All persons, partnerships, and corporations using or occupying any part of a highway, bridge, or culvert with telegraph or telephone lines, steam, electrical, or industrial railways, oil, gas, water, or other pipes, mains, conduits, or any object or structure, other than by virtue of a franchise legally granted, shall remove from the bounds of such highway, bridge, or culvert, their poles and wires connected therewith, or any and all tracks, switches, spurs, or oil, gas, or water pipes, mains, conduits, or other objects or structures when, in the opinion of the board of county commissioners, they constitute obstructions in any highway, other than the state highway system; or the bridges or culverts thereon, or interfere or may interfere with the proposed improvement of such highways, bridges, or culverts or the use thereof by the traveling public. By obtaining the consent and approval of the board, such persons, partnerships, and corporations may relocate their properties within the bounds of such highways, bridges, or culverts in such manner as the board prescribes. The giving of such consent and approval by the board does not grant any franchise rights.

Persons, partnerships, or corporations occupying any part of a highway, bridge, or culvert, under and by virtue of a franchise legally granted, shall relocate their properties within the bounds of such highway, bridges, or culverts when in the opinion of the county engineer, they constitute obstructions or interfere with the construction, improvement, maintenance, or repair of such highways, bridges, or culverts, or the use thereof by the traveling public.

If, in the opinion of the engineer, such persons, partnerships, or companies [corporations] have obstructed any such highway, bridges, or culverts, or if any of their properties are, in his opinion, so located that they do or may interfere with the proposed improvement, maintenance, or repair the board shall notify such person, partnership, or corporation directing the removal or relocation of the obstruction or property, and, if they do not within five days proceed to so remove or relocate and complete the removal or relocation within a reasonable time, the board may do so by employing the necessary labor. The expense incurred shall be paid in the first instance out of any moneys available for highway purposes, and not encumbered for any other purpose, and the amount shall be certified to the proper officials to be placed on the tax duplicate against the property of such person, partnership, or corporation, to be collected as other taxes and in one payment, and the proper fund shall be reimbursed out of the money so collected, or the account thereof may be collected from such person, partnership, or corporation by civil action by the state on the relation of the board.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953 .