Transactions Newsletter

MTC's Guide to the Legal Aspects of Trench Cuts Now Available

As cities face an ever-increasing number of requests to excavate local streets in order to place telephone, power and cable lines, as well as water, gas and sewer pipes, they must grapple with the question of how much authority they have under the law to manage these myriad demands.

MTC's new guide, Guide to the Legal Aspects of Trench Cuts, is designed to answer questions regarding cities' right to regulate excavations, assess fees, enforce permit conditions, restrict trench cuts and coordinate the various excavation requests with municipal repaving plans.

Download the Guide to the Legal Aspects of Trench Cuts in Acrobat (PDF) format (2.2 MB)

You can download an accompanying PowerPoint presentation, "Managing What Goes Underground in the Public Right-of-way" or a sample of a model trench cut ordinance. Both files are compressed in the .ZIP format, so in order to read them you will need a utility such as StuffIt Expander (for Macintosh) or one such as WINZIP (Windows).

To order a copy of the Guide to the Legal Aspects of Trench Cuts, contact the MTC/ABAG Library:
E-mail: library@mtc.ca.gov
(510) 817-5932 (fax)
(510) 817-5836 (phone)
To place an online order, see our publication order form.

For more information, contact Theresa Romell at 510-817-5772, or e-mail her at tromel@mtc.ca.gov.

Guide to the Legal Aspects of Trench Cuts (©2000, Metropolitan Transportation Commission). No photos or content from Guide to the Legal Aspects of Trench Cuts may be used or re-printed in any form without the explicit written permission of MTC.