Article 3. Rights Of Way of California Public Utilities Code >> Division 5. >> Chapter 1. >> Article 3.

There is granted to every municipal corporation of the State the right to construct, operate, and maintain water and gas pipes, mains and conduits, electric light and power lines, telephone and telegraph lines, sewers and sewer mains, all with the necessary appurtenances, across, along, in, under, over, or upon any road, street, alley, avenue, or highway, and across, under, or over any railway, canal, ditch, or flume which the route of such works intersects, crosses, or runs along, in such manner as to afford security for life and property.

A municipal corporation exercising its rights under this article shall restore the road, street, alley, avenue, highway, canal, ditch, or flume so used to its former state of usefulness as nearly as may be, and shall locate its use so as to interfere as little as possible with other existing uses of a road, street, alley, avenue, highway, canal, ditch, or flume.

Before any municipal corporation uses any street, alley, avenue, or highway within any other municipal corporation or county, it shall request of the municipal corporation or county that has control over the street, alley, avenue, or highway to agree with it upon the location of the use and the terms and conditions to which the use shall be subject.

If the two municipal corporations, or a municipal corporation and a county, are unable to agree on the terms and conditions and location of a use within three months after a proposal to do so, the municipal corporation proposing to use a street, alley, avenue, or highway may bring an action in the superior court of the county in which the street, alley, avenue, or highway is situated against the other municipal corporation or the county to have the terms and conditions and location determined. The superior court may determine and adjudicate the terms and conditions to which the use of the street, avenue, alley, or highway shall be subject, and the location thereof, and upon the making of the final judgment the municipal corporation desiring to do so may enter and use the street, alley, avenue, or highway upon the terms and conditions and at the location specified in the judgment.

This article does not authorize the construction of any sanitary sewer within the territorial limits of any other municipality if the method of disposition of sewage therefrom is by discharging it in the Pacific Ocean within one mile of the territorial limits of the other municipality or in any manner that may create a public nuisance.

Nothing in this article limits in any respect the jurisdiction, powers, and duties vested by law in the Public Utilities Commission or, with respect to state highways, in the Department of Transportation. In the event of any conflict of jurisdiction, that of the Public Utilities Commission or the Department of Transportation, as the case may be, shall prevail.