Right-of-Way (ROW) Acquisition Issues

Status: Complete
Report Date: 09/10/2025

Summary:

Right-of-way acquisition costs in Minnesota have increased sharply in recent years. In the early 2000s, eminent domain compensation awards were typically about 40 percent higher than agency appraisals, but that figure has trended steadily higher in the past decade. In recent years, eminent domain awards averaged more than 130 percent higher than agency appraisals. In 2016 the LRRB funded, "Barriers to Right-of-Way Acquisition and Recommendations for Change," which produced 25 recommendations to improve the ROW acquisition process. This implementation project will synthesize the earlier report into a quick-use reference tool and survey local agencies to identify case studies of how the process is affecting taxpayers.

Final Deliverables:

Right-of-Way Acquisition: A Toolkit for Minnesota's Cities and Counties (Guidebook #2025RIC12)
Right-of-Way Acquisitions Spreadsheet (Spreadsheet #2025RIC12S)
Right-of-Way Acquisition: Guidebook for Property Owners (Guidebook #2025RIC12E)
Right-of-Way Acquisition: Minimum Damage Acquisition (Guidebook #2025RIC12D)
Right-of-Way Acquisition: Initial Notification Template (Guidebook #2025RIC12C)
Right-of-Way Acquisition: Staff Best Practices (Guidebook #2025RIC12B)
Right-of-Way Acquisition Purchasing Procedures Checklist (Guidebook #2025RIC12A)

Related Materials:

Related Research:

INV 969: Barriers to Right-of-Way Acquisition and Recommendations for Change

Project Personnel:

Principal Investigator: Susan Miller

Co-Principal Investigator: Michael Marti, Lia Siro, Ken Helvey

Technical Liaison: Ryan Thilges

Project Coordinator: David Glyer