Council approves a right-of-way for Verizon to install underground lines along E. 10th Street

Verizon will be allowed to install underground utility lines along E. 10th Street after Council approved the company’s right-of-way request at its October 10 meeting. The action grants Verizon permission to place its facilities within the Borough’s public street area on that block, subject to the terms the Borough sets for work in its right-of-way.

What a right-of-way grant covers

A municipal right-of-way is the strip of land — the cartway, shoulders, and the area beneath and beside the street — that the Borough controls for public travel and for the utilities that run along it. A private utility such as Verizon cannot dig in or under a Borough street on its own; it must first obtain the Borough’s permission to occupy that space. Council’s approval is that permission. It typically comes with conditions on how and when the work is done and a requirement that the company restore the street and surrounding surface once the lines are in place.

Why underground

Placing telephone and data lines underground rather than on poles keeps them out of the weather and out of the way of vehicles and tree limbs, which can mean fewer outages and a cleaner streetscape. The trade-off is the excavation itself, so the Borough’s interest in any such request centers on protecting the roadway and limiting disruption to traffic and neighboring properties during construction.

For residents on the block

People who live or drive along E. 10th Street may notice excavation, lane restrictions, or temporary access changes while the work is underway. State law requires anyone digging to have underground lines marked first through Pennsylvania 811 (PA One Call), and Borough rules govern how the street surface must be opened and restored; those standards are set out in Chapter 172, Streets & Sidewalks of the Borough Code.

On record: Resolution No. 2022-08 and the Verizon right-of-way request are part of the public meeting record at the Borough Office, 1100 Logan Avenue. The Borough’s standards for opening and restoring streets appear in Chapter 172, Streets & Sidewalks of the Tyrone Borough Code.