Landowners and Right-of-Way

Because pipelines must cross the countryside to deliver products over long distances, the pipeline has many neighbors. The pipeline crosses under creeks and rivers, highways and roads, farmers’ fields, parks, and may be close to homes, businesses or other community centers.

Written agreements, or easements, between landowners and pipeline companies allow pipeline companies to construct and maintain pipeline rights-of-way across privately owned property. Most pipelines are buried below ground in a right-of-way. The working space needed during initial construction may be temporarily wider but the permanent right-of-way width varies depending on the easement, the pipeline system, the presence of other nearby utilities and the land use along the right-of-way. Many of the rights-of-way are 50 feet wide, but may be wider or narrower in specific locations.

These rights-of-way are kept clear to allow the pipeline to be safely operated, aerially surveyed and properly maintained. Pipeline companies are responsible for maintaining their rights-of-way to protect the public and environment, the line itself, and other customers from loss of service. Pipeline rights-of-way are located in urban, suburban, and rural communities.

Understanding the Right-of-Way (ROW)

A strip of land usually about 25 to 150 feet wide containing the pipeline is known as the pipeline right-of-way (ROW). The ROW:

• enables workers to gain access for inspection, maintenance, testing or emergencies
• maintains an unobstructed view for frequent aerial surveillance
• identifies an area that restricts certain activities to protect the landowner, the community through which the pipeline passes and the pipeline itself.

While permanent pipeline markers are located at roads, railways and other intervals along the ROW, these show only the approximate location of the buried pipelines. The depth and location of the pipelines vary within the ROW. The ROW exists in many kinds of terrain from river crossings and cultivated fields to urban areas. Because of this, there is no distinct "look" to the ROW.

Any excavation project within the right-of-way or near the right-of-way, requires the excavator to contact the local “One Call” center to tell them when and where digging will occur. If a local call center is unknown, excavators can call the Dig Safely national referral number 1-888-258-0808.

Some people mistakenly believe that they don't need to contact a one-call center because they think they can tell the precise location of a pipeline by drawing a straight line between right-of-way marker signs. This is a myth for two main reasons:

• Right-of-way markers along a pipeline route or at a grade crossing only show the approximate location of a pipeline because the right-of-way they are marking is much wider than the pipeline. Thus, the markers are not always located precisely over a line. (Nor do the markers indicate the depth of the line.)
• A pipeline may curve or make an angle underground as it runs between markers in order to avoid some natural or manmade feature such as a historical site or another underground facility such as a television cable.

Using the one-call system when digging around an energy pipeline, or any other underground feature, is the only way to determine the true location of a pipeline. Even after the area has been marked, any digging around the marks should be carefully conducted to precisely locate the facility. Besides - calling before you dig is the law in most states.