There's a property we are looking into, but the only road access is a dirt county road and we got stuck and had to get a tractor to pull us out. There are no residences in the immediate area, but about 600 yards up the road there is a residence and the road in front of their property is gravel.

The property is inaccessible in this wet condition we are in (Texas). I'm assuming the excuse for the neglect is that no residence is there. Is the county responsible for making the road usable if a residence were to move in? Would they maintain to the property, or across the entire line of the property? I'm assuming regulations very from county to county.

Thank you.

Not sure about regulations but most of them operate on budget constraints and needs more than anything. Do some checking to see if it's actually a county maintained road and not just a property easement, then find out who your county commissioner is and have a visit with him.

Thank you, yes. We expect info from the County Commissioner by Thursday. I'm just so antsy about it. We are looking at a property that's all around great, but there is simply no way to get to it when it rains. If the county can't fix it, it won't work out.

I would place a call to the county highway engineer's office.

In order to build on our property, we have to have a driveway permit issued to us by the county highway department. The point of that all is to ensure the drainage ditch has a properly installed culvert for the driveway. When they came out to inspect my culvert, I talked with the guy who came out and I asked him about maintenance, such as brush in the ditch, etc. In our county, the county highway department is responsible for maintaining not only the road itself, but the full width of the right-of-way, which for this road extended about 10-12 feet from the edge of the road surface. This meant they were responsible for clearing the ditch from brush, not me. That was news to me. I still maintain the ditch and keep it mowed because the county would only come out twice a year to clear it, but .... without talking to the actual county highway department, I would not have known.

In most of the rural counties where I've lived, the county maintains the highways... Highway being defined as heavily traveled gravel roads. The landowners were welcome to maintain the secondary roads at their own expense. Depending on location that might mean periodic grading, or dragging a railroad tie behind the truck while traveling, or dumping a load of gravel in a problem area, or making a rock weir to restore a wash-out. The more urban counties have typically claimed sole responsibility for maintaining all roads.

FYI, just to give this thread closure, the county reported that the property is to far from the town to be considered a community improvement, but would charge a very great price of $6 a linear foot to gravel the road and they would continue maintaining it from thereon out. Thanks.