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2018 Georgia Code 32-4-1 | Car Wreck Lawyer

Link to State of Georgia Official Statute 2018 Georgia Code Annotated (sourced from legal.resource.org)
O.C.G.A. 32-4-1 Case Law from Google Scholar Amendments to OCGA 32-4-1

TITLE 32 HIGHWAYS, BRIDGES, AND FERRIES

Section 4. State, County, and Municipal Road Systems, 32-4-1 through 32-4-123.

ARTICLE 1 GENERAL PROVISIONS

32-4-1. Classification of public roads.

For purposes of jurisdiction and administration, the public roads of Georgia shall be divided and classified in accordance with the three types of classifications provided in this Code section:

  1. STATE HIGHWAY SYSTEM. The state highway system shall consist of those public roads which on July 1, 1973, are shown by the records of the department to be "state-aid roads," those public roads thereafter designated by the department as part of the state highway system, and all of The Dwight D. Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways within the state;
  2. COUNTY ROAD SYSTEMS. Each county road system shall consist of those public roads within that county, including county roads extending into any municipality within the county, which are shown to be part of that county road system by the department records on July 1, 1973, and any subsequent additions to such county road system made by the county;
  3. MUNICIPAL STREET SYSTEMS. Each municipal street system shall consist of those public roads within the limits of that municipality which are not in any other classification under this Code section.

(Code 1933, § 95A-201, enacted by Ga. L. 1973, p. 947, § 1; Ga. L. 2000, p. 136, § 32.)

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Editor's notes.

- In light of the similarity of the statutory provisions, decisions under former Code 1933, § 69-301, which was subsequently repealed but was succeeded by provisions in this Code section, are included in the annotations for this Code section.

Road may become public without department recording road in county road system.

- Failure of the Department of Transportation to record a particular road as being a part of the county road system does not determine whether such road becomes a public road by prescription. Jordan v. Way, 235 Ga. 496, 220 S.E.2d 258 (1975).

Circular airport roadway not street.

- Roadway in the form of a circle, situated wholly within the limits of a municipal airport, is not a city "street." Mayor of Savannah v. Lyons, 54 Ga. App. 661, 189 S.E. 63 (1936) (decided under former Code 1933, § 69-301).

Cited in Georgia DOT v. Smith, 210 Ga. App. 741, 437 S.E.2d 811 (1993); City of Social Circle v. Sims, 228 Ga. App. 582, 492 S.E.2d 240 (1997); DOT v. Carr, 254 Ga. App. 781, 564 S.E.2d 14 (2002); Murray v. Ga. DOT, 284 Ga. App. 263, 644 S.E.2d 290 (2007).

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Deeding privately-owned road or driveway to county.

- Merely deeding privately owned road or driveway to county will not necessarily turn that private property into a public road. 1980 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U80-37.

When county must maintain roads annexed into municipalities.

- Because the county must maintain roads on the county road system and because public roads are not removed from the system by mere annexation into a municipality where the road lies, the county must continue to maintain roads on the county road system which are in areas annexed into a municipality until the governing authority of the county removes the roads from the county road system by appropriate action. 1976 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U76-21.

Contract for improvement of county road located in municipality.

- County may, by contract, obtain the cooperation of a municipality in the right-of-way acquisition for, and construction and maintenance of, a county road located within the municipality, but the county cannot require this of a municipality absent an appropriate contract. 1986 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U86-27.

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 39 Am. Jur. 2d, Highways, Streets, and Bridges, § 3.

C.J.S.

- 39A C.J.S., Highways, § 1.

ALR.

- Responsibility of county for injury from defect in highway, 2 A.L.R. 721.

Term "highway" in statutory provision relative to vehicle traffic as including street, 54 A.L.R. 1250.

Jurisdiction and power in respect of street road which is part of, or touches upon, a state or federal highway, 144 A.L.R. 307.

Cases Citing O.C.G.A. § 32-4-1

Total Results: 2  |  Sort by: Relevance  |  Newest First

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DeKalb Cnty. Sch. Dist. v. DeKalb Cnty., 440 S.E.2d 185 (Ga. 1994).

Cited 6 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Feb 28, 1994 | 263 Ga. 879, 94 Fulton County D. Rep. 731

...eficiary of such cooperation being the local citizens. Government in metropolitan areas would do well to emulate such cooperation. NOTES [1] All references to "road" in this opinion are to a public road that is part of a county road system. See OCGA § 32-4-1 (2)....
...We are not referring to drives or roadways located entirely on school property, or on other non-public property, that are used for purposes of ingress and egress from improvements on the school property to a county public road, a municipal public road, § 32-4-1 (3), or a state highway, § 32-4-1 (1)....
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Sumter Cnty. v. Morris, 896 S.E.2d 571 (Ga. 2023).

Cited 3 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Dec 19, 2023 | 318 Ga. 1

...that roads are made part of the “county road system” by county resolution: “Each county shall, by resolution, designate roads to be a part of its county road system; and such resolutions shall be recorded in the minutes of the county.” See also OCGA § 32-4-1 (2) (“Each county road system shall consist of those public roads within that county, including county roads extending into any municipality within the county, which are shown to be part of that county road system by the department re...
...system,” and the county would then be obligated to maintain those roads under OCGA § 32-4-41 (1). These statutes do not, however, support the plaintiffs’ assertion that mere public use can obligate a county to repair and maintain a road. In OCGA §§ 32-4-1 (2), 32-4- 24 40, and 32-4-41, like in Penick, county action is required.11 Accordingly, none of the provisions in Title 32 cited by the plaintiffs or the Court of Appeals obligate Sumter County to rep...