North Carolina Administrative Code
Title 07 - Natural and Cultural Resources
Chapter 11 - ROANOKE VOYAGES AND ELIZABETH II COMMISSION
Section .0200 - REGULATIONS
Section 11 .0205 - UTILITY REGULATIONS
Universal Citation: 07 NC Admin Code 11 .0205
Current through Register Vol. 39, No. 6, September 16, 2024
(a) Location.
(1) New utility installations on the Corridor
shall be placed underground. New utility installations means initial installations
and the replacement of existing facilities with those of a different type, capacity,
size of wire or design or replacement at a new location on the Corridor. Any
replacement of an existing facility or portion thereof with another of the same
type, size of wire, capacity and design at the same location is considered to be
maintenance.
(2) Pedestals,
transformers, manholes, vaults or other above ground or at grade utility
appurtenances installed as part of buried plant shall be located at or near the
outer extremity of Corridor jurisdiction. Justification for other locations may be
approved by the commission and Department of Transportation.
(3) Longitudinal installations shall be located on
uniform alignment as determined satisfactory by the commission and Department of
Transportation so as to provide a safe environment for traffic operation and to
preserve adequate space for planned highway improvements or other utility
installations. Longitudinal installations under the pavement, including paved
shoulders, will not be permitted.
(4) To
the extent feasible and practicable, utility line crossings of the highway should
cross on a line generally perpendicular to the highway alignment.
(b) Pavement Cuts.
(1) Longitudinal pavement cuts along U.S. 64-264
will not be permitted without obtaining a Certificate of Appropriateness.
(2) Generally, pavement cuts across U.S. 64-264
will not be permitted; however, there may be extreme cases where the commission and
the Department of Transportation may allow open cuts where justified. A Certificate
of Appropriateness must be obtained for open cuts.
(c) Cased and Uncased Construction.
(1) Underground crossings of U.S. 64-264 may be
installed without protective pipe, conduit or duct provided such installations are
limited to open-cut construction or to small bores for wire or cable facilities
where soil conditions permit installation by boring a hole about the same diameter
as the cable and pulling the cable through. On crossing where open-cut is not
allowed, installations that require bores in excess of six inches shall be encased
unless the utility demonstrates to the satisfaction of the commission and Department
of Transportation that the installation method for an uncased crossing is such that
the bored hole is never left unsupported.
(d) Bury.
(1)
The minimum depth of bury for utility lines shall be as follows:
(A) Crossings under all roadways (including
shoulders) 3'
(B) Crossings under
ditches (paved and unpaved) and sidewalks 2'
(C) Longitudinal electric power primary
3'
(D) Longitudinal electric power
secondary, and trenched communication lines 2'
(E) Plowed-in utility lines 18"
(e) Safety Warning Devices.
(1) The utility owner shall provide during
construction any subsequent maintenance, proper signs, signal lights, flagmen and
other warning devices for the protection of traffic in conformance with the latest
Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways, and the North
Carolina Construction and Maintenance Operations Supplement. Information as to this
Rule may be obtained from the Department of Transportation's Maintenance Office in
Manteo, North Carolina. The Department of Transportation has the right to stop any
work for non-compliance.
(f) Removal or Alteration of Vegetation.
(1) The
encroaching party or their agents shall exercise every required precaution during
construction and/or maintenance to prevent eroding of soil; silting or pollution of
water impoundments, ground surfaces or other property; or pollution of the air.
There shall be compliance with applicable rules and regulations of the North
Carolina Division of Environmental Management, North Carolina Sedimentation Control
Commission and with ordinances and regulations of Dare County, the Town of Manteo,
the State of North Carolina and other official regulating agencies relating to
sedimentation and pollution prevention and control.
(2) Where there is excavation for underground
installations or when any other installation or maintenance operations disturb the
ground surface and the existing ground cover, the encroaching party shall be
required to perform erosion control measures as follows:
(A) Erosion control shall be performed in
accordance with the requirements contained in the current edition of the Department
of Transportation's Standard Specifications for Roads and Structures.
(B) The use of temporary erosion control measures
shall be included to prevent siltation of waterways and adjacent property. The use
of silt basins, silt check dams, silt fence, temporary slope drains, brush barriers
and temporary seeding and mulching shall be used as needed.
(C) Permanent erosion control shall be performed
as follows:
(i) All disturbed areas shall be
dressed to original typical sections and plowed to a depth of five inches. The top
two inches shall be pulverized to provide a uniform seedbed. Lime shall be applied
before plowing.
(ii) Kinds and rates of
seed, fertilizer and limestone shall be specified by the commission or Department of
Transportation.
(iii) Lime, seed and
fertilizer shall be applied with necessary equipment to give uniform distribution of
these materials. The hand-bucket method is not acceptable.
(iv) Seeded area shall be cultipacked to firm
seedbed and seed shall be adequately covered.
(v) Grain straw shall be applied over seeded areas
as a mulch. No bare ground shall be visible when riding by a mulched area if proper
application is achieved. Thick clumps of straw are not permissible; a uniform
coverage is required.
(vi) Mulched areas
shall be tacked sufficient to hold straw in place.
(3) No trees may be cut or removed without prior
approval, and in certain situations, the commission or Department of Transportation
may require that trees or shrubs be carefully dug and replanted or replaced by new
plants.
(4) When permission for cutting,
trimming, digging or other removal or alteration of trees, shrubs or other
vegetation on the Corridor for the purposes of construction and maintenance by an
encroaching party is given it shall be subject to the following standard
requirements:
(A) The permission applies only to
the interest of the commission and Department of Transportation in the vegetation
and is not to be construed as freeing the encroaching party from liability to the
adjacent property owner. Special attention is called to this provision in cases of
specimen trees that are also a part of private development such as home grounds,
schools, churches, etc.
(B) All cutting
shall be done as close to flush with the ground as is practicable with modern saw
equipment. Under very exceptional conditions, such as very large diameter trees or
swamp growth, flush cuts may not be practical. The burden of proof for the necessity
of high stumps will rest with the encroaching party and express approval must be
obtained from the commission prior to such cutting.
(C) Trimming of specimen trees on the Corridor
shall be done in accordance with generally accepted tree surgery practice and any
trimming necessary to leave the tree with a good, balanced appearance must be done
in addition to the minimum trimming needed for line clearance, climbing irons or
spurs must not be used on any tree.
(D)
All cuttings shall be removed from the Corridor and out of view unless otherwise
stated in the Certificate of Appropriateness. If woodchipping machines are used for
brush disposal, the chips must be removed from the Corridor.
(E) Removal or alteration of vegetation for
existing overhead utility facilities generally will be limited to 15 feet; that is,
to seven and a half feet on either side of the utility wire or pole. Wider clearing
areas will be considered only on the basis of;
(i)
removing only danger trees,
(ii)
retaining large, sound, strong-trunked trees, and
(iii) trimming such large sound trees for wire
clearance only instead of complete side trimming.
No flat-topping, bench-topping or clear-cutting will be allowed and all trimming will be accomplished by irregular hand pruning.
(F) Under some circumstances the
granting of permission related to existing overhead utility facilities will be
conditioned upon the preservation of such shrubs and low-growing trees within the
clearing area. The need and extent of such preservation will be determined for
specific locations.
(G) When excavating
for underground utility installation or maintenance is done near trees, the minimum,
but necessary, cutting of tree roots shall be done in accordance with generally
accepted tree surgery practice. The tunneling under and retention of principal
support roots may be required when considered necessary, according to the location,
size and quality of the tree involved.
(H) The use of herbicides for control of
vegetation is prohibited.
(g) Procedures of Processing Utility Encroachment Agreements.
(1) All requests shall be submitted
directly to the Commission, P.O. Box 155, Manteo, North Carolina 27954, for review,
consideration and processing. Those requests affecting the North Carolina Department
of Transportation right of way or the right of way and the 50 feet outside of the
right of way require the approval of both the commission and the Department of
Transportation Division Engineer. Those requests affecting only the 50 feet outside
the right of way require the approval of the commission only.
(2) General requirements for permit application
are the same as found under Section .0300 of the general regulations for the
commission.
Authority 1981 S.L., c.
1194, s. 1(1)(c);
Eff. February 1,
1987.
Disclaimer: These regulations may not be the most recent version. North Carolina may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.
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