In County of Orange v. Santa Margarita Water Dist., 44 Cal. App. 4th 189, 52 Cal. Rptr. 2d 8 (Cal. Ct. App. 1996), the Santa Margarita Water District owned water and sewer utility lines under a county highway that were placed pursuant to a county-issued encroachment permit. Id. at 9. The permit provided that the water district would remove and relocate its utilities, at its own expense, if they interfered with the "improvement" of the highway. Id. A joint powers agency, which included the county, built a regional transportation toll road which intersected the county highway and passed underneath the county road. Id. The construction required the relocation of the utility lines to permit the underpass construction. Id. Because the California appellate court found that the new toll road did not constitute an "improvement" to the intersecting county highway, it concluded that "the long-standing rule is: facilities that are 'prior in time' are 'prior in right.'" Id. at 11. Because the water district's facilities were "first in place," and because it was the toll road project which necessitated relocation of the utilities, the court concluded that the water district's utility rights were superior to the joint powers agency's rights to construct the toll road. Id.