The director of transportation shall have general supervision of all roads comprising the state highway system. The director may alter, widen, straighten, realign, relocate, establish, construct, reconstruct, improve, maintain, repair, and preserve any road or highway on the state highway system, and, in connection therewith, relocate, alter, widen, deepen, clean out, or straighten the channel of any watercourse as the director considers necessary, and purchase or appropriate property for the disposal of surplus materials or borrow pits, and, where an established road has been relocated, establish, construct, and maintain such connecting roads between the old and new location as will provide reasonable access thereto.

The director may purchase or appropriate property necessary for the location or construction of any culvert, bridge, or viaduct, or the approaches thereto, including any property needed to extend, widen, or alter any feeder or outlet road, street, or way adjacent to or under the bridge or viaduct when the extension, widening, or alteration of the feeder road, street, or way is necessary for the full utilization of the bridge or viaduct, or for any other highway improvement. The director may purchase or appropriate, for such length of time as is necessary and desirable, any additional property required for the construction and maintenance of slopes, detour roads, sewers, roadside parks, rest areas, recreational park areas, park and ride facilities, and park and carpool or vanpool facilities, scenic view areas, drainage systems, or land to replace wetlands, incident to any highway improvement, that the director is or may be authorized to locate or construct. Also incident to any authorized highway improvement, the director may purchase property from a willing seller as required for the construction and maintenance of bikeways and bicycle paths or to replace, preserve, or conserve any environmental resource if the replacement, preservation, or conservation is required by state or federal law.

Title to property purchased or appropriated by the director shall be taken in the name of the state either in fee simple or in any lesser estate or interest that the director considers necessary or proper, in accordance with forms to be prescribed by the attorney general. The deed shall contain a description of the property and be recorded in the county where the property is situated and, when recorded, shall be kept on file in the department of transportation. The property may be described by metes and bounds or by the department of transportation parcel number as shown on a right of way plan recorded in the county where the property is located.

Provided that when property, other than property used by a railroad for operating purposes, is acquired in connection with improvements involving projects affecting railroads wherein the department is obligated to acquire property under grade separation statutes, or on other improvements wherein the department is obligated to acquire lands under agreements with railroads, or with a public utility, political subdivision, public corporation, or private corporation owning transportation facilities for the readjustment, relocation, or improvement of their facilities, a fee simple title or an easement may be acquired by purchase or appropriation in the name of the railroad, public utility, political subdivision, public corporation, or private corporation in the discretion of the director. When the title to lands, which are required to adjust, relocate, or improve such facilities pursuant to agreements with the director, is taken in the name of the state, then, in the discretion of the director, the title to such lands may be conveyed to the railroad, public utility, political subdivision, or public corporation for which they were acquired. The conveyance shall be prepared by the attorney general and executed by the governor and bear the great seal of the state of Ohio.

The director, in the maintenance or repair of state highways, is not limited to the use of the materials with which the highways, including the bridges and culverts thereon, were originally constructed, but may use any material that is proper or suitable. The director may aid any board of county commissioners in establishing, creating, and repairing suitable systems of drainage for all highways within the jurisdiction or control of the board and advise with it as to the establishment, construction, improvement, maintenance, and repair of the highways.

Chapters 4561., 5501., 5503., 5511., 5513., 5515., 5516., 5517., 5519., 5521., 5523., 5525., 5527., 5528., 5529., 5531., 5533., and 5535. of the Revised Code do not prohibit the federal government, any government agency, or any individual or corporation, from contributing a portion of the cost of the establishment, construction, reconstruction, relocating, widening, resurfacing, maintenance, and repair of the highways or transportation facilities.

Except in the case of maintaining, repairing, erecting traffic signs on, or pavement marking of state highways within villages, which is mandatory as required by section 5521.01 of the Revised Code, and except as provided in section 5501.49 of the Revised Code, no duty of constructing, reconstructing, widening, resurfacing, maintaining, or repairing state highways within municipal corporations, or the culverts thereon, shall attach to or rest upon the director, but the director may construct, reconstruct, widen, resurface, maintain, and repair the same with or without the cooperation of any municipal corporation, or with or without the cooperation of boards of county commissioners upon each municipal corporation consenting thereto.

Amended by 130th General Assembly File No. 7, HB 51, §101.01, eff. 7/1/2013.

Effective Date: 06-29-2001; 2007 HB67 07-03-2007