What is a right of way?
A right of way is the publicly owned area in a development or neighborhood. A right of way is a strip of land intended to be occupied or presently occupied by a road, pedestrian walkway, railroad, electric transmission lines, oil or gas pipeline, telephone cable, cable TV, water and sewer lines, and other similar uses. Usually, a right of way extends past the curb so one's property line is not the curb but a distance from the curb. The size of the right of way is not the same for every property. The right of way area behind the curb is also used for snow storage when the city plows streets.