(a) The commissioners court of a county may propose a county road map that includes each road in which the county claims the existence of a public interest:
(1) under Chapter 281 or other law; or
(2) as a result of having continuously maintained the road with public funds beginning before September 1, 1981.
(b) A commissioners court that proposes a county road map under this section shall hold a public meeting at which a person asserting a private right, title, or interest in a road in which the county has claimed the existence of a public interest may appear before the commissioners court to protest the county's claim. A person asserting a private right, title, or interest in a road may also file a written protest with the county judge at any time before the public meeting. The commissioners court shall appoint a jury of view consisting of five property owners who have no interest in the outcome of the protest to determine, by a majority vote after a public hearing and an examination of the county's road maintenance records and other information, the validity of the county's claim of the existence of a public interest in the road. A county has a valid claim of the existence of a public interest in a road if it provides written records or other information documenting the county's continuous maintenance of the road beginning before September 1, 1981. The determination of the jury of view is binding on the commissioners court, and the commissioners court shall revise the proposed county road map accordingly.
(c) The commissioners court shall publish at least once a week in a newspaper of general circulation in the county for at least four consecutive weeks preceding the date of the public meeting a notice:
(1) advising the public that the commissioners court has proposed a county road map including each road in which the county claims the existence of a public interest;
(2) identifying a location at the courthouse at which the proposed map will be available to the public during regular business hours; and
(3) stating the date and location of the public meeting.
(d) The commissioners court shall display the proposed map at the location and during the time described in the notice from the date on which notice is first published through the date on which the commissioners court formally adopts the proposed map. The map must be legible, and the map scale must be that not less than one inch equals 2,000 feet.
(e) The commissioners court may formally adopt the proposed map, as revised after public comment and a determination by the jury of view, only at a public meeting held before the 90th day following the date of the initial public meeting required by Subsection (b).
(f) The county clerk shall keep a county road map adopted under this section in a place accessible to the public.
(g) The failure to include on a county road map adopted under this section a road in which the county has previously acquired a public interest by purchase, condemnation, dedication, or a court's final judgment of adverse possession does not affect the status of the omitted road.
(h) In this section, "continuous maintenance" means grading or other routine road maintenance beginning before September 1, 1981, and continuing until the date of protest.
Added by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 236, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 2003.
