Romero: Identifying Rural Roads

In Identifying Rural Roads, Alan Romero (Wyoming Law) analyzes how states establish—and extinguish—public roads. In particular, Romero critiques rules that he asserts contribute to the uncertain status of certain (rural) public roads.

Identifying Rural Roads begins by examining the requirements for establishing a public road and highlights the two general requirements the government must meet: acquiring an interest in the land and establishing that interest as a public road. Romero examines the many ways the government can acquire the necessary property interest including purchase, condemnation, dedication, and prescription/adverse possession. Identifying Rural Roads also discusses the various requirements for declaring a public road. Romero identifies how some state statutes, particularly ones related to prescriptive roadways, can create a risk that the government may end up with unintended obligations and liabilities.

Romero also identifies statutory road-mapping requirements, or lack thereof, as a source of legal uncertainty regarding the status of public roads. Comparing state statutes encouraging or requiring comprehensive road mapping, Romero asserts that, while state statutes may authorize or require counties to map public roads, the inclusion or omission of the road from such a map has no legal effect and thus has limited reliance value. Mapping requirements may also play a role in providing notice, an especially important requirement in rural settings where infrequent use may not fairly notify a land buyer that a road is public.

Uncertainty can also be found in the statutory inconsistencies across states regarding the extinguishment of public roads. Some states allow abandonment by nonuse or lack of public maintenance while other states require nonuse combined with other manifestations of intent to abandon and others do not recognize nonuse of a road by the public as an abandonment of the road. Romero suggests that allowing abandonment only by government declaration would address some of this uncertainty.

Ultimately, Identifying Rural Roads identifies the ways rules employed by states regarding the creation and elimination of public roads contributes to the uncertain legal status of old, rarely used county roads and identifies how these uncertainties create problems for both the government and private property owners.