New Jersey Administrative Code
Title 16 - TRANSPORTATION
Chapter 25 - UTILITY ACCOMMODATION
Subchapter 2 - DEFINITIONS
Section 16:25-2.1 - Definitions
The following words and terms, when used in this chapter, shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
"Adjustment" means the alteration or relocation of utility facilities to accommodate the construction of highway improvement projects.
"Arterial highway" means a highway primarily for through traffic, usually a continuous route.
" As-built plans" means drawings showing the actual locations of installed or relocated utilities.
"Backfill" means the replacement of suitable material around and over a pipe, conduit system, or direct buried cable.
"Bedding" means the soil or other suitable material to support a pipe, conduit system, or direct buried cable.
"Border area" means the space between the outer edge of a shoulder, curb line, or gutter line and the right-of-way line.
"Boring" means a method for installing pipes underground without disturbing the surface using an auger to penetrate the ground and remove soil, while jacking a pipe just behind the cutting head.
"Bury" means the depth as measured from the top of a pipe, conduit system, or direct buried cable to the grade of a roadway or roadside.
"Cable television company" or "CATV company" means any person or group of persons who provides cable service over a cable system and directly or through one or more affiliates owns a significant interest in such cable system; or who otherwise controls or is responsible for, through any arrangement, the management and operation of such a cable system.
"Cap" means the rigid structural element covering a pipe or conduit system.
"Carrier" means a pipe directly enclosing a transmitted fluid (liquid or gas), including service lines.
"Casing" or "encasement" means a structural element surrounding a carrier or conduit.
"Clear zone area" means that roadside border area, starting at the edge of the traveled way, available for safe use by errant vehicles.
"Coating" means the material applied to, or wrapped around, a pipe.
"Commissioner" means the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Transportation, or such other person as the Commissioner may designate, when legally permissible.
"Conduit" or "duct" means an enclosed tubular runway for protecting wires or cables.
"Control of access" means the condition where the right of owners or occupants of abutting land or other persons to access, light, air, or view in connection with a highway is controlled by the Department to give preference to through traffic either:
1. Fully, with access connections at selected public roads and with prohibited crossings at grade and prohibited direct driveway connections; or
2. Partially, with some crossings at grade and some driveway connections in addition to access connections at selected public roads.
"Curb line" means the edge of the paved surface of the roadway where it meets a raised curb.
"Department" means the New Jersey Department of Transportation.
"Drain" means an appurtenance to discharge liquid seepage from casings.
"Driving" means a method for installing pipes underground without disturbing the surface by using a small pipe with a pilot shoe that can be driven through compressible soils by steady thrusting, hammering, or vibrating.
"Facility" or "facilities" means all plant and equipment owned or operated by a utility.
"Federal-Aid roads" means roads that are included on the Federal-Aid Road System and eligible for Federal funds, either as part of the National Highway System or the FHWA Surface Transportation Program. Federal-Aid roads are, collectively: all primary arterials, all minor arterials, all urban collectors, and all rural major collectors.
"Fiber optic cable" means a communication cable utilizing hair-thin strands of ultra-pure glass, plastic, or other transparent material that can carry high volumes of information via lightwave signals.
"Fiber optic duct bank" means a conduit or duct to be exclusively occupied by fiber optic cable.
"Frontage road" means a local street or road auxiliary to and located on the side of an arterial highway for service to abutting property and adjacent areas and for control of access.
"Grounded" means connected to the earth or to some extended conducting body that serves as a conductor to earth whether the connection is intentional or accidental.
"Grout" means a cement mortar or a slurry of fine sand or clay.
"Handhole" means a small chamber, which:
1. Provides access to a splice enclosure;
2. Is placed periodically along a conduit to provide smooth safe cable installation; or
3. Stores excess cable for maintenance purposes.
"High pressure" means a gas or liquid petroleum pipeline that operates, or may reasonably be expected to operate in the future over 60 psig pressure.
"Highway," "street," or "road" means a public way owned or under the jurisdiction of the Department, including the entire area within the right-of-way, for purposes of travel.
"Highway occupancy permit" or "permit" means a permit, approved by the Commissioner, issued for any construction, major maintenance, or relocation work by utilities on right-of-way or property under the jurisdiction of the Department pursuant to N.J.A.C. 16:41.
"Horizontal Directional Drilling" or "HDD" means a steerable trenchless method of installing underground pipes, conduits, and cables in a shallow arc along a prescribed bore path by using a surface launched drilling rig, with minimal impact on the surrounding area.
"Interchange" means a system of interconnecting roadways in conjunction with one or more grade separations, providing for the movement of traffic between two or more roadways.
"Intersection" means the area where two or more highways join or cross, including the roadway and roadside facilities for traffic movements within the area.
"Jacking" means a method for installing pipes underground without disturbing the surface by pushing a pipe horizontally by mechanical means without boring.
"Limited access highway" means a State highway, especially designed for through traffic, over which abutting lot owners have no right to access the highway.
"Local public agency" means a county, municipal, or city government agency.
"Manhole" means an opening in an underground system providing access to utility facilities for the purpose of making installations, inspections, repairs, connections, and tests. The term includes chambers or vaults.
"Mechanically stabilized earth walls" or "MSE" means retaining walls consisting of horizontal soil reinforcing elements and a facing to prevent erosion.
"Median" means the portion of a divided highway separating the traveled ways for traffic moving in opposite directions.
" Non-wooden pole" means a pole made of materials including, but not limited to, the following: steel, concrete, fiberglass, and glue-laminated wood.
"Pavement structure" means the combination of subbase, base course, and the surface course placed on a subgrade to support the traffic load and distribute it to the roadbed.
"Pipe" or "pipeline" means a formed hollow cylinder used for the conveyance of liquids or gases. Cylinders fabricated from plate are not a pipe.
"Pressure" means the relative internal pressure in psig (pounds per square inch gauge).
"Private utility" means any utility that is not within the general jurisdiction, supervision, and control of or otherwise regulated by the Board of Public Utilities or a utility owned and operated by private citizens or concerns that is not otherwise identified or regulated by the Board of Public Utilities.
"Public utility" means an entity as defined in 48:2-13.a, including cable television as regulated under 48:5A-1 et seq. A public, private, or cooperatively owned company that enters into a contract with a public utility shall not be considered a public utility on the basis of that contract.
"Right-of-way" means State highway property and property rights, including easements, owned and controlled by the Department.
"Roadside" means the area adjoining the outer edge of the roadway. Extensive areas between the roadways of a divided highway may also be considered roadside.
"Roadway" means the portion of a highway, including shoulders, for vehicular use. A divided highway has two or more roadways.
"Scenic overlook" means a roadside area provided for motorists to stop their vehicle beyond the shoulder, primarily for viewing the scenery in safety.
"Single wooden pole type of construction" means a type of construction where no wooden pole shall be closer than 10 feet to any other wooden or non-wooden pole.
"Sleeve" means a short casing through a pier or abutment of a highway structure, wall, etc.
"Subgrade" means all underlying soils beneath the pavement structure.
"Surfaced area" means the area that has been covered with manmade materials to provide a firm surface upon which to walk or drive.
"Transmission facilities" means high voltage electric lines, wire or cable (including supporting structures) and appurtenant facilities (usually with a rating of 69 kilovolts or above) that transmit energy from one generating plant to electric substations or switching stations.
"Transmittant" means gasses or liquids distributed through a system of pipes.
"Traveled way" means the portion of the roadway for the movement of vehicles, exclusive of shoulders, auxiliary lanes, and bicycle lanes.
"Trenched" means installed in an open excavation.
"Trenchless" means installed without breaking the ground or pavement surface, except at the entrance and exit point, such as by jacking, boring, horizontal directional drilling, coring, plowing, pipe ramming, pipe bursting, or micro-tunneling.
"Utility" means a privately, publicly, or cooperatively owned facility for producing, transmitting, or distributing communications, cable television, power, electricity, light, heat, gas, oil, crude products, water, steam, waste, stormwater not connected with highway drainage, or any other similar commodity, including any fire or police signal system or street lighting system, that directly or indirectly serves the public. The term "utility" shall also mean the utility owner or the utility company inclusive of any wholly owned or controlled subsidiary. The term "utility" or "utilities" when used in this chapter is intended to reference both public and private utilities unless otherwise individually specified.
"Utility agreement" means the document by which the Department enters into an agreement with a public utility, a private utility, a cable television company, a utility not covered by N.J.S.A. Title 48, or a utility having compensable property rights for the installation, removal, and/or relocation of its facilities. The utility agreement further serves as the permit to occupy the highway right-of-way and specifies the requirements for, and the conditions of, said occupancy.
"Vent" means an appurtenance by which fluids or gases between a carrier pipe and a casing may be inspected, samples exhausted, or evacuated usually through risers or standpipes projecting above the ground surface.
"Waiver" means the Department's intentional relinquishment of its rights to wholly enforce provisions of this chapter. Waivers may reduce, modify, or eliminate requirements.
"Wooden pole" means the stem of a tree which has the proper natural characteristics to meet the engineering and design standards to support a utility line; and has been harvested, shaped, treated, and certified to meet that need.
