§ 33.1-145. Abandonment of road or crossing; procedure
The Commissioner on his own motion or on petition of any interested landowner may also cause any section of a road of the State Highway System, or any crossing by such road of the lines of a railway company, or crossing by the lines of a railway company of such road, to be abandoned altogether as a public road or as a public crossing, as the case may be, by complying substantially with the following procedure:
The Commissioner or any interested landowner may file application with the Commonwealth Transportation Board, setting out the section of the road or the crossing sought to be abandoned as a public road. The Commonwealth Transportation Board, upon the filing of such application, shall give notice thereof by (a) posting a notice of such application at least three days before the first day of a regular term of the circuit court, at the front door of the courthouse of the county in which the section of the road or crossing sought to be abandoned as a public road or crossing is located, or if it be partly in two or more counties, at the front door of the courthouse of each of such counties, or (b) by publication in two or more issues of some newspaper published in the county, or one of them, and shall also mail by registered mail a notice of the application to the board of supervisors or other governing body of the county or counties. If such road or crossing be in a town of 3,500 population or less, notice shall be given to the governing body of the town in the same manner as notice is required to be given to the governing body of the county in which the town is located.
Upon petition of one or more landowners in the county or counties affected by such proposed abandonment, or of the board of supervisors or other governing body of either of such counties, or upon petition of the governing body of any such town in which the road or crossing is located, filed with the Commonwealth Transportation Board within thirty days after notice is posted or published and mailed as aforesaid, but not thereafter, the Commonwealth Transportation Board or a representative thereof shall hold a public hearing in one of the counties for the consideration of the application and shall give notice of the time and place of the hearing by at least two publications thereof in some newspaper published in the county, or one of them, or having general circulation therein and also mail notice of the hearing to the board of supervisors or other governing body of the county or counties and to the town council of the town in which the road is located.
If a petition be not filed as aforesaid for a public hearing, or if after public hearing is held the Commonwealth Transportation Board, or a majority thereof, is satisfied that no public necessity exists for the continuance of the section of road as a public road, or the crossing as a public crossing, or that the welfare of the public would be served best by abandoning the section of road or the crossing, as a public road or crossing, it shall enter (i) within four months next after the thirty days during which notice was posted where no petition for a public hearing was filed, or (ii) within four months next after the public hearing an order on its minutes abandoning the section of road as a public road or the crossing as a public crossing, and thereupon the section of road shall cease to be a public road, unless taken over by the board of supervisors or other governing body or local road authorities as hereinafter provided, or the crossing shall cease to be a public crossing; or if the Board be not so satisfied it shall enter within the specified four months an order dismissing the application.
In considering the abandonment of any section of road under the provisions of this section, due consideration shall be given to the historic value, if any, of such road.
(Code 1950, § 33-76.2; 1950, p. 727; 1970, c. 322; 1978, c. 187; 1980, c. 39.)
Sections: Previous 33.1-138 33.1-139 33.1-140 33.1-141 33.1-142 33.1-143 33.1-144 33.1-145 33.1-145.1 33.1-146 33.1-147 33.1-148 33.1-149 33.1-150 33.1-151 NextLast modified: April 3, 2009