A right of way on a survey is a marked strip or zone showing where someone other than you has a legal right to cross or access part of the property. Ownership of that ground stays with you, but you cannot build on it or block it, and the marking binds future owners the same way it binds you. Surveyors label it with abbreviations like “R/W” or “ROW” and draw it with dashed or dash-dot lines so it reads differently from your boundary.
How to Spot a Right of Way on the Map
Property boundary lines are the thick, solid lines around the outer edge of your parcel. Rights of way and easements are drawn differently on purpose: dashed lines or dash-dot lines running along an edge or cutting through the lot. Hatched or shaded areas often mark an easement zone or restricted area. The width is measured and written on the map, so you can see exactly how much of your land sits inside it.
Check the legend first. “R/W” and “ROW” both mean right of way. “Subject to” (sometimes “S/T”) flags a right of way that burdens your land, and “together with” (“T/W”) flags one that benefits your land by crossing someone else’s. Every symbol used on a given survey should be explained in that survey’s legend, so if something looks unfamiliar, the answer is usually there.
Not every survey shows the same detail. A basic boundary survey locates your property lines but may not pick up every easement or right of way on the parcel. An ALTA/NSPS land title survey, the type lenders and title companies often require for commercial transactions, specifically maps all improvements, easements, and rights of way affecting the property. If you want a complete picture of what encumbrances exist, the ALTA survey is the more thorough option.
Right of Way vs. Easement
The two words get used interchangeably, and they overlap, but they are not identical. An easement is the broader category: any legal right to use someone else’s land for a specific purpose. A right of way is the subset that grants passage, whether on foot, by vehicle, or for utility access. Other easements cover things like drainage, conservation restrictions, or underground utility lines. On a survey you may see either term depending on the purpose of the access, and sometimes both.
Kinds of Rights of Way You May See
Public and Private
A public right of way lets the general public travel across private property. Roads, sidewalks, and pathways to parks are the usual examples, and a local government typically manages the area. These often appear along the front edge of a residential lot. A private right of way grants access only to a specific person or entity. The most familiar case is a shared driveway that crosses one property to reach a landlocked neighbor’s lot. Private rights of way are recorded in public land records, so they carry over to future owners.
Utility
Utility rights of way let power, water, sewer, gas, or telecommunications companies install and maintain infrastructure on private land. On a survey they often appear as narrow strips running along property edges or across a backyard. Workers can legally enter the designated zone to service their equipment, and you generally cannot plant large trees or build permanent structures within it.
Appurtenant vs. In Gross
Rights of way also split into two structural categories that control how they transfer. An appurtenant right of way is tied to the land. It benefits one parcel (the dominant estate)1Legal Information Institute. Dominant Estate and burdens another (the servient estate),2Legal Information Institute. Servient Estate and it automatically passes to new owners when either property is sold. A shared driveway easement is the typical example. An easement in gross belongs to a specific person or organization rather than to a neighboring parcel. Utility easements and conservation easements held by land trusts are the common examples. The distinction matters because appurtenant rights of way always run with the land; easements in gross may or may not transfer depending on how they were created.
What a Right of Way Means for You as the Owner
If a right of way crosses your parcel, you still own the ground under it, but you accept real restrictions on that strip. The core rule is that you cannot obstruct it. No permanent structures like sheds, garages, or walls inside the easement boundaries. Many utility easements also prohibit deep-rooted trees that could interfere with buried lines. Fencing is a gray area that depends on the easement terms; if a fence blocks the access the easement grants, it violates the right of way.
The holder of the right of way can use the path for its intended purpose and perform reasonable maintenance to keep it functional. A neighbor with a driveway easement can pave or repair the driveway surface. These limits can affect property value and are worth weighing before you close.
Maintenance responsibility depends on the type and on any written agreement. Utility companies maintain their own infrastructure. For a shared driveway, the ideal is a recorded agreement that spells out cost-sharing for repairs, snow removal, and resurfacing. Without one, disputes are common and expensive.
How Rights of Way Are Created
A right of way does not just appear. It has to come from a recognized legal mechanism, and the method of creation determines how it shows up in the records.
- Express grant. The landowner writes the right of way into a deed or a separate easement agreement, which is then recorded in the county land records. Once recorded, it binds every future owner. Developers create express rights of way the same way when they record a subdivision plat with shared access roads or utility corridors.
- Necessity. When a landowner sells off a parcel that has no access to a public road, the law presumes the buyer has a right to cross the seller’s remaining land to reach that road. Without that rule, the landlocked parcel would be unusable.3Legal Information Institute. Implied Easement by Necessity
- Prescription. Similar to adverse possession, a prescriptive easement forms when someone uses a path across your land openly and continuously, without permission, for a period set by state law. That period varies widely across jurisdictions, from a few years to over twenty. Because prescriptive easements are not recorded when they form, they are the hardest to spot on a survey.4Legal Information Institute. Easement by Prescription
How Rights of Way End
Rights of way are not always permanent. Several mechanisms can terminate them:
- Release. The holder voluntarily gives it up in a written, recorded document. This is the cleanest method.
- Merger. When one person or entity acquires both the dominant and servient estates, the easement merges out of existence. Both properties have to come under complete common ownership; a partial interest is not enough.
- End of necessity. If an easement existed because a parcel was landlocked and a new public road later gives it direct access, the necessity is gone and the easement can be terminated.
- Abandonment. A court may find the holder abandoned the right of way if they stopped using it for an extended period and showed no intention to resume. Nonuse alone is usually not enough; there has to be affirmative evidence of intent to give it up.
- Condemnation. A government agency can extinguish an easement through eminent domain.
- Adverse possession. If the servient owner openly blocks the easement and the holder does nothing about it for the prescriptive period, the easement can be extinguished.
Termination rarely happens automatically. It usually takes a recorded release, a court order, or both before the right of way comes off the property records.
Checking for a Right of Way Before You Buy
The worst time to discover a right of way is after you have closed and started planning a backyard addition. A few steps during due diligence prevent that surprise.
Order a thorough survey. A basic boundary survey may not flag every easement, so ask the surveyor to specifically locate and label any rights of way. For commercial purchases or high-value residential transactions, an ALTA/NSPS survey maps every easement, right of way, and encroachment on the property.
Review the title search. Title professionals examine historical deeds, recorded easement agreements, and subdivision plats to identify rights of way that burden the property. A survey and a title search work as a pair: the survey shows where the easement sits physically, and the title search tells you the legal terms that govern it.
Understand what title insurance does and does not cover. Standard policies typically exclude unrecorded easements unless the insurer had specific notice or issued an endorsement covering them. Prescriptive easements are exactly the risk that can slip through both a title search and a standard policy. If you have any reason to think neighbors have been using a path across the property for years, raise it with your title company before closing.