4.11.3.2. Corridors and Rights of Way.Acquisitions of strips, corridors, or rights of way via negotiated purchase or affirmative condemnation involve many similar valuation problems to those found in acquisitions of streets. Such acquisitions often involve preexisting encumbrances, such as easements for rail or transmission line use, that may deprive them of value for other uses.1150 The appraiser must understand the precise property interest(s) being acquired and the impact of any existing encumbrances.1151 Typically, legal instructions are required.1152 

Rails-to-Trails Claims.These issues frequently arise in so-called rails-to-trails cases. The National Trails System Act Amendments of 19831153 has prompted numerous inverse takings claims regarding adjacent landowners’ potential reversionary interests in rail corridor lands.1154 As in any inverse taking claim, the court must first determine liability (i.e., whether a taking occurred for which just compensation must be paid) before the case can proceed to the compensation phase (i.e., what amount of compensation is due) in which appraisers are retained to develop opinions of market value.1155 If a taking occurred and the United States is liable for compensation, the standard federal valuation rules apply in the compensation phase of a rails-to-trails case, as in other inverse takings.1156 Rails-to-trails takings may be permanent or temporary in nature.1157 Rail corridors frequently include preexisting improvements or physical remnants of rail use—such as embankments, rail ties, or poor soil conditions—which must be considered in developing an opinion of market value.1158 As the Federal Circuit held, in a rails-to-trails case “the fair market value of the land includes the physical remnants of the railway that would have remained on the landowners’ property” but for the conversion of the corridor to trail use.1159 Accordingly, failing to consider the removal costs is an improper appraisal methodology that “will result in an artificially inflated value and yield a windfall to the landowner.”1160