US Eyes Transport Rights-of-Way for Energy, Broadband Corridors
The Department of Transportation and Congress are advancing parallel initiatives to streamline colocation of utility infrastructure along existing highway and railroad corridors.
Three parallel federal initiatives are seeking to repurpose transportation rights-of-way (ROWs) for energy and broadband infrastructure to meet surging demand from data centers, AI, and advanced manufacturing. The Department of Transportation's "America's Great Corridors of Commerce" initiative would create a voluntary public-private partnership (P3) framework for leasing ROWs to private managers for multi-utility development, supported by streamlined permitting and financing. In Congress, the bipartisan RAIL Act would mandate timelines for railroads to grant ROW access for broadband equipment, while the Rail and Highway Transmission Planning Act would direct the Department of Energy to study the feasibility of siting high-voltage transmission on these corridors.
Clients in the energy, telecommunications, and technology sectors should monitor this convergence of policy, as it could unlock significant opportunities to accelerate project development, reduce costs, and minimize land-use conflicts. The key development to watch is the September 12, 2026, comment deadline on the DOT's P3 proposal, which will provide the first major test of stakeholder appetite for the voluntary model and shape how it interacts with the mandatory access and study-based approaches pending in Congress.