A. The commission may, after notice and hearing, by order provide for the relocation of utility facilities within a public highway (including, if required, the entire removal therefrom of certain facilities except as necessary to serve abutting premises or as necessary to cross the highway) and may require any utility to make or suffer any such specified relocation, upon a finding that the action provided for is necessitated by highway improvement determined upon by the commission as a matter of policy relating to the design, construction, location and maintenance of public highways; and the commission shall direct and control the reasonable manner and time of effecting any such relocation so as to promote the public interest in the highway improvement without undue cost or risk and without impairment of utility service, whether the commission undertakes the relocation on behalf of the state or requires the utility to perform such relocation. If undertaken by the commission, it may contract such relocation work.

B. The obligation of the utility shall be to make or suffer relocation as so required by the commission, and to do so cooperatively and in the reasonable manner and time as may be prescribed by the commission, and to advance and pay all costs incurred in effecting relocation which the state is not authorized to pay hereunder or otherwise by law. It shall not be grounds for delay in relocation that a dispute exists over the cost of relocation or the method of paying or sharing same.

C. The commission is authorized to enter into an agreement with a utility with respect to any relocation, the time and manner of its accomplishment and the payment and sharing of the cost incurred in effecting relocation, all upon such reasonable terms and conditions as the commission shall approve as necessary or appropriate in the interest of a public highway program in this state; and in such event no notice, hearing or other proceedings under this act [67-8-15 to 67-8-21 NMSA 1978] shall be required.

History: 1953 Comp., § 55-7-25, enacted by Laws 1959, ch. 310, § 3.

Constitutionality of present provisions. — Laws 1959, ch. 310 (67-8-15 to 67-8-21 NMSA 1978), requiring in certain cases the state to pay the nonbetterment costs of utility relocation made necessary by highway improvements, is not a release of an obligation to the state and does not violate N.M. Const., art. IX, § 14, prohibiting state aid to private enterprise. State ex rel. City of Albuquerque v. Lavender, 1961-NMSC-096, 69 N.M. 220, 365 P.2d 652.

Present and former provisions distinguished. — Under Laws 1959, ch. 310 (67-8-15 to 67-8-21 NMSA 1978), as distinguished from Laws 1959, ch. 237, § 1 (former 55-7-18, 1953 Comp.), (1) the legislature has authorized the commission itself to expend public funds for the relocation of utility facilities; (2) the utility, as to relocations, is under the absolute control of the commission and is merely acting as a contractor for the state; and (3) the legislature has expressly prohibited reimbursement for relocation in cases where there is a specific obligation on the part of the utility to relocate. State ex rel. City of Albuquerque v. Lavender, 1961-NMSC-096, 69 N.M. 220, 365 P.2d 652.

Scope of relocation provisions. — The provisions of Laws 1959, ch. 310 (67-8-15 to 67-8-21 NMSA 1978) apply only to cases involving the construction of interstate and defense system highways, rather than on all federal-aid highways. These particular highways are designed primarily for the nation as a whole, not merely for a community or for the state of New Mexico. State ex rel. City of Albuquerque v. Lavender, 1961-NMSC-096, 69 N.M. 220, 365 P.2d 652.

Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 39 Am. Jur. 2d Highways, Streets and Bridges § 278.

39A C.J.S. Highways § 27.