33.1-145 - Abandonment of road or crossing; procedure.
§ 33.1-145. Abandonment of road or crossing; procedure.
The Commissioner on his own motion or on petition of any interested landownermay also cause any section of a road of the State Highway System, or anycrossing by such road of the lines of a railway company, or crossing by thelines of a railway company of such road, to be abandoned altogether as apublic road or as a public crossing, as the case may be, by complyingsubstantially with the following procedure:
The Commissioner or any interested landowner may file application with theCommonwealth Transportation Board, setting out the section of the road or thecrossing sought to be abandoned as a public road. The CommonwealthTransportation Board, upon the filing of such application, shall give noticethereof by (a) posting a notice of such application at least three daysbefore the first day of a regular term of the circuit court, at the frontdoor of the courthouse of the county in which the section of the road orcrossing sought to be abandoned as a public road or crossing is located, orif it be partly in two or more counties, at the front door of the courthouseof each of such counties, or (b) by publication in two or more issues of somenewspaper published in the county, or one of them, and shall also mail byregistered mail a notice of the application to the board of supervisors orother governing body of the county or counties. If such road or crossing bein a town of 3,500 population or less, notice shall be given to the governingbody of the town in the same manner as notice is required to be given to thegoverning body of the county in which the town is located.
Upon petition of one or more landowners in the county or counties affected bysuch proposed abandonment, or of the board of supervisors or other governingbody of either of such counties, or upon petition of the governing body ofany such town in which the road or crossing is located, filed with theCommonwealth Transportation Board within thirty days after notice is postedor published and mailed as aforesaid, but not thereafter, the CommonwealthTransportation Board or a representative thereof shall hold a public hearingin one of the counties for the consideration of the application and shallgive notice of the time and place of the hearing by at least two publicationsthereof in some newspaper published in the county, or one of them, or havinggeneral circulation therein and also mail notice of the hearing to the boardof supervisors or other governing body of the county or counties and to thetown council of the town in which the road is located.
If a petition be not filed as aforesaid for a public hearing, or if afterpublic hearing is held the Commonwealth Transportation Board, or a majoritythereof, is satisfied that no public necessity exists for the continuance ofthe 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 thesection 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 wasposted where no petition for a public hearing was filed, or (ii) within fourmonths next after the public hearing an order on its minutes abandoning thesection of road as a public road or the crossing as a public crossing, andthereupon the section of road shall cease to be a public road, unless takenover by the board of supervisors or other governing body or local roadauthorities as hereinafter provided, or the crossing shall cease to be apublic crossing; or if the Board be not so satisfied it shall enter withinthe specified four months an order dismissing the application.
In considering the abandonment of any section of road under the provisions ofthis 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.)