K.S.A. » Chapter 68
Kansas Statutes Annotated

K.S.A. § 68-117 (2026)

Access to public highway, when; petition; width of road and plat; payment of expenses

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68-117. Access to public highway, when; petition; width of road and plat; payment of expenses. Whenever the premises of any person shall be so completely surrounded by adjoining lands, the property of others or by such lands and water, as to be without access to any public highway, then such person may petition the board of county commissioners of the county in which such premises lie for a road, and one road only, through some portion of the adjoining lands. The petition shall set forth the use and purposes of such proposed road. Upon presentation of such petition, the commissioners shall proceed in accordance with the provisions of K.S.A. 68-101 to 68-110, both sections inclusive, and K.S.A. 68-115 and 68-116, to lay out such road, make returns of plats, and allow damages, if any should be held or allowed: Provided, Said road shall not be less than forty (40) feet nor more than one hundred (100) feet in width and shall be laid out upon the quarter or quarter-quarter section lines when practicable.

The said road when so ordered by the board of county commissioners shall be platted and recorded in the office of the register of deeds and shall become a public way, subject to restrictions contained in the petition: And provided further, That the owner or owners, their grantees, successors or assigns, of the land specifically benefited by the establishment of such public road, shall forthwith pay all expenses of establishing said road, including all damages, if any should be held or allowed and thereafter forever maintain and keep the same in repair and without any expense or liability to the township or other municipality in which such road is so laid out and established.

History: L. 1911, ch. 248, § 13; L. 1913, ch. 261, § 1; L. 1915, ch. 291, § 1; R.S. 1923, 68-117; L. 1961, ch. 299, § 6; L. 1967, ch. 352, § 1; July 1.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 4 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1954–2022 · leading case: DeBey v. Schlaefli, 437 P.3d 1011 (Kan. Ct. App. 2019).
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DeBey v. Schlaefli, 437 P.3d 1011 (Kan. Ct. App. 2019). · cites it 2× “*819 In Heersche , the Horner family appealed a district court order finding they did not have an easement by necessity because they had an exclusive remedy under K.S.A. 68-117, which allowed landlocked property owners to compel their county to create access to a public roadway.”
McCluggage v. Loomis, 270 P.2d 248 (Kan. 1954). · cites it 2× “” *322 Its conclusions of law were: “That the County Commissioners of Butler County, Kansas, did have jurisdiction to establish the road in question under and by virtue of Section 68-117 of the General Statutes of 1949, and that the respondent by claiming damages waived any…”
Hall v. Twin Caney Watershed Jt. Dist. No. 34, 604 P.2d 63 (Kan. Ct. App. 1979). · cites it 4× “34 (watershed district) has an easement for a dike which runs generally north and south along the western side of Bee Creek.”
Pyle v. Gall, 317 Kan. 499 (Kan. Ct. App. 2022). “2d 325 (1957) (discussing implied easements); see also K.S.A. 68-117 (providing a method for establishing an access easement).”
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