The National Academies (NAS) recently published the results of a workshop titled "Reinventing the Right of Way: Policy, Technical, and Economic Implications of Siting Transmission Lines Along Transportation Corridors."

The goal of this workshop was to explore how to overcome challenges and unlock benefits like faster permitting, cost savings, and reduced environmental impact by utilizing existing rights-of-way for grid expansion.

Meeting the nation' growing demand for reliable, resilient, and affordable energy will require expanded electric transmission capacity across the nation. As grid planners identify paths to accomplishing this expansion, the co-location of transmission lines along highway and rail rights of way (ROWs) may be one option for siting future transmission infrastructure.

While this approach can potentially offer benefits for feasibility, cost-effectiveness, and public acceptance, there are few successful examples to date and many policy, logistical, design, and construction challenges to consider.

To provide a forum for discussing opportunities for the use of transportation ROWs for electrical transmission, the challenges involved, and potential solutions to overcome barriers, NAS hosted an April workshop to convene stakeholders in the planning, operations, ownership, use, and regulation of transmission projects and transportation ROWs to establish a shared understanding of the issues and elicit constructive suggestions for action.

Read the full report or watch the recorded webinar