Judges: WRITTEN BY: Paul L. Douglas, Attorney General; Randall E. Sims, Assistant Attorney General.
Filed Date: 10/2/1979
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/5/2016
REQUESTED BY: F. A. Gossett, III, Dodge County Attorney, Courthouse, Fremont, Nebraska, 68025.
1. Does moving a portion of an existing county road 75 feet from the existing right-of-way constitute `relocation' under section
2. Does the phrase `public roads of a county' as used in section
1. Yes.
2. It includes county and township roads and all public streets of unincorporated villages, but not federal or state highways, and not any public road or any part thereof which is within the area of the zoning jurisdiction of a city of the metropolitan, primary or first class without the prior approval of the governing body of such city.
1. The word `relocation' as used in section
Accordingly, reliance is placed on a definition from another jurisdiction wherein the case of Schneider v.Masheter,
2. Under the County Road Act, section
"Public roads shall mean all roads within this state which have been laid out in pursuance of any law of this state, and which have not been vacated in pursuance of law, and all roads located and opened by the law of this state, and which have not been vacated and opened by the county board of any county and traveled for more than ten years; . . ."
Section
"All public streets of unincorporated villages are a part of the public roads and shall be worked and maintained by the respective county or township authorities."
Section
"General supervision and control of the public roads of each county is vested in the county board. The board shall have the power and authority of establishment, improvement, maintenance, and abandonment of public roads of the county and of enforcement of the laws in relation thereto as provided by the provisions of this act."
Additionally, section
"The county board shall have power to lay out, alter or discontinue any road running through its county, to vacate or discontinue public roads running parallel and adjacent to state or federal highways not more than four hundred yards from said highway, or any part thereof, or any abandoned or unused road or part thereof, and for such purpose may acquire title to lands therein, either by gift, prescription, dedication, the exercise of the right of eminent domain, purchase or lease, and may perform such duties concerning roads as may be prescribed by law; Provided, that the county board shall not vacate or discontinue any public road or any part thereof which is within the area of the zoning jurisdiction of a city of the metropolitan, primary or first class without the prior approval of the governing body of such city."
Although townships in counties adopting township organization have certain powers and duties concerning roads, they do not extend to relocation, vacation or abandonment. However, by statute, sections
Similarly, the relocation statute, section
"Provided, that the county board shall not require relocation, vacation, or abandonment of any public road or any part thereof which is within the area of the zoning jurisdiction of a city of the metropolitan, primary or first class without the prior approval of the governing body of such city."
By separate statute, section
Under sections