Ohio Rev. Code » Chapter 5515
Ohio Revised Code

Ohio Rev. Code § 5515.01 (2026)

Permits granted to use or occupy portion of road or highway

✓ current as of May 2026
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Effective:
June 30, 2025
Latest Legislation:
House Bill 54 - 136th General Assembly
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The director of transportation may upon formal application being made to the director, grant a permit to any individual, firm, or corporation to use or occupy such portion of a road or highway on the state highway system as will not incommode the traveling public. Such permits, when granted, shall be upon the following conditions:

(A) The director may issue a permit to any individual, firm, or corporation for any use of a road or highway on the state highway system that is consistent with applicable federal law or federal regulations.

(B) Such location shall be changed as prescribed by the director when the director deems such change necessary for the convenience of the traveling public, or in connection with or contemplation of the construction, reconstruction, improvement, relocating, maintenance, or repair of such road or highway.

(C) The placing of objects or things shall be at a grade and in accordance with such plans, specifications, or both, as shall be first approved by the director.

(D) The road or highway in all respects shall be fully restored to its former condition of usefulness and at the expense of such individual, firm, or corporation.

(E) Such individual, firm, or corporation shall maintain all objects and things in a proper manner, promptly repair all damages resulting to such road or highway on account thereof, and in event of failure to so repair such road or highway to pay to the state all costs and expenses that may be expended by the director in repairing any damage.

(F) Such other conditions as may seem reasonable to the director, but no condition shall be prescribed that imposes the payment of a money consideration for the privilege granted. Nothing in this division prohibits the director from requiring payment of money consideration for a lease, easement, license, or other interest in a transportation facility under control of the department of transportation.

(G) Permits may be revoked by the director at any time for a noncompliance with the conditions imposed.

(H) As a condition precedent to the issuance of any permit for telecommunications facilities or carbon capture and storage pipelines, the director shall require the applicant to provide proof it is party to a lease, easement, or license for the construction, placement, or operation of such facility or pipeline in or on a transportation facility.

Except as otherwise provided in this section and section 5501.311 of the Revised Code, Chapters 5501., 5503., 5511., 5513., 5515., 5516., 5517., 5519., 5521., 5523., 5525., 5527., 5528., 5529., 5531., 5533., and 5535. of the Revised Code do not prohibit telephone and electric light and power companies from constructing, maintaining, and using telephone or electric light and power lines along and upon such roads or highways under section 4933.14 or other sections of the Revised Code, or to affect existing rights of any such companies, or to require such companies to obtain a permit from the director, except with respect to the location of poles, wires, conduits, and other equipment comprising lines on or beneath the surface of such road or highways.

This section does not prohibit steam or electric railroad companies from constructing tracks across such roads or highways, nor authorize the director to grant permission to any company owning, operating, controlling, or managing a steam railroad or interurban railway in this state to build a new line of railroad, or to change or alter the location of existing tracks across any road or highway on the state highway system at grade. No such company shall change the elevation of any of its tracks across such road or highway except in accordance with plans and specifications first approved by the director.

This section does not relieve any individual, firm, or corporation from the obligation of satisfying any claim or demand of an owner of lands abutting on such road or highway on the state highway system on account of placing in such road or highway a burden in addition to public travel.

(I) No person shall knowingly use or occupy a portion of a road or highway on the state highway system if the director revokes that person's permit under division (G) of this section.

Last updated April 30, 2025 at 11:15 AM

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 11 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1961–2025 · leading case: Link v. FirstEnergy Corp. (Slip Opinion), 2016 Ohio 5083 (Ohio 2016).
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Link v. FirstEnergy Corp. (Slip Opinion), 2016 Ohio 5083 (Ohio 2016). · cites it 2× “See R.C. 5515.01 (upon formal application, director of transportation may grant a permit “with respect to the location of poles” on state highways subject to the conditions set forth in divisions (A) through (H)); R.”
Green v. Noble, Dir., 182 N.E.2d 569 (Ohio Ct. App. 1961). · cites it 22× “” This permit was granted under the provisions of Section 5515.01, Revised Code, which are as follows : “The Director of Highways may upon formal application being made to him, grant a permit to any individual, firm, or corporation to use or occupy such portion of a road or…”
Turner v. Ohio Bell Tel. Co., 887 N.E.2d 1158 (Ohio 2008). “03 (municipalities), 5547.04 (counties), and 5515.01 (the state).”
Citizens Organized to Defend the Env't, Inc. v. Volpe, 353 F. Supp. 520 (S.D. Ohio 1972). · cites it 2× “” Plaintiffs argue that Consol’s use of 1-70 is not permissible under § 5515.01, *535 Ohio Revised Code, which provides in relevant part: The director of [Transportation] may upon formal application being made to him, grant a permit to any individual, firm, or corporation to use…”
Bidar v. Cleveland Elec. Illum. Co., 2012 Ohio 3686 (Ohio Ct. App. 2012). · cites it 2× “” {¶37} Similarly, R.C. 5515.01, which governs the use of state highways, also expressly requires permission.”
In Re Appropriation for Hwy. Purposes of Land of Winkelman, 234 N.E.2d 514 (Ohio Ct. App. 1968). · cites it 2× “” Presumably, *132 the permit was sought under the provisions of Section 5515.01, Revised Code, “to use or occupy such portion of a road or highway on the state highway system as will not incommode the traveling public.”
Snay v. Burr, 2020 Ohio 3828 (Ohio Ct. App. 2020). “, quoting R.C. 5515.01. It articulated that the issue that must be 27.”
Save Ohio Parks v. Oil & Gas Land Mgt. Comm., 2025 Ohio 847 (Ohio Ct. App. 2025). “12 allows a party affected by any order of an agency, issued pursuant to an adjudication ‘ * * * denying the issuance or renewal of a license or registration of a licensee, or revoking or suspending a license,’ to appeal the order of the agency to the common pleas court[,]” in…”
Brown v. Ohio Dep't of Transp., 615 N.E.2d 1126 (Ohio Ct. App. 1992). “12 allows a party affected by any order of an agency, issued pursuant to an adjudication “ * * * denying the issuance or renewal of a license or registration of a licensee, or revoking or suspending a license,” to appeal the order of the agency to the common pleas court.”
Toledo Edison Co. v. Bd. of Defiance Cty. Commrs., 2013 Ohio 5374 (Ohio Ct. App. 2013). · cites it 2× “, citing R.C. 5515.01. Consequently, the issue presented, according to the Court, was: “when does a utility pole incommode the public in the use of the roads or highways?” Id.”
Phillips v. Vill. of New Richmond (S.D. Ohio 2020). · cites it 2× “The directive in the letters relies on authority granted to ODOT in ORC §5515.01 (“Permits granted to use or occupy portion of road or highway”) and §5501.”
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