Running a Utility Line Across a Galveston County Road Takes a Permit and a Bond

When you bring service to a rural tract (a new water tap, a gas line, fiber, anything that has to run along or cut across a county road) that strip of road shoulder is county right-of-way, and you can't dig into it on a handshake with your contractor. Galveston County requires a road-crossing permit for installing pipelines and utilities in the right-of-way out in the unincorporated areas, handled through the Engineering office at 722 Moody Avenue in Galveston.

The part that surprises people is the money behind it: the contractor has to post a $100,000 right-of-way permit bond. It isn't a fee you pay and forget; it's a guarantee that the crew follows county rules and puts the road, ditch, and shoulder back the way they found them after the trench is closed.

If you're a landowner hiring the work out, this is a question for your contractor's bid, not an afterthought. A licensed, bonded outfit will already carry it; a cheap crew that can't post the bond is a sign to keep looking. Build the permit and bond into the budget before the backhoe shows up.