§ 136-67. Neighborhood public roads.
Article4.
Neighborhood Roads,Cartways, Church Roads, etc.
§ 136‑67. Neighborhoodpublic roads.
All those portions of thepublic road system of the State which have not been taken over and placed undermaintenance or which have been abandoned by the Department of Transportation,but which remain open and in general use as a necessary means of ingress to andegress from the dwelling house of one or more families, and all those roadsthat have been laid out, constructed, or reconstructed with unemployment relieffunds under the supervision of the Department of Health and Human Services, andall other roads or streets or portions of roads or streets whatsoever outsideof the boundaries of any incorporated city or town in the State which serve apublic use and as a means of ingress or egress for one or more families,regardless of whether the same have ever been a portion of any State or countyroad system, are hereby declared to be neighborhood public roads and they shallbe subject to all of the provisions of G.S. 136‑68, 136‑69 and 136‑70with respect to the alteration, extension, or discontinuance thereof, and anyinterested party is authorized to institute such proceeding, and in lieu ofpersonal service with respect to this class of roads, notice by publicationonce a week in any newspaper published in said county, or in the event there isno such newspaper, by posting at the courthouse door and three other publicplaces, shall be deemed sufficient: Provided, that this definition ofneighborhood public roads shall not be construed to embrace any street, road ordriveway that serves an essentially private use, and all those portions andsegments of old roads, formerly a part of the public road system, which havenot been taken over and placed under maintenance and which have been abandonedby the Department of Transportation and which do not serve as a necessary meansof ingress to and egress from an occupied dwelling house are herebyspecifically excluded from the definition of neighborhood public roads, and theowner of the land, burdened with such portions and segments of such old roads,is hereby invested with the easement or right‑of‑way for such oldroads heretofore existing.
Upon request of the board ofcounty commissioners of any county, the Department of Transportation ispermitted, but is not required, to place such neighborhood public roads asabove defined in a passable condition without incorporating the same into theState or county system, and without becoming obligated in any manner for thepermanent maintenance thereof.
This section shall notauthorize the reopening on abandoned roads of any railroad grade crossing thathas been closed by order of the Department of Transportation in connection withthe building of an overhead bridge or underpass to take the place of such gradecrossing. (1929, c. 257, s. 1; 1933, c. 302; 1941, c. 183; 1949,c. 1215; 1957, c. 65, s. 11; 1969, c. 982; 1973, c. 476, s. 138; c. 507, s. 5;1977, c. 464, s. 7.1; 1997‑443, s. 11A.122.)