(1) "Department" means the state of Montana department of transportation and its authorized agents and representatives.

(2) "State" means the state of Montana and the state of Montana department of transportation as a duly constituted agency thereof, and its employees.

(3) "Utility" means:

(a) All public utilities as defined by 69-3-101, MCA.

(b) All common carrier pipelines as defined by 69-13-101, MCA, and

(c) All rural cooperative, non-profit membership corporations organized under the Rural Electric and Telephone Cooperative Act, as set forth in 35-18-101 through 35-18-503, MCA.

(4) "Facility" means all pipes, mains, conduits, cables, wires, towers, poles and other equipment, structures and appliances built or installed by any utility or non-utility for the purpose of transporting, transmitting, furnishing and/or distributing hydro-carbons and the products thereof, electric power and energy, communication signals, water and sewage.

(5) "State highway project" means any highway construction project on a highway that is under the jurisdiction of the department of transportation.

(6) "Highway" means any highway under the jurisdiction of the department of transportation.

(7) "Highway right-of-way" means the land owned or

controlled by the state of Montana department of transportation which is designated as highway right-of-way.

(8) "Highway structure" means any structure located on a highway that is under the jurisdiction of the department of transportation and constructed for the purpose of carrying vehicular, rail or pedestrian traffic over a depression, stream, obstacle, roadway, walkway or railroad.

(9) "Full controlled-access facility" means those portions of an interstate highway, throughway, or throughway intersection which the highway commission designates for through traffic or other federal-aid or state highways over, from, or to which the owners or occupants of abutting land or other persons have no easement of access, light, air, or view. It also means those portions of spurs of the interstate system which the highway commission designates as unsafe or impeded by unrestricted access of traffic from intersecting streets or alleys or public or private roads or ways of passage.

(10) "Retained facility" means an existing facility which occupies right-of-way required for a new highway project by virtue of a permit, right, or easement under which it was originally installed.

(11) "Clear recovery area" means that portion of the highway right-of-way as established by the department. Unless otherwise provided, the distance for this area shall be 9.144 meters (30 feet) from the outer edge of the outside travel lane on paved sections or 12.8016 meters (42 feet) from the centerline of the road on unpaved sections, or "clear zone" as defined by the 1989 edition of the AASHTO publication "Roadside Design Guide," whichever is greater. (Copies of all AASHTO publications referenced in these rules are available for inspection and copying at the department's offices in Helena. Copies of current AASHTO publications are available for purchase from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, Suite 225, 444 North Capital Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001.)

(12) "District" means the specific geographic area of the state designated by the department of transportation as a district. There are five district headquarters, which are currently located in Missoula, Butte, Great Falls, Billings, and Glendive.

(13) "District administrator" means the administrative head of each district or the designee of the district engineer.

(14) "Occupancy agreement," "common use agreement," or "encroachment permit" mean the documents the owner must secure from the department, prior to occupancy, showing the conditions of occupancy of highway right-of-way, whether such occupancy is overhead, underground, or on the surface.