North Dakota Code 24-17-09 – Duties and powers of the director
1. The director is authorized:
Terms Used In North Dakota Code 24-17-09
- Director: means the director of the department of transportation of this state, acting directly or through authorized agents as provided in section 24-02-01. See North Dakota Code 24-01-01.1
- Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
- Right of way: means a general term denoting land, property, or interest therein, acquired for or devoted to highway purposes and shall include, but not be limited to publicly owned and controlled rest and recreation areas, sanitary facilities reasonably necessary to accommodate the traveling public, and tracts of land necessary for the restoration, preservation, and enhancement of scenic beauty adjacent to the state highway system. See North Dakota Code 24-01-01.1
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- State highway system: means the system of state principal roads designated by the director of the department, the responsibility for which is lodged in the department. See North Dakota Code 24-01-01.1
- Traveled way: means the portion of the roadway for the movement of vehicles, exclusive of shoulders and auxiliary lanes. See North Dakota Code 24-01-01.1
- United States: includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
a. To designate tracts of land adjacent to the state highway system which are necessary for the restoration, preservation, and enhancement of scenic beauty.
b. To regulate the erection, construction, or placing of any sign, display, or device within six hundred sixty feet [201.17 meters] of the nearest edge of the right of way and to adopt standards relating to size, lighting, and spacing thereof in conformity with 23 U.S.C. § 131, provided the rules are not more restrictive than those provided thereunder.
c. To establish permits authorizing the erection, construction, placement, replacement, repair, and maintenance of any outdoor sign, display, or device, which is within six hundred sixty feet [201.17 meters] of the nearest edge of the right of way and visible from any place on the main traveled way of the state highway system; to establish a fee schedule for such permits and to prescribe rules for the issuance thereof.
d. To determine unzoned commercial or unzoned industrial areas along the state highway system by agreement with the secretary of transportation of the United States pursuant to 23 U.S.C. § 131.
e. The director may designate which tracts of land are necessary for the restoration, preservation, and enhancement of scenic beauty adjacent to the state highway system. The director shall acquire, improve, and maintain said tracts of land the director deems necessary for the restoration, preservation, and enhancement of scenic beauty adjacent to the state highway system, and said tracts of land may be beyond six hundred sixty feet [201.17 meters] of the nearest edge of the right of way.
2. The interest in any land directed to be acquired and maintained under this section may be a fee simple or any lesser interest, as determined by the director to be reasonably necessary to accomplish the purposes of this section. The acquisition may be by gift, purchase, exchange, or, subject to section 32-15-01, condemnation under the right and power of eminent domain in the same manner that the director may acquire right of way for construction, reconstruction, widening, alteration, changing, locating, relocating, aligning, realigning, or maintaining a state highway.