§ 9–107.02. Authority to pay public utility relocation expenses; definitions.

(a) Notwithstanding any provisions of law to the contrary, whenever the Mayor of the District of Columbia shall determine that the construction or modification of a project, on or a part of the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways within the District of Columbia under Title 23 of the United States Code, necessitates the relocation, adjustment, replacement, removal, or abandonment of utility facilities, the utility owning such facilities shall relocate, adjust, replace, remove, or abandon the same, as the case may be. The cost of relocation, adjustment, replacement, or removal, and the cost of abandonment of such facilities, shall be paid to the utility by the District of Columbia, as a part of the cost of such project.

(b) As used in this section:

(1) The term “utility” means any gas plant, gas company, natural gas supplier, electric company, electricity supplier, telephone corporation, telephone line, telegraph corporation, telegraph line, and pipeline company, whether publicly or privately owned, as those terms are defined in Chapter 2 of Title 34.

(2) The term “utility facility” means all real and personal property, buildings, and equipment owned or held by a utility in connection with the conduct of its lawful business.

(3) The term “cost of relocation, adjustment, replacement, or removal” means the entire amount paid by such utility properly attributable to such relocation, adjustment, replacement, or removal, as the case may be, less any increase in value on account of any betterment of the new utility facilities over the old utility facilities, and less any salvage value derived from the old utility facilities.

(4) The term “cost of abandonment” means the actual cost to abandon any utility facilities which are not to be used, relocated, adjusted, replaced, removed, or salvaged, together with the original cost of such abandoned facilities, less depreciation.