The department shall lay out, construct and maintain a system of state and state aid highways substantially as described in chapters 1 to 19. All persons employed by the department under chapters 1 to 19 are authorized to the extent necessary for surveys and preliminary engineering to enter and cross all lands within, adjoining and adjacent to the area to be surveyed. [1971, c. 593, §22(AMD).]
23 M.R.S. § 701