306.46  Public utility facilities — public road rights-of-way.
  1.  A public utility may construct, operate, repair, or maintain its utility facilities within a public road right-of-way. The location of new utility facilities shall comply with section 318.9. A utility facility shall not be constructed or installed in a manner that causes interference with public use of the road.
  2.  For purposes of this section, “public utility” means a public utility as defined in section 476.1, and shall also include waterworks, municipally owned waterworks, joint water utilities, rural water districts incorporated under chapter 357A or chapter 504, and cooperative water associations. For the purposes of this section, “utility facilities” means any cables, conduits, wire, pipe, casing pipe, supporting poles, guys, and other material and equipment utilized for the furnishing of electric, gas, communications, water, or sewer service.
  3.  This section shall not impair or interfere with a city’s authority to grant, amend, extend, or renew a franchise as provided in section 364.2, and shall not impair or interfere with a city’s existing general police powers to control the use of its right-of-way.
2004 Acts, ch 1014, §1, 2; 2004 Acts, ch 1049, §191; 2004 Acts, ch 1175, §332, 346; 2005 Acts, ch 3, §61; 2006 Acts, ch 1097, §14