(a) The department is authorized to pay or participate in the payment of the costs of removing, relocating, or adjusting any of the following facilities or any component part thereof if they are owned by a municipal corporation, county, state agency, or by an authority created under the laws of Georgia pertaining to public utilities, without regard to whether such facilities were originally installed upon rights of way of the state highway system, a county road system, or a municipal street system, where such removal, relocation, or adjustment is made necessary by the construction or maintenance of any public road by the department: water distribution and sanitary sewer facilities and systems for producing, transmitting, or distributing communications, power, electricity, light, heat, gas, steam, waste, and storm water not connected with highway drainage, including fire and police signals, traffic-control devices, and street lighting systems.

(b) The department is authorized to pay or participate in the payment of the costs of removing, relocating, or making necessary adjustments to any of the following facilities or any component part thereof if they are owned by a public utility that is publicly, privately, or cooperatively owned, without regard to whether such facilities were originally installed upon rights of way of the state highway system, a county road system, or a municipal street system, where the department has made the determination that (i) such payments are in the best interest of the public and necessary in order to expedite the staging of the project; and (ii) the costs of the removal, relocation, or adjustment of such facilities are included as part of the contract between the department and the department's roadway contractor for the project, provided that such removal, relocation, or adjustment is made necessary by the construction or maintenance of a public road by the department: water distribution and sanitary sewer facilities and systems for producing, transmitting, or distributing communications, power, electricity, light, heat, gas, steam, waste, and storm water not connected with highway drainage, including fire and police signals, traffic-control devices, and street lighting systems.

(c) As to municipal corporations, counties, state agencies, authorities controlled by such municipal corporations, counties, or other state agencies, and public utilities that are publicly, privately, or cooperatively owned, the department is authorized to waive provisions in existing permits and agreements in conflict with this article.

(d) The costs of removing, relocating, or adjusting the facilities listed in subsection (a) of this Code section, which costs the department is authorized to pay or participate in by this Code section, shall be limited to the costs of removing, relocating, or adjusting those facilities which are physically in place and in conflict with proposed construction and, where replacement is necessary, to the costs of replacement in kind. That proportion of the costs representing improvement or betterment in a facility shall be excluded from the costs eligible for payment or participation by the department under this Code section, except to the extent that such improvement or betterment is made necessary by the public road construction or maintenance.

(e) All costs incurred by the department under this Code section shall be deemed to be a part of the costs of the project requiring removal, relocation, or adjustment of any of the facilities listed in subsections (a) and (b) of this Code section.