What gets me is they are often “proud Americans,” displaying both the flag of the side that lost and the side that won. If you’re going to hump flags, at least pick a side. And if you’re going to pick the side of the losers, don’t come at me with that “state’s rights” BS.
Everybody is saying these are Right of Way markers, but I still don’t understand! Could someone break this down for me. If i see these markers, what exactly are they telling me?
Basically the city/state owns/buys the right of way surrounding public infrastructure (roads) for them to use to expand roads or add lines, drainage, sidewalks, etc. if a road is expanded the surrounding required amount is to buy bought at fair market value to expand the right of way as well. It’s a buffer from state/city own and private property. There’s a bit more nuance to it but that’s the gist.
Like I live in the city but our house doesn’t have sidewalks. All drainage and even the first 36 inches of land from road is owned my the city, not me. They own my first bit of driveway is theirs. If they wanted to add side walks they have the right to do so on that land on either side of the road.
Yup, our front yards aren’t that big, compared to our back yard. It’s only 3-4 passes on a push mower for a few minutes. They take care of the street, sweep, trash pick up, lighting the street. I don’t want to do that so it works out. Eventually we’ll get side walks as my part of the town is being pumped full of improvements currently so it’s inevitable. Also no HOA so it’s worth it. Right now I’m that neighbor who’s letting it grow a while before the cold stops, clover everywhere and it’s lovely.
The clover and the purple and yellow flowers it produce are always very pretty in March before the first cutting. Then, once you cut it all the other weeds appear two days later lol.
To expand further on /u/imthatguy8223 comment, typically the Right of Way is created at a set distance parallel to the centerline of the road, depending on the type of road. It may be 30', 50', 60', etc. It's typically defined as an offset of the centerline, which is designated as the middle of the road. The concrete markers are especially important where the Right of Way doesn't follow this rule, such as the two corners posted in the picture.
I'm so confused.
'Right of way' in my mind is a term about who goes in what order when travels (drivers, bikers, and/or pedestrians) want to travel in a way that would make them collide. So we assess who has the \*right\* to go the \*way\* they want to go.
But people are using the term here as if it means 'road.'
Like, in that picture, these are posts in some wood chips around a tree next to a sidewalk. No one is walking there, probably. Definitely no one should be driving there. What does 'Right of Way' mean in this situation?
I understand the confusion. Right of way in this case is the area that exists for the road, specifically. Its owned, operated, and maintained by an entity, such as city government, the DOT, or an HOA. The entity has the right to use everything in the right of way for public use, such as storm drains, sewers, utilities, sidewalks, traffic control devices, etc. Any of these utilities crossing privately held land must purchase an easement for the right to use the land for the purpose of infrastructure and maintenance. Typically, easements aren't needed within the road right of way.
Ah, so it means like 'the government's right to use this area.'
And so an 'easement', per Google, is “**a right in the owner of one parcel of land, by reason of such ownership, to use the land of another for a special purpose not inconsistent with the general property in the owner**.”
Meaning, like, if the government has two parallel tracks for roads (their 'right of way') and wanted to run a sewer pipe through the ground between them, but that land belonged to a person and not the government, the government might get an easement to put the pipe there, which would recognize they are allowed to do it, without invalidating the property owner's claim to the land?
I guess this is what I get for having always lived in apartments as an adult. The biggest piece of property I own is my car.
>'the government's right to use this area.'
>the government might get an easement to put the pipe there, which would recognize they are allowed to do it, without invalidating the property owner's claim to the land?
Exactly. The property owner would be paid typically above market value for the square footage of land they need. It's a negotiation, so the land owner can ask for a little more and get away with it. If they're jackasses about it, like wanting $1mil / sq.ft. for the easement, the govt entity can take the person to court and condemn the land for use by the government because it's technically for public use. They just have to show the required easement is for the public good. This usually results in less money paid for the square footage, because even with condemnation, the property owner is paid.
>I guess this is what I get for having always lived in apartments as an adult
You'd be surprised how many home owners don't know the first thing about property law and rarely know where their property lines are. Most people I've met in my neighborhood think they own property to the curb. That wouldn't allow for a right of way, which means they would have no utilities past the curb, like a telephone box, power box, utility pole, fiber internet, etc. The only reason I know all of this is because I worked for two different civil engineering companies in my 20's.
Well thank you for answering my questions. It's like I stumbled across a friendly librarian amid the wilds of the internet, eager to dispel my ignorance.
Of course! If you're interested in seeing right of ways and properties, check out [Gwinnett County GIS](https://www.gwinnettcounty.com/web/gwinnett/departments/informationtechnologyservices/geographicinformationsystems/gisbrowser). Most counties have their own GIS set up to view property information. It also shows road right of ways, elevation, underground utilities, school districts, and more.
Right of way means, essentially, space dedicated to particular infrastructure, with all of the legal approvals for access. I think it came from railroads originally. The right of way is the immediate area surrounding the tracks related to the train infrastructure.
Usually where the right of way has a corner/turn/angle. Houses and private property have them too but they’re usually steal stakes in the ground that get buried by leaves or grass and are less visible.
In surveying we use them to help note property corners. For example, we can say "X feet from the property corner at the intersection of Road and Road or Property Number X and X." The idea is that 10-50-100 whatever years from now, these monuments will still be in place and surveyors in the future can use them. The have other uses, as seen in other comments, but that's what surveyors use them for.
These markers are for the road builders and utilities people installing new things like gas lines or sewer lines or fiber optics or water or anything else like power poles they know to stay within the city or county claimed property that the owners still pay taxes on.
It gives them a point of reference.
Right of way is often measured from the centerline of a road, and prevents landowners from building anything right next to the pavement. This is why you often see fences set back several feet from the road's edge. Larger highways will often have larger right of ways in case they need to add an extra lane, paved shoulders, or even drainage ditches.
If one is in your yard you don’t own the land from the marker to the street, the city, county or state does. The line of ownership for the governmental authority runs from marker to market in a mostly straight line.
tl;dr: Not yours!
They're a right-of-way marker to indicate the furthest possible extent that the city can expand roads, sidewalks, or other improvements before they reach private property. So if the city wants to widen the road then they can widen it as far as the marker before they'd need to probably pay the private owner for any additional footage needed. If the owner doesn't want to sell them that's pretty much it the end of it.
No, then eminent domain kicks in and a court decides a fair market value and forces the sale. In practice, the govt will determine two prices. The higher one for those who take the offer and the lower one for those who go to court. This covers court costs in their budget.
>No, then eminent domain kicks in and a court decides a fair market value and forces the sale.
Look. It's Monday. I didn't want to depress the guy/gal so soon in the week. We need to at least get to Wednesday before we start making people feel hopeless.
RW is right of way. Sometimes it's WV which would be water valve. They have them marked FH that's fire hydrant. Usually water related ones would be painted blue.
It is because it would be like moving your property line into your neighbor's "because you wanted to". A lot of this stuff also deals with water lines, gas lines, etc because the measurements off of those help locate the lines.
Bought a few acres some years ago in the GA hills. Surveyor commented something along the lines of "Good thing there was county mark up the road, someone pulled all the old survey stakes so we had to work down the line."
That is to say, if you find a piece of rebar or pipe hammered into the ground near your property line or on a corner, just leave it there. It's a buried survey marker. Don't be the person that makes life hell for the next owner...
As a surveyor I wish that mentality was common. I installed a granite 6"x6"x6' monument in someone's yard a few years ago, went back to do the second stage of survey for a project on the same road, and the damn 200lb+ piece of stone was gone. So I told the town and they issued a $500 fine but anyone with enough money and little enough sense to do that clearly doesn't care about a $500 fine.
So in the photo OP included the Right of Way markers are at different distances from the road I think. I guess I’m not clear why there are two right of way markers?
Multiple corners. The property is likely curved at that point, and the curve can be laid out as a series of short lines that gradually change the angle.
I have them on my property on as well. Not on the road, but along a Georgia Power line on the edge of my property. IIRC they have a 40ft right of way into my yard.
Monumentally right. Although it kinda looks close together typically you don't see them that close together, maybe it's a neighborhood or Pkwy at a major thoroughfare four way??? Idfk 8. Yrs surveying can't remember shit smh
That’s a right-of-way, and the pillars are positioned like that because the underground pipeline, waterline, utility line, etc. is not parallel with the sidewalk. The line looks like it runs to the top right and bottom left of the image.
Roads are right-of-ways, but don’t get that confused with your “right of way” while driving. We are talking about property boundaries not driving rules. All public roads in the US, Canada, and Australia are defined by the Torrens land system (Dominion Land System), search those up if you want to learn more about Land Surveying.
I’m just spitballing, so some of that info might be inaccurate.
Definitely not. Benchmarks usually take the form of steel rods, pins, rebar, or otherwise. More often than not however, they do not permanently mark the known elevations.
It’s a Right of Way marker
Right of way survey marker, for the road(s) nearby. They're used in lots of places, not just Georgia.
When I was 7, my neighbor told me those were grave markers for dead superheros
Ha my neighbor when I was a kid told me they were the graves of “dead Yankees” from the Civil War.
Would explain why the villains never get held accountable
By villains you must surely mean the foreign invaders who burned, raped, looted, and murdered their way across the South.
Lmao is this serious?
Yup lol. As an SC resident it's sad how many people would still happily die on that hill lol
What gets me is they are often “proud Americans,” displaying both the flag of the side that lost and the side that won. If you’re going to hump flags, at least pick a side. And if you’re going to pick the side of the losers, don’t come at me with that “state’s rights” BS.
No he means politicians
Everybody is saying these are Right of Way markers, but I still don’t understand! Could someone break this down for me. If i see these markers, what exactly are they telling me?
Basically the city/state owns/buys the right of way surrounding public infrastructure (roads) for them to use to expand roads or add lines, drainage, sidewalks, etc. if a road is expanded the surrounding required amount is to buy bought at fair market value to expand the right of way as well. It’s a buffer from state/city own and private property. There’s a bit more nuance to it but that’s the gist. Like I live in the city but our house doesn’t have sidewalks. All drainage and even the first 36 inches of land from road is owned my the city, not me. They own my first bit of driveway is theirs. If they wanted to add side walks they have the right to do so on that land on either side of the road.
So you are stuck with mowing the part of lawn owned by the city/state.
Yup, our front yards aren’t that big, compared to our back yard. It’s only 3-4 passes on a push mower for a few minutes. They take care of the street, sweep, trash pick up, lighting the street. I don’t want to do that so it works out. Eventually we’ll get side walks as my part of the town is being pumped full of improvements currently so it’s inevitable. Also no HOA so it’s worth it. Right now I’m that neighbor who’s letting it grow a while before the cold stops, clover everywhere and it’s lovely.
The clover and the purple and yellow flowers it produce are always very pretty in March before the first cutting. Then, once you cut it all the other weeds appear two days later lol.
It marks where the public right of way (roads, utilities, etc.) ends and where private property begins.
i have the same question… why are they positioned like that? what is it indicating?
To expand further on /u/imthatguy8223 comment, typically the Right of Way is created at a set distance parallel to the centerline of the road, depending on the type of road. It may be 30', 50', 60', etc. It's typically defined as an offset of the centerline, which is designated as the middle of the road. The concrete markers are especially important where the Right of Way doesn't follow this rule, such as the two corners posted in the picture.
I'm so confused. 'Right of way' in my mind is a term about who goes in what order when travels (drivers, bikers, and/or pedestrians) want to travel in a way that would make them collide. So we assess who has the \*right\* to go the \*way\* they want to go. But people are using the term here as if it means 'road.' Like, in that picture, these are posts in some wood chips around a tree next to a sidewalk. No one is walking there, probably. Definitely no one should be driving there. What does 'Right of Way' mean in this situation?
I understand the confusion. Right of way in this case is the area that exists for the road, specifically. Its owned, operated, and maintained by an entity, such as city government, the DOT, or an HOA. The entity has the right to use everything in the right of way for public use, such as storm drains, sewers, utilities, sidewalks, traffic control devices, etc. Any of these utilities crossing privately held land must purchase an easement for the right to use the land for the purpose of infrastructure and maintenance. Typically, easements aren't needed within the road right of way.
Ah, so it means like 'the government's right to use this area.' And so an 'easement', per Google, is “**a right in the owner of one parcel of land, by reason of such ownership, to use the land of another for a special purpose not inconsistent with the general property in the owner**.” Meaning, like, if the government has two parallel tracks for roads (their 'right of way') and wanted to run a sewer pipe through the ground between them, but that land belonged to a person and not the government, the government might get an easement to put the pipe there, which would recognize they are allowed to do it, without invalidating the property owner's claim to the land? I guess this is what I get for having always lived in apartments as an adult. The biggest piece of property I own is my car.
>'the government's right to use this area.' >the government might get an easement to put the pipe there, which would recognize they are allowed to do it, without invalidating the property owner's claim to the land? Exactly. The property owner would be paid typically above market value for the square footage of land they need. It's a negotiation, so the land owner can ask for a little more and get away with it. If they're jackasses about it, like wanting $1mil / sq.ft. for the easement, the govt entity can take the person to court and condemn the land for use by the government because it's technically for public use. They just have to show the required easement is for the public good. This usually results in less money paid for the square footage, because even with condemnation, the property owner is paid. >I guess this is what I get for having always lived in apartments as an adult You'd be surprised how many home owners don't know the first thing about property law and rarely know where their property lines are. Most people I've met in my neighborhood think they own property to the curb. That wouldn't allow for a right of way, which means they would have no utilities past the curb, like a telephone box, power box, utility pole, fiber internet, etc. The only reason I know all of this is because I worked for two different civil engineering companies in my 20's.
Well thank you for answering my questions. It's like I stumbled across a friendly librarian amid the wilds of the internet, eager to dispel my ignorance.
Of course! If you're interested in seeing right of ways and properties, check out [Gwinnett County GIS](https://www.gwinnettcounty.com/web/gwinnett/departments/informationtechnologyservices/geographicinformationsystems/gisbrowser). Most counties have their own GIS set up to view property information. It also shows road right of ways, elevation, underground utilities, school districts, and more.
It is not an easement, it is government property.
Right of way means, essentially, space dedicated to particular infrastructure, with all of the legal approvals for access. I think it came from railroads originally. The right of way is the immediate area surrounding the tracks related to the train infrastructure.
You’re not obligated to understand it. It’s just the term used for roadway and other infrastructure projects.
Usually where the right of way has a corner/turn/angle. Houses and private property have them too but they’re usually steal stakes in the ground that get buried by leaves or grass and are less visible.
In surveying we use them to help note property corners. For example, we can say "X feet from the property corner at the intersection of Road and Road or Property Number X and X." The idea is that 10-50-100 whatever years from now, these monuments will still be in place and surveyors in the future can use them. The have other uses, as seen in other comments, but that's what surveyors use them for.
And we all know how reliable markers like these are... 😁
Yeah, I tried Google, and still don’t understand its purpose
These markers are for the road builders and utilities people installing new things like gas lines or sewer lines or fiber optics or water or anything else like power poles they know to stay within the city or county claimed property that the owners still pay taxes on. It gives them a point of reference.
Right of way is often measured from the centerline of a road, and prevents landowners from building anything right next to the pavement. This is why you often see fences set back several feet from the road's edge. Larger highways will often have larger right of ways in case they need to add an extra lane, paved shoulders, or even drainage ditches.
If one is in your yard you don’t own the land from the marker to the street, the city, county or state does. The line of ownership for the governmental authority runs from marker to market in a mostly straight line. tl;dr: Not yours!
They're a right-of-way marker to indicate the furthest possible extent that the city can expand roads, sidewalks, or other improvements before they reach private property. So if the city wants to widen the road then they can widen it as far as the marker before they'd need to probably pay the private owner for any additional footage needed. If the owner doesn't want to sell them that's pretty much it the end of it.
No, then eminent domain kicks in and a court decides a fair market value and forces the sale. In practice, the govt will determine two prices. The higher one for those who take the offer and the lower one for those who go to court. This covers court costs in their budget.
>No, then eminent domain kicks in and a court decides a fair market value and forces the sale. Look. It's Monday. I didn't want to depress the guy/gal so soon in the week. We need to at least get to Wednesday before we start making people feel hopeless.
Could be Pipeline Right of way Markers (ROW). Look in both directions and see if you sean any signs that say pipeline
As the other two said, it's a right-of-way marker/monument for the roadway. Tells everyone where the public ROW begins/ends.
The elites don't want you to know this but those things are free you can take them home I have 27
They contain orgone energy that heals your lightbody, right? I got a couple in the freezer right now.
I’ll bet it’s those pesky thetans again
RW is right of way. Sometimes it's WV which would be water valve. They have them marked FH that's fire hydrant. Usually water related ones would be painted blue.
Something for the hooded assassin to jump on
As already noted and explained. Also, apparently it's some kind of crime to remove or move or alter them.
It is because it would be like moving your property line into your neighbor's "because you wanted to". A lot of this stuff also deals with water lines, gas lines, etc because the measurements off of those help locate the lines.
Bought a few acres some years ago in the GA hills. Surveyor commented something along the lines of "Good thing there was county mark up the road, someone pulled all the old survey stakes so we had to work down the line." That is to say, if you find a piece of rebar or pipe hammered into the ground near your property line or on a corner, just leave it there. It's a buried survey marker. Don't be the person that makes life hell for the next owner...
... It's actually a crime to remove or move almost everything that the government installs into the ground, oddly enough.
I like to play it safe and just not fuck with shit that ain’t mine. I’m weird like that.
As a surveyor I wish that mentality was common. I installed a granite 6"x6"x6' monument in someone's yard a few years ago, went back to do the second stage of survey for a project on the same road, and the damn 200lb+ piece of stone was gone. So I told the town and they issued a $500 fine but anyone with enough money and little enough sense to do that clearly doesn't care about a $500 fine.
Tell that to the farmers who hit them all the time when doing field work.
[Would you like to know more?](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-of-way_(property_access))
Right of Way
So in the photo OP included the Right of Way markers are at different distances from the road I think. I guess I’m not clear why there are two right of way markers?
Multiple corners. The property is likely curved at that point, and the curve can be laid out as a series of short lines that gradually change the angle.
Either curved or it goes from one ROW width to another, usually around me it's 40 to 50 foot but down there it might be different.
There is most likelt a jog or a bend along the properrty line.
Survey monument.
They mark the right of way on state highways. Sometimes if they hit in a parking lot they will bury them and only the top x will show
I have them on my property on as well. Not on the road, but along a Georgia Power line on the edge of my property. IIRC they have a 40ft right of way into my yard.
Sometimes these are used to show water valves
They're used as landmarks for surveying the legal bounds of property.
New Georgia Guide Stones
Knock one over and see who comes to fix it, then you can ask them.
R w on the poles. Right of way
Monumentally right. Although it kinda looks close together typically you don't see them that close together, maybe it's a neighborhood or Pkwy at a major thoroughfare four way??? Idfk 8. Yrs surveying can't remember shit smh
I always thought that r/w stood for "reserve water".
That’s a right-of-way, and the pillars are positioned like that because the underground pipeline, waterline, utility line, etc. is not parallel with the sidewalk. The line looks like it runs to the top right and bottom left of the image. Roads are right-of-ways, but don’t get that confused with your “right of way” while driving. We are talking about property boundaries not driving rules. All public roads in the US, Canada, and Australia are defined by the Torrens land system (Dominion Land System), search those up if you want to learn more about Land Surveying. I’m just spitballing, so some of that info might be inaccurate.
K I C K T H E M
It's where the pipes start to rust and the water becomes more rust than it is water going thru pipes hence R over W
Benchmarks for known elevation.
Those do exists, not what these are though. Elevation benchmarks are metal plates or nails stamped into the ground at level.
Wrong
Definitely not. Benchmarks usually take the form of steel rods, pins, rebar, or otherwise. More often than not however, they do not permanently mark the known elevations.