midmichigan - 9/5/2025 21:15

I’ve watched this thread for a while now and there is a ton of misinformation going on. I’ve been in the utility industry for 15 years and a construction manager for a fiber optic company for three years and I’d like to answer as many questions as possible and clear up as much confusion as well.

Almost all roads have a right of way (ROW) most are 60-66’ meaning 30-33’ either way from center line. The typical lane is 11-12’wide meaning there’s around 20’ of ROW off from the road where utilities can run. For those of you saying you own to the center line of the road, I’d be willing to bet you’re wrong. If the county, township, municipality came through and repaved your road or wanted to improve the road I’d bet my paycheck you’re not going to pay the $500,000 per mile to pave it or pay a dime to improve the road even though ‘you own’ to the centerline.

Another thing I’ve read is “Spectrum is not a public utility, they’re a private utility.” They are 100% a public utility. I believe you’re thinking of it as a private sector vs private sector. Those definitions that you’re used to don’t translate to this matter. They are a public utility meaning the public can hook up to them, therefore they are a public utility meaning.

Here in Michigan, there’s what is called the Metro Act and all recognized and registered utility has the right to install their infrastructure where they want. That being said, they have to go through the proper permitting which the townships, counties, municipalities can make it as easy or difficult as they want. There have been times where the company I worked for said they weren’t going to build a certain area because of all of the red tape. Sometimes it were the people and most time it were the townships, county, etc and the people wanted it.

From my experience, every area we went into, we were required to send out notifications of our work at least three weeks ahead of time (it was company policy anyway) of the work we were doing and asked homeowners to flag any private utilities. Most of these notifications went unnoticed because homeowners took them as junk mail (I would too).

Another comment I saw and honestly I had to laugh at was, what if they put solar panels in our right of way? Sure it’s possible but we all know it would never happen! It wouldn’t be cost effective, they’d be damaged all the time, and quite frankly it just doesn’t make sense.

For those of you with tile, water, elec. etc my advice to you and it’s been given already, it’s better to work with them then against them. They’re there because they’ve been given permission to be there. Your utilities are in the public right of way and in MOST instances your’s aren’t supposed to be there or they’re there with the understanding that it’s YOUR responsibility to mark them out, and they aren’t technically responsible for any damages that occur when they’re doing their work.

I sure hope this clears up some or all of the misinformation that has been on this thread. Please feel free to ask anymore questions you may have. Please keep in mind that this is not a blanket statement that covers every county, township, municipality, etc in the country but most rules, laws, and regulations are similar throughout the country.