O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 32-4-1 (2019)

Classification of public roads

✓ O.C.G.A. — 2019 edition (Public.Resource.Org Release 73)

Code text and O.C.G.A. statutory annotations on this page reflect the 2019 Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Public.Resource.Org Release 73, 2019-08-21; public domain per Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). The Syfert case-law annotations in Notes of Decisions, below, are current.

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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.

History

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

Annotations

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of the similarity of the statutory provisions, decisions under former Code 1933, § 69-301, which was subsequently repealed but was succeeded by provisions in this Code section, are included in the annotations for this Code section.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

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 16 cases (2 in the last 5 years), 1985–2023 · leading case: Murray v. Georgia Dep't of Transp., 644 S.E.2d 290 (Ga. Ct. App. 2007).

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Murray v. Georgia Dep't of Transp., 644 S.E.2d 290 (Ga. Ct. App. 2007). · cites it 4× “[3] The plaintiffs do not dispute the trial court's finding that the accident occurred at the intersection of a state highway (State Route 8) and two municipal streets (McMillan Road and Broad Street) located within the limits of the City of Dacula. There is no evidence in the…”

Sumter Cnty. v. Morris, 896 S.E.2d 571 (Ga. 2023). · cites it 8× “” 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 records on July 1,…”

DeKalb Cnty. Sch. Dist. v. DeKalb Cnty., 440 S.E.2d 185 (Ga. 1994). · cites it 8× “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, §…”

Bell South Telecomm., Inc. v. Widner, 495 S.E.2d 52 (Ga. Ct. App. 1997). · cites it 4× “OCGA §§ 32-4-1 (2); 32-4-40 et seq.; Clack v.”

Kordares v. Gwinnett Cnty., 470 S.E.2d 479 (Ga. Ct. App. 1996). · cites it 2× “Although that statute was superseded and replaced in 1973 with O.C.G.A. § 32-4-1 et seq. (State, County and Municipal road Systems), Plaintiffs argue that its intent somehow survived in O.”

Dep't of Transp. v. Carr, 564 S.E.2d 14 (Ga. Ct. App. 2002). · cites it 4× “10 See OCGA § 32-4-1. 11 OCGA § 32-4-1 (1). 12 (Emphasis supplied.”

Coweta Cnty. v. Adams, 473 S.E.2d 558 (Ga. Ct. App. 1996). · cites it 4× “Under current law, negligent bridge claims are essentially foreclosed by sovereign immunity, and no county liability was created by OCGA § 32-4-1 et seq. Kordares v. Gwinnett County, 220 Ga.”

City of Holly Springs v. Cherokee Cnty., 682 S.E.2d 644 (Ga. Ct. App. 2009). · cites it 2× “4 On appeal, the city for the first time raises the argument that Sixes and Marble Quarry Roads were not in the county road system and that it has the power to accept the roads into its street system under OCGA § 32-4-1. But we need not reach this issue.”

Jackson v. Dep't of Transp., 412 S.E.2d 847 (Ga. Ct. App. 1991). · cites it 2× “Any DOT contract with a political subdivision for construction of a public road, not then, nor to become, part of the state highway system shall not relieve the political subdivision of the responsibility for maintaining the road.”

City of Soc. Circle v. Sims, 492 S.E.2d 240 (Ga. Ct. App. 1997). · cites it 8× “Subsection (2) of OCGA § 32-4-1 defines county roads as “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…”

Georgia Power Co. v. Collum, 334 S.E.2d 922 (Ga. Ct. App. 1985). · cites it 2× “” See OCGA § 32-4-1. If the relevant portion on Roswell Road is not a “state highway,” appellant would not necessarily be entitled to summary judgment based upon its compliance with DOT’s regulations, assuming the possibility exists that a more restrictive standard for utility…”

Dep't of Transp. v. Smith, 437 S.E.2d 811 (Ga. Ct. App. 1993). · cites it 2× “With regard to plaintiff’s claims for failure to maintain the roadway in question, the defendants argue that the trial court erred in denying their motion for summary judgment because the portion of former State Route 47 in question had been transferred from the state highway…”

Show all 16 citing cases →

— 32-4-1(2) — 1 case

Bell South Telecomm., Inc. v. Widner, 495 S.E.2d 52 (Ga. Ct. App. 1997). “OCGA §§ 32-4-1 (2); 32-4-40 et seq.; Clack v.”

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