land uses other than two or fewer individual private residences, agricultural operations to obtain access to fields, or civil and communication infrastructure facilities that generate 10 or fewer trips per day such as cell towers, pump stations, and stormwater management basins. (See "private entrance.")

"Commissioner of Highways" means the individual serving as the chief executive officer of the Virginia Department of Transportation or a designee.

"Commonwealth" means the Commonwealth of Virginia.

"Conduit" means an enclosed tubular runway for carrying wires, cable or fiber optics.

"Cover" means the depth of the top of a pipe, conduit, or casing below the grade of the roadway, ditch, or natural ground.

"Crossing" means any utility facility that is installed across the roadway, either perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the roadways or at a skew of no less than 60 degrees to the roadway centerline.

"District administrator" means the VDOT employee assigned the overall supervision of the departmental operations in one of the Commonwealth's nine construction districts.

"District administrator's designee" means the VDOT employee assigned to supervise land use permit activities by the district administrator.

"District roadside manager" means the VDOT employee assigned to provide management, oversight and technical support for district-wide vegetation program activities.

"Drain" means an appurtenance to discharge liquid contaminants from casings.

"Encasement" means a structural element surrounding a pipe.

"Erosion and sediment control" means the control of soil erosion or the transport of sediments caused by the natural forces of wind or water.

"Grounded" means connected to earth or to some extended conducting body that serves instead of the earth, whether the connection is intentional or accidental.

"Highway," "street," or "road" means a public way for purposes of vehicular travel, including the entire area within the right-of-way.

"Limited access highway" means a highway especially designed for through traffic over which abutters have no easement or right of light, air, or access by reason of the fact that their property abuts upon such limited access highway.

"Longitudinal installations" means any utility facility that is installed parallel to the centerline of the roadway or at a skew of less than 60 degrees to the roadway centerline.

"Manhole" means an opening in an underground system that workers or others may enter for the purpose of making installations, inspections, repairs, connections and tests.

"Median" means the portion of a divided highway that separates opposing traffic flows.

"Nonbetterment cost" means the cost to relocate an existing facility as is with no improvements.

"Permit" means a document that sets the conditions under which VDOT allows its right-of-way to be used or changed.

"Permittee" means the person or persons, firm, corporation or government entity that has been issued a land use permit.

"Pipe" means a tubular product or hollow cylinder made for conveying materials.

"Pole line" means poles or a series or line of supporting structures such as towers, cross arms, guys, racks (conductors), ground wires, insulators and other materials assembled and in place for the purpose of transmitting or distributing electric power or communication, signaling and control. It includes appurtenances such as transformers, fuses, switches, grounds, regulators, instrument transformers, meters, equipment platforms and other devices supported by poles.

"Power line" means a line for electric power or communication services.

"Pressure" means relative internal pressure in pounds per square inch gauge (psig).

"Private entrance" means an entrance that serves up to two private residences and is used for the exclusive benefit of the occupants or an entrance that allows agricultural operations to obtain access to fields or an entrance to civil and communication infrastructure facilities that generate 10 or fewer trips per day such as cell towers, pump stations, and stormwater management basins.

"Professional engineer" means a person who is qualified to practice engineering by reason of his special knowledge and use of mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences and the principles and methods of engineering analysis and design acquired by engineering education and experience, and whose competence has been attested by the Virginia Board for Architects, Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, Certified Interior Designers and Landscape Architects through licensure as a professional engineer.

"Relocate" means to move or reestablish existing facilities.

"Right-of-way" means that property within the system of state highways that is open or may be opened for public travel or use or both in the Commonwealth. This definition includes those public rights-of-way in which the Commonwealth has a prescriptive easement for maintenance and public travel. The property includes the travel way and associated boundary lines, parking and recreation areas and other permanent easements for a specific purpose.

"Roadside" means the area adjoining the outer edge of the roadway. The median of a divided highway may also be considered a "roadside."

"Roadway" means the portion of a highway, including shoulders, for vehicular use. A divided highway has two or more roadways.

"Service connections" means any utility facility installed overhead or underground between a distribution main, pipelines, or other sources of supply and the premises of the individual customer.

"Site plan" means the engineered or surveyed drawings depicting proposed development of land.

"Storm sewer" means the system containing and conveying roadway drainage.

"Stormwater management" means the engineering practices and principles used to intercept stormwater runoff, remove pollutants and slowly release the runoff into natural channels to prevent downstream flooding.

"Structure" means that portion of the transportation facility that spans space, supports the roadway, or retains soil. This definition includes, but is not limited to, bridges, tunnels, drainage structures, retaining walls, sound walls, signs, traffic signals, etc.

"System of state highways" means all highways and roads under the ownership, control, or jurisdiction of VDOT, including but not limited to, the primary, secondary and interstate systems.

"Telecommunication service" means the offering of telecommunications for a fee directly to the public or to privately, investor- or cooperatively owned entities.

"Transportation project" means a public project in development or under construction to provide a new transportation facility or to improve or maintain the existing system of state highways.

"Traveled way" means the portion of the roadway for the movement of vehicles, exclusive of shoulders and auxiliary lanes.

"Trenched" means installed in a narrow, open excavation.

"Underground utility facilities" means any item of public or private property placed below ground or submerged for use by the utility.

"Utility" means a privately, publicly or cooperatively owned line, facility, or system for producing, transmitting, or distributing telecommunications, cable television, electricity, gas, oil, petroleum products, water, steam, storm water not connected with highway drainage, or any other similar commodity, including any fire or police signal system.

"VDOT" means the Virginia Department of Transportation or the Commissioner of Highways.

"Vent" means an appurtenance to discharge gaseous contaminants from a casing or carrier pipe.

"Wetlands" means those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or ground water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs and similar areas.

Historical Notes

Derived from Volume 26, Issue 12, eff. March 17, 2010; amended, Virginia Register Volume 28, Issue 04, eff. November 23, 2011.

Statutory Authority

§ 33.2-210 of the Code of Virginia.