Running a utility line across a Van Zandt road shoulder has rules

Getting water, power, or fiber out to a rural Van Zandt tract often means a line has to cross or follow a county road right-of-way, and the county is particular about how. The buried line can't sit in the center of the drainage ditch; it goes in the back slope at the edge of the right-of-way so it doesn't choke the ditch. It can't ride on top of or inside an existing culvert, and where it has to pass under a road, it gets bored or tunneled, not trenched, and buried at least 36 inches down.

Before any of that happens, the contractor owes the commissioner for that precinct a written notice and has to get it approved. If the work damages the roadway or the right-of-way, the installer puts it back to original condition to the commissioner's satisfaction. The county won't cover damage to private utility lines in the right-of-way, and a line that ends up in the way of a future road project gets relocated on 45 days' notice, at the line owner's cost.

Practically, that means don't promise a buyer that service can just be 'run out there' until the utility and the precinct commissioner have agreed on the crossing. The depth, the bore, and the traffic control all have to line up first.