County Road?

[alracd]

State of Texas

There is a county (graded) road that accesses our property from the main (paved) county road. In the early 1980's, that road was extended by my uncle, who built a house further down the road, where it turned and crossed a corner of what was then property owned by the timber company. That extension later became part of the county road and has been listed on the county computers as a county road since the early 90's when the county started keeping computer records. The timber company land has recently been sold to a new owner who is disputing that the small section of the road that now crosses his property is a county road, saying that the extension part was never officially "recorded". I've checked with the computer records specialist at the 911 rural addressing office where they keep the county road information. His map shows this road as a county road all the way to the end of the extension and it also has a TX DOT routing number assigned to it for the full length of the road which, from what I understand, means that it is an official county road and the county receives funds from the state to maintain it.

In the meantime, while we were absent from our property, the new neighbor closed down the corner portion of the road that ran across his property and rerouted it (by bulldozing) across our front yard, justifying what he did by pointing out that we have an easement there (a family easement put in to allow family members ingress and egress to land to the side and in back of us although this easement has never needed to be used because there was a county road there allowing access).

1. If this road has been assigned a TX DOT routing number, does that indeed make it an official county road?

2. Did the new neighbor have any right to come on our land and reroute this road?

3. What procedure should we follow to have the section of the road reinstated? Do we need to have a private lawyer or is the county supposed to handle this?

Thanks for any help.

 

[justalayman]

https://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?t=300108
https://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?t=298211


Has the situation changed since these last posts?

It sounds like the same place with alot of the specifics changed.

 

[alracd]

Sorry, I didn't know if it would still be viable to continue that thread or if I should start a new one. The situation is basically the same except that we have now found out that the neighbor was involved in the bulldozing of our property (we had previously thought only a relative was involved who would have access to the family easement). We've also found out that the neighbor is claiming that the road extension was never officially registered so that gave him the right to close it down and move it onto our property. We thought the county would be handling the road issue but we have been sent from place to place (county commissioner, district attorney's office, sheriff's office, etc.) with no action yet being taken. We finally (with prodding) were able to get the issue on the docket of commissioner's court yesterday but were told that no action would be taken although they would probably discuss it. I guess what is up in the air now is whether the entire road is an official county road or whether just the original part of the road is a county road and the rest of it is not. I'm trying my best to find out the road's status - thus my visit to the office that keeps the county road information, where I was told (as before) that it *was* a county road and had a TX DOT routing number for the entire length. Does that indeed mean that it's officially a county road? Or is it possible that there may be some kind of official registration that is missing on the extension part that would disqualify it? I'm totally ignorant of what a road has to go through to become a county road although the records specialist told me that there are various ways. I just know that the extension part of the road has been there since the early 80's and, at some point later on, was designated a county road, the county maintains it and has a road sign on it. And all the checking I've done has indicated it's a county road and, as such, cannot be moved, fenced or touched. So I'm confused as to why nothing is being done to reinstate it.

Sorry to be such a pest but questions keep coming to mind that I don't have answers to. If the road is indeed a county road, everyone we've talked to says that the neighbor has no right to shut it down. If the extension part of the road is *not* a county road, then I would think that the nighbor had no right to come on our property, even though there's an easement there, and reestablish the road on our property. And, if the extension is not official, I would think he has no right to even use the extension part of the road since it's all family easement (except, as you mentioned before, he was visiting the relative at the end of the road).

But my main question is: if the entire length of the road is officially mapped and in the computer for a number of years and has a TX DOT routing number, does that mean without a doubt that this road is an official county road, even if it was not registered as one in some other venue?

 

[justalayman]

But my main question is: if the entire length of the road is officially mapped and in the computer for a number of years and has a TX DOT routing number, does that mean without a doubt that this road is an official county road, even if it was not registered as one in some other venue

Well I am not going to go through all things again myself BUT:

if the road is an actual road, there will either be an easement recorded against the properties (for the municipality claiming the road not an individual) or they will actually hold title to the property the road is on.

Many roads are "mapped" many years in the future on speculation. If the property was never taken (evidenced by the previous methods) there is no road.

Also , I have never seen where any governental entity has allowed a private citizen to "make their road" for them. Too many rules on building them.

Additionally, if it were a road, the neighbors could not place gates on it.

 

[alracd]

The road is shown on the new neighbor's survey but maybe what the neighbor is referring to is that there is no easement officially recorded against the property in his deed. Even so, wouldn't the road qualify as a prescriptive easement since it's been there for 20-25 years, has been continuously used and maintained and the previous owner (the timber company) was aware it was there and allowed it?