2023 New York Laws › HAY - Highway › Article 2 - Commissioner of Transportation › 11 - Maps, Plans, Specifications and Estimates.

§   11.  Maps,  plans,  specifications  and  estimates.  Whenever  the
  commissioner  of  transportation  shall   have   determined   upon   the
  construction  or  improvement of a state highway, or section thereof, he
  shall make or cause to be made surveys, and suitable  preliminary  maps,
  plans  and  specifications.  The  commissioner  shall have the following
  powers and duties in respect to such highways:
1. He shall cause the highway or section thereof so determined  to  be
  improved to be mapped both in outline and profile.
2.  He  may provide for a deviation from the line of a highway already
  existing, if thereby a shorter or more direct  highway,  or  a  lessened
  gradient  may  be  obtained  without  decreasing  the  usefulness of the
  highway.  If such deviation requires the consequential relocation of any
  tracks and appurtenances of a railroad company, he may acquire  adequate
  right of way to provide for the relocation of the highway as well as the
  railroad  tracks, pursuant to section thirty of this chapter, and he may
  enter into a written agreement with the owner of the  lands  from  which
  the  tracks  shall  be  relocated  to  exchange such lands for the lands
  acquired for their relocation. The work of relocating the tracks may  be
  done  by  the  owner,  and  the commissioner of transportation is hereby
  empowered to enter into an agreement with the owner for the  performance
  of  all  or  any  part of the work at the expense of the state, and such
  expense shall be deemed to be a part of the cost of  the  relocation  of
  the highway.
3. He may provide for the widening of an existing highway.
4.  He shall cause to be prepared preliminary plans and specifications
  for the construction or improvement of such highway or  section  thereof
  providing  for  a  telford, macadam or gravel roadway, or other suitable
  construction, taking into consideration climate, soil and  materials  to
  be had in the vicinity thereof, and the extent and nature of the traffic
  likely  to  be upon such highway, specifying in his judgment the kind of
  highway a wise economy demands.
5. He shall provide in such plans  and  specifications  for  necessary
  culverts,  drains,  ditches,  waterways,  embankments,  guard  rails and
  retaining walls, and he may also provide for cattle passes  wherever  he
  may  deem  them  to  be necessary and suitable in the interest of public
  safety and as a traffic precaution.
6. He may provide therein for the removal or planting  of  trees,  and
  seeding or sodding, within the boundaries of the highway, when necessary
  for the preservation thereof.
7.  He  may provide therein for the removal of, or the trimming of any
  trees within the boundaries of the highway necessary for the convenience
  or safety of the public, or the  construction  or  preservation  of  the
  highway.
8. He shall provide therein for the erection of suitable guide boards.
9.  He  may provide for such other work as may be required to complete
  the construction or improvement in a proper manner.
10. He shall cause  an  estimate  to  be  made  of  the  cost  of  the
  construction of such highways or section thereof in accordance with such
  plans  and  specifications. In making such estimate he shall cause to be
  ascertained and specified with all practical accuracy  the  quantity  of
  embankment,  excavation and masonry, the quantity of all materials to be
  used and all items of work to be placed under contract.