In this title, unless the context requires otherwise,

(1) “commissioner” means the commissioner of transportation and public facilities;

(2) “construction” or a derivative of the term “construction” means construction, reconstruction, alteration, improvement, or major repair;

(3) “cost of change, relocation, or removal” means the entire cost incurred by the utility properly attributed to the change, relocation, or removal of a facility, less any costs for improvements or upgrading over and above the cost of a functionally equal facility; if a facility is to be relocated and replaced with new equipment, there shall also be subtracted from the entire cost any salvage value derived from the old facility;

(4) “department” means the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities;

(5) “encroachment” includes a tower, pole, poleline, pipe, pipeline, driveway, private road, fence, billboard, stand or building, or a structure or object of any kind that is or has been placed in, on, under, or over a portion of a public facility;

(6) “maintenance” means the preservation of each type of facility as nearly as possible in its original condition as constructed, or as improved;

(7) “public building” means a building owned or controlled and held by the state for government or public use;

(8) “public facility” or “public work” means a structure or project constructed or maintained by the department except airports and highways, and includes public buildings, boat harbors, port facilities, dikes, jetties, and breakwaters;

(9) “utility” includes a corporation, company, individual, or association of individuals, or a lessee, trustee, or court-appointed receiver, that owns, operates, manages, or controls a line, plant, pipeline, or system for furnishing, producing, generating, transmitting, or distributing power, electricity, communications, telecommunications, water, gas, oil, petroleum products, coal or other mineral slurry, steam, heat, light, chemicals, air, sewage, drainage not connected with public facility drainage, irrigation, or similar products including publicly owned fire and police signal systems and street lighting systems that directly or indirectly serve the public or a segment of the public; “utility” also includes a corporation, company, individual, or association of individuals, or a lessee, trustee, or court-appointed receiver that owns, operates, manages, or controls any system for furnishing transportation of goods or persons by means of a railway, tramway, cableway, conveyor, flume, canal, tunnel, pipeline, or a similar means;

(10) “utility facility” includes poles, plants, lines, trenches, bridges, utilidors, tunnels, pipelines, and any other system for furnishing, producing, generating, transmitting, or distributing power, electricity, communications, telecommunications, water, gas, oil, petroleum products, coal or other mineral slurry, steam, heat, light, chemicals, air, sewage, drainage not connected with a public facility drainage system, irrigation, or another substance; “utility facility” also includes a system for furnishing transportation of goods or persons by means of a railway, tramway, cableway, conveyor, flume, canal, tunnel, pipeline, or a similar means.