Section 32-3-1. Authority to acquire property for present or future public road or other transportation purposes

   (a) Any property may be acquired in fee simple or in any lesser interest, including scenic easements, airspace, and rights of access, by a state agency or a county or municipality through gift, devise, exchange, purchase, prescription, dedication, eminent domain, or any other manner provided by law for present or future public road or other transportation purposes.

(b) Public road purposes shall include rights of way; detours; bridges; bridge approaches; ferries; ferry landings; overpasses; underpasses; viaducts; tunnels; fringe parking facilities; borrow pits; offices; shops; depots; storage yards; buildings and other necessary physical facilities of all types; roadside parks and recreational areas; the growth of trees and shrubbery along rights of way; scenic easements; construction for drainage, maintenance, safety, or esthetic purposes; the elimination of encroachments, private or public crossings, or intersections; the establishment of limited-access public roads; the relocation of utilities; and any and all other purposes which may be reasonably related to the development, growth, or enhancement of the public roads of Georgia.

(c) Property or interests shall not be acquired for "future public road purposes," as that term is used in this Code section, unless:

   (1) Construction will be commenced on the property to be acquired within a period of not less than two years nor more than ten years following the end of the fiscal year in which the secretary of transportation of the United States approves an advance of all the necessary funds to the department for the acquisition of rights of way for such construction under authority of Title 23, Section 108, United States Code, as amended; and

   (2) The intended acquisition is part of a specific plan of highway development, and the acquisition will assist in accomplishing one or more of the following:

      (A) A substantial monetary savings;

      (B) The enhancement of the integration of highways with public or private urban redevelopment; or

      (C) The forestalling of the physical or functional obsolescence of highways.

(d) In the process of acquiring property or interests for any public road purpose, an entire lot, block, or tract of land may be acquired if by so doing the interest of the public will be best served.

Code 1933, § 95A-601, enacted by Ga. L. 1973, p. 947, § 1; Ga. L. 1981, p. 878, § 1; Ga. L. 1982, p. 3, § 32; Ga. L. 1985, p. 149, § 32.