rvrrhs wrote:
I meant, did these governmental agencies sell off those small parking lot segments, or in any way grant permission to build there
I seriously doubt it. Granting permission to use the right of way would require all kinds of insurance and red tape. Most likely the adjacent owners just started using the property, doubt anyone from the State or County even inspected the right of way for any reason, let alone squatters.
An outright sale of individual parcel seems unlikely too. Lots of work involved to do that, such as surveys and subdivision maps. The right of way is in long contiguous pieces where as the adjacent properties could be very small lots (50' x 100' in residential areas). If split up a separate description and map would need to be filed for each lot. And if split down the center of the right of way too each 50' lineal feet of right of way would be two new lots, one on each side. Lots of work and it would be quite expensive.
If the government agencies did decide to sell, they would have looked at selling the entire right of way to one buyer, which is much less of a headache.
Chris