Development of Right-of-Way Engineering and Design Fundamentals

Historically, transportation projects have been developed by professionally disconnected groups, including design teams, operations teams, environmental teams, and right-of-way (ROW) or real estate teams overseeing land acquisition. Likewise, these groups have relied on specific national-level resource publications that provide guidance to the focus of each professional section. While these industry-standard publications provide foundational guidance on their respective fields, they consistently lack substantive approaches to ROW engineering and design (ED), which is critical to successful project delivery. ROW-ED inherently bridges disciplines, making isolated team structures ineffective for the cross-functional collaboration it demands. State departments of transportation (DOTs) that utilize ROW-ED teams are aware of the overall benefits of an integrated approach in delivering cost-effective and context-sensitive approaches to project delivery. Several National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) projects are underway that identify ROW-ED processes in developing proper guidance for foundational ROW-ED tasks. While the proposed research will build on outcomes from earlier studies, additional investigation is needed to formulate ROW design methodologies. The objective of this research is to develop essential practices and policies for ROW-ED, including an ROW design matrix for use by state DOTs in determining appropriate ROW needs during project scoping and development.

• Record URL:
  • http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=6050
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Contract to a Performing Organization has not yet been awarded.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Proposed
• Funding: $1,000,000.00
• Contract Numbers:

  Project 15-91

• Sponsor Organizations:

  National Cooperative Highway Research Program

  Transportation Research Board
  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001

  American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO)

  444 North Capitol Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Project Managers:

  Jared, David

• Start Date: 20260608
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Best practices; Project delivery; Right of way (Land); State departments of transportation
• Subject Areas: Construction; Highways; Planning and Forecasting;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01992199
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Transportation Research Board
• Contract Numbers: Project 15-91
• Files: TRB, RIP
• Created Date: Jun 9 2026 5:06PM