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Background State highway departments and transportation agen- cies have a continuing need to keep abreast of operat- ing practices and legal elements of speci c problems in highway law. e NCHRP Legal Research Digest and the Selected Studies in Transportation Law (SSTL) series are intended to keep departments up-to-date on laws that will a ect their operations. Foreword Economic, social, and other factors cause a continuous increase in populations who are unsheltered throughout the United States. It is not unusual for individuals who are unhoused to establish refuge and shelter in encamp- ments that encroach within, around, under, or upon transportation rights-of-way, including but not limited to highway/freeway interchanges, overpasses, bridges, and tunnels. ese encampments create signi cant social, health, safety, welfare, law enforcement, and management issues for local communities and state transportation agencies. Removal of these encampments can result in signi cant legal issues, including alleged civil rights claims based upon a violation of due process under the 14th Amend- ment of the U.S. Constitution. is digest documents the laws, statutes, cases, procedures, policies, and other resources governing or addressing (1) a transportation agencyâs preven- tion or removal of unsheltered encampments from transportation rights-of-way; (2) the authorized use of transportation rights-of-way for shelters for unhoused individuals and social services to assist transportation agencies in addressing safety, health, and public welfare issues; and (3) the ability of transportation agencies to control their rights-of-way. Also, this digest includes a comprehensive overview of the types of legal claims against transportation agencies that involve prevention or removal of encampments from transportation rights- of-way, and the use of transportation rights-of-way for authorized shelters. e digest will be useful to transportation lawyers, engineers, planners, state and federal civil rights transportation o cers, private civil rights attorneys, civil rights groups, administrators, and researchers of civil rights in transportation. Encampments of Unhoused Individuals in Transportation Rights-of-Way: Laws and State DOT Practices This digest was prepared under NCHRP Project 20-06, âLegal Problems Arising Out of Highway Programs,â for which the Transportation Research Board (TRB) is the agency coordinating the research. Under Topic 25-04, Edgar Kraus, Texas A&M Transportation Institute, San Antonio, TX, and Brianne Glover, Jacqueline Kuzio, and Beverly Storey, Texas A&M Transportation Institute, College Station, TX, prepared this digest. The opinions and conclusions expressed or implied in this digest are those of the researchers who performed the research and are not necessarily those of the Transportation Research Board; the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; or the program sponsors. The responsible program officer is Gwen Chisholm Smith. SEPTEMBER 2022 NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM NCHRPLRD 87 LEGAL RESEARCH DIGEST
