Right-of-way (property access)

The term "right of way" is also used to denote the land itself, such as the strips of land along a railroad track on which railroad companies own a right of way easement, or a trail or path.

Easement

An easement is a nonpossessory right to use and/or enter onto the real property of another without possessing it. It is "best typified in the right of way which one landowner, A, may enjoy over the land of another, B". An easement is a property right and type of incorporeal property in itself at common law in most jurisdictions.

Wayleave

Wayleave is the right to access or cross land of another, especially for railways, pipelines, power lines or telecommunications.

Infrastructure networks

Easements are frequently given to permit the laying of communication cables (such as optical fiber) or natural gas pipelines, or to run electric power transmission lines overhead. Communications easement are used for wireless communications towers, cable lines, and other communications services. This is a private easement and the rights granted by the property owner are for the specific use of communications. Such utility easement also includes: storm drain, and sanitary sewer easement.

In English law

Easements in English law are certain rights in English land law that a person has over another's land. Rights recognised as easements range from very widespread forms of rights of way, most rights to use service conduits such as telecommunications cables, power supply lines, supply pipes and drains, rights to use communal gardens and rights of light.

This does not generally include highways, which are legally defined in English common law, as "a way over which all members of the public have the right to pass and repass without hindrance", usually accompanied by "at all times"; ownership of the ground is for most purposes irrelevant. Thus a highway encompasses all such ways from the widest trunk roads in public ownership to the narrowest footpath providing unlimited pedestrian access over private land.

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Rail right of way

In the United States, railroad right-of-way easements carry with them, under applicable state laws, the right to control access by the public and even by the owner of the underlying land. Most U.S. railroads employ their own police forces, who can arrest and prosecute trespassers found on their rights-of-way. Some railroad rights-of-way include recreational rail trails.

In Canada railroad rights of way are regulated by federal law. In October 1880 the building of Canada's first transcontinental rail line, the Canadian Pacific Railway, started. It was built by a consortium contracted by the government, and financed by CA$25 million in credit and required 25 million acres (100,000 km²) of land. In addition, the government defrayed surveying costs and exempted the railway from property taxes for 20 years.

In the United Kingdom, railway companies received the right to "resume" land for a right of way, by means of private Acts of Parliament. Resumption means compulsory acquisition of land.

Designations of railroad right of way

The various designations of railroad right of way are as follows:

Active track is any track that is used regularly or even only once in a while.
Out of service means the right of way is preserved, and the railroad retains the right to activate it. The line could be out of service for decades. Thus track or crossings that have been removed need to be replaced.
Embargo means the track is removed, but the right of way is preserved and usually is converted into a walking or cycling path or other such use.
Abandonment is a lengthy formal process by which the railroad gives up all rights to the line. In most cases the track is removed and sold for scrap and any grade crossings are redone. The line will never be active again. The right of way reverts to the adjoining property owners.

Concerns about constructions of buildings around railway right-of-way

Construction of houses/buildings beside railway right-of-way presents a significant safety risk. For example, the Hanoi Department of Tourism in Vietnam ordered the permanent closure of cafes and shops along Hanoi Train Street for safety reasons despite its being a popular destination for foreign tourists in the city.

Long distance trails

While Long distance paths may make use of existing public rights of way, they also are often created by local or national governments. This is the case, as an example, for the establishment of trails in the Republic of Ireland, where few public rights of way exist. Also disused rail rights of way are often converted to multi-use paths.

Rail trails

A rail trail is a shared-use path along a railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed but may also share the right of way with active railways, light rail, or streetcars (rails with trails), or with disused track. As shared-use paths, rail trails are primarily for non-motorized traffic including pedestrians, bicycles, horseback riders, skaters, and cross-country skiers, although snowmobiles and ATVs may be allowed in some jurisdictions. The characteristics of abandoned railways—gentle grades, well-engineered rights of way and structures (bridges and tunnels), and passage through historical areas—lend themselves to rail trails and account for their popularity. Many rail trails are long-distance trails, while some rail trails are designated as greenways or linear parks.

Controlled-access highway

A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway, and expressway. Other similar terms include throughway or thruway and parkway. Some of these may be limited-access highways, although this term can also refer to a class of highways with somewhat less isolation from other traffic. The most frequent way this type of highway is laid out is by building them from the ground up after the land has been acquired and obstructions cleared away. They therefore differ from highways that follow routes established by prescription.

Eminent domain

Eminent domain is the term used in the United States, the Philippines and Liberia for the legal power to take private property for the construction of canals, roads, railways, pipes lines, etc. This is called "land acquisition" (India, Malaysia, Singapore), "compulsory purchase" (the United Kingdom), "resumption" (Hong Kong and Uganda), "resumption/compulsory acquisition" (Australia, Barbados, New Zealand, Ireland) or "expropriation" (Canada and South Africa).

The most common uses of property taken by eminent domain have been for roads, government buildings and public utilities.