摘要: |
The advent of fiber-optic communications technology coupled with continued rapid growth in demand for communications capacity have led private communications companies to seek to build new, and extend existing, fiber-optics networks. There is increased incentive and opportunity for sharing the public resource of highway right-of-way in exchange for private telecommunications expertise and capacity to further both public sector and private corporate objectives. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) authorized this study to explore nontechnical issues related to such projects, generally referred to as "shared resource" projects, and to develop present guidance for those considering this approach in highway rights-of-way. Traditionally, longitudinal access to the right-of-way for non-transportation networks has been carefully controlled, especially in freeways and limited access highways. This shared resource project has four specific features: public-private partnering; private longitudinal access to public roadway right-of-way; installation of telecommunications hardware (principally fiber-optic lines, but also cellular towers/antennae); and compensation granted to the right-of-way owner over and above administrative costs. |