Property Rights, Federalism, and the Public Rights-of-Way

This introductory section describes how section 253 works, and notes that the importance of local right-of-way management has increased since September 2001. Section II of the Article identifies the fundamental property rights at issue, their implications for compensation requirements, and their relationship to constitutional federalism. Section III then looks briefly at the characteristic mistake made by many analysts: construing local communities' control of their public rights-of-way as purely regulatory and ignoring the property aspect. Section IV explores in more depth the way in which section 253 fits into the structure of property rights, regulation, and federalism, by detailing the legislative history of the provision.

Finally, Section V re- views the significant agency and judicial decisions to date in light of that analysis.