68-115. Opening and repair of roads by county engineer or township trustee; drains and ditches; penalty for obstruction; compensation for road building material taken; appeal.
68-115
68-115. Opening and repair of roads by countyengineer or townshiptrustee; drains and ditches; penalty for obstruction; compensation forroad building material taken; appeal.(a) Except as provided by subsection (b), it shall be the duty of each andevery county engineer to open orcause to be opened all state and county roads and of each and everytownship trustee to open or cause to be opened all mail routes andtownship roads which have been or may hereafter be laid out orestablished through any part of the respective county or township. Notice ofsuch action shall be given to the owner or owners,or their agent or agents, ifresiding in the county, or, if such owner is incapacitated, to the guardian ofsuch person, if aresident of thecounty, through whose inclosed or cultivated lands such road is laid outor established. Such notice shalldirect such property owners to open such roadthrough their lands within 90 days after service of suchnotice. If the person or persons so notified do not open such road within thetime stated in such notice, it shall be lawful and it is herebymade theduty of such county engineer on state and county roads and of suchtrustee on township roads and mail route roads to respectively enterupon such property and open such roads. If such notice isgiven between the March 1, and October 1, thenotice shall designate the next followingJanuary 1, as the time ofopening such road. And the county engineer or township trusteerespectively shall keep the same in repair, and remove or cause to beremoved all obstructions that may be found therein.The township trustee and the county engineer are hereby authorized toenter upon any land near or adjoining such public road, to dig and carryaway any gravel, sand, stone, clay, gypsum or any other road-buildingmaterial and to purchase any timber which may be necessary to improve orrepair the road, and to enter upon any land adjoining or lyingnear such road, to make such drains or ditches through the same as thecounty engineer or township trustee deems necessary for the benefitof the roads, doing as little damage to the lands as the nature of thecase and the public good will permit. The drains and ditches thus madeshall be kept open if necessary by the township trustee or countyengineer and shall not be obstructed by the owner or occupants ofthe land or by any other person, under the penalty of being fined notexceeding $10 for each offense.
The owner of any gravel, sand, stone, clay, gypsum or any otherroad-building material taken, or the owner of the land through whichditches or drains may be made, as herein provided, or the owner of thecrops thereon, shall be allowed a fair and reasonable compensation forthe material so taken or for any injuries the lands or crops maysustainin consequence of the making of such drains or ditches. The amount ofsuch compensation shall be determined, allowed and paid by thehighwaycommissioners in event such material is used upon a mail route or atownship road, and determined, allowed and paid by the board of countycommissioners of the county when such material is used upon a county orstate road. Such claims shall be allowed and paid in the same manner asother ordinary claims against the county or township and the claimantshall have the same right of appeal as is now provided by law in othercases.
(b) If the owner of any property adjacent to orabutting a township road which has been laid out but not opened prior to theeffective date of this act desires to have such road opened, it shall be theduty of such owner to open such road. Such property owner shallestablish a maintainable road bed and drainage in accordance with the standardsestablished by the township board pursuant to K.S.A. 68-115a.Thereafter, it shallbe the duty of the township board to maintain such road as required bysubsection (a).
If the owner of any property adjacent to or abutting a township road whichhas been opened prior to the effective date of this act, but such road has notbeen maintained by the township for at least 20 years or has not been regularlyused by the general public and the owner desires to have the road maintainedfor general public use, it shall be the duty of such owner to establish amaintainable road bed and drainage in accordance with the standards establishedby the township board pursuant to K.S.A. 68-115a. Thereafter, itshall be the duty of the township board to maintain such road as required bysubsection (a).
If there is a dispute between landowners regarding the location of atownship road, the county engineer shall determine the location of the road.
History: L. 1911, ch. 248, § 11; R.S. 1923, 68-115;L. 1995, ch. 232, § 1;L. 1997, ch. 153, § 2; July 1.