Missouri Revised Statutes

Mo. Rev. Stat. § 227.120 (2026)

Commission empowered to purchase or lease lands to exercise right of eminent domain

✓ current as of May 2026

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227.120. Commission empowered to purchase or lease lands to exercise right of eminent domain — restriction of or loss of access to be considered. — 1. The state highways and transportation commission shall have power to purchase, lease, or condemn, lands in the name of the state of Missouri for the following purposes when necessary for the proper and economical construction and maintenance of state highways:

(1) Acquiring the right-of-way for the location, construction, reconstruction, widening, improvement or maintenance of any state highway or any part thereof;

(2) Acquiring bridges or sites therefor and ferries, including the rights and franchises for the maintenance and operation thereof, over navigable streams, at such places as the state highways and transportation commission shall have authority to construct, acquire or contribute to the cost of construction of any bridge;

(3) Acquiring the right-of-way for the location, construction, reconstruction, widening, improvement or maintenance of any highway ordered built by the bureau of public roads of the Department of Agriculture of the United States government;

(4) Obtaining road building or road maintenance materials or plants for the manufacture or production of such materials and acquiring the right-of-way thereto; also acquiring the right-of-way to such plants as are privately owned when necessary for the proper and economical construction of the state highway system;

(5) Changing gradients in any state highway;

(6) Establishing detours in connection with the location, construction, reconstruction, widening, improvement or maintenance of any state highway or any part thereof;

(7) Changing the channels of any stream and providing for drainage ditches when necessary for the proper construction or maintenance of any state highway;

(8) Eliminating grade crossings;

(9) Acquiring water supply and water power sites and necessary lands for use in connection therewith, including rights-of-way to any such sites;

(10) Acquiring sites for garages and division offices and for storing materials, machinery and supplies;

(11) Acquiring lands for sight distances along any state highway or any portion thereof whenever necessary, and also acquiring lands within wyes formed by junctions of state highways, or junctions of state highways and other public highways;

(12) Acquiring lands or interests therein for the purpose of depositing thereon excess excavated or other materials produced in the construction, reconstruction, widening, improvement or maintenance of any state highway;

(13) Acquiring lands for any other purpose necessary for the proper and economical construction of the state highway system for which the commission may have authority granted by law. If condemnation becomes necessary, the commission shall have the power to proceed to condemn such lands in the name of the state of Missouri, in accordance with the provisions of chapter 523, insofar as the same is applicable to the said state highways and transportation commission, and the court or jury shall take into consideration the benefits to be derived by the owner, as well as the damage sustained thereby. The state highways and transportation commission also shall have the same authority to enter upon private lands to survey and determine the most advantageous route of any state highway as granted, under section 388.210, to railroad corporations.

2. In any case in which the commission exercises eminent domain involving a taking of real estate, the court, commissioners, and jury shall consider the restriction of or loss of access to any adjacent highway as an element in assessing the damages. As used in this subsection, "restriction of or loss of access" includes, but is not limited to, the prohibition of making right or left turns into or out of the real estate involved, provided that such access was present before the proposed improvement or taking.

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(RSMo 1939 § 8759, A.L. 2004 S.B. 1233, et al.)

Prior revision: 1929 § 8111

CROSS REFERENCE:

Acquisition and operation of quarries or factories to obtain road materials, 226.240 to 226.270

(1962) Highway commission had authority to condemn easement to provide a substitute location for pipelines which was necessary for interstate highway construction as the taking was for public purpose and was not in violation of Art. III, § 38(a) since state received compensation in surrender of existing right-of-way. State ex rel. State Highway Commission v. Eakin (Mo.), 357 S.W.2d 129.

(1962) In condemning a right-of-way for highways the state highway commission acts for the state and is its alter ego so that the taking is by the sovereign, and therefore the commission may condemn property of a fire district already devoted to public use. State ex rel. State Highway Commission v. Hoester (Mo.), 362 S.W.2d 519.

(1972) Subdivision (13) of this section does not empower the state highway commission to provide rest areas on state routes. State ex rel. State Highway Commission v. Pinkley (A.), 474 S.W.2d 46.

(1981) Power of eminent domain includes right to survey in anticipation of and preparation for condemnation. State ex rel. Rhodes v. Crouch (Mo.), 621 S.W.2d 47.

(1987) Eminent domain statutes are narrowly construed and an activity conducted beyond the scope of such statute, such as a "soil survey", may be enough of an intrusion to constitute a taking. Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission v. Eilers, 729 S.W.2d 471 (Mo.App.).

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 30 cases, 1956–2007 · leading case: State Ex Rel. Rhodes v. Crouch, 621 S.W.2d 47 (Mo. 1981).

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State Ex Rel. Rhodes v. Crouch, 621 S.W.2d 47 (Mo. 1981). · cites it 6× “210, RSMo 1978; and to the State Highway Commission to "determine the most advantageous route," § 227.120, RSMo 1978. [1] The United States Department of Agriculture has made aerial photographs of every county in Missouri.”

State Ex Rel. Weatherby Advert. Co. v. Conley, 527 S.W.2d 334 (Mo. 1975). · cites it 6× “010 of that chapter `* * * authorizes the filing of condemnation proceedings only in such cases where the condemnor "and the owners cannot agree upon the proper compensation to be paid.”

Heins Implement Co. v. Missouri High. & Transp. Comm'n, 859 S.W.2d 681 (Mo. 1993). · cites it 2× “§ 227.120, RSMo 1986. Article I, § 26 of the Missouri Constitution provides: “That private property shall not be taken or damaged for public use without just compensation.”

State ex rel. Missouri High. & Transp. Comm'n v. Rantz, 43 S.W.3d 436 (Mo. Ct. App. 2001). · cites it 6× “, empowers the Commission to condemn land for the purposes stated therein, and paragraph (13) of that section provides that the procedure to be followed shall be in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 523 of our statutes. Section 523.010 [ 4 ] of that chapter “ * * *…”

Missouri High. & Transp. Comm'n v. Eilers, 729 S.W.2d 471 (Mo. Ct. App. 1987). · cites it 4× “530 RSMo 1978 speaks to “geodetic surveys,” § 242.720 to “survey of the lands both surface and underground,” and § 256.”

Randolph v. Missouri Highways & Transp. Comm'n, 224 S.W.3d 615 (Mo. Ct. App. 2007). · cites it 3× “In regard to personal property, we acknowledged that the eminent domain statute, section 227.120, RSMo 1994, only spoke of “lands,” but that the prohibition of taking or damaging personal property stemmed from the constitution and not statutory law.”

State Ex Rel. Coffman v. Crain, 308 S.W.2d 451 (Mo. Ct. App. 1958). · cites it 5× “The General Assembly has, by statute [Section 227.120, RSMo 1949, V.A. M.S.], conferred the power of eminent domain upon the State Highway Commission; such grant has been recognized in Sec.”

Shade v. Missouri High. & Transp. Comm'n, 69 S.W.3d 503 (Mo. Ct. App. 2002). · cites it 3× “The Commission argues that an action for inverse condemnation has its genesis in § 227.120, which grants it the power of eminent domain, and therefore an inverse condemnation action is an action founded “upon a liability created by a statute” within the meaning of § 516.”

White v. Burkeybile, 386 S.W.2d 418 (Mo. 1965). · cites it 3× “Section 227.120(10), RSMo 1959, V.A.M.S. The evidence demonstrates that the area in question was such a place.”

State Ex Rel. State High. Comm'n v. Pinkley, 474 S.W.2d 46 (Mo. Ct. App. 1971). · cites it 4× “Section 523.010 of that chapter “ * * * authorizes the filing of condemnation proceedings only in *49 such cases where the condemnor ‘and the owners cannot agree upon the proper compensation to be paid.”

Pogue v. Associated Elec. Coop., Inc., 760 S.W.2d 169 (Mo. Ct. App. 1988). · cites it 3× “’ § 227.120 ...” The court said the existence of those two express statutory grants of a right of pre-condemnation survey and the absence of a similar grant to rural electric cooperatives did not preclude a determination that the cooperatives had such a right to survey under…”

State Ex Rel. State High. Comm'n v. Swink, 537 S.W.2d 556 (Mo. 1976). · cites it 2× “Section 227.120(13), as noted supra, requires the commission to also proceed under chapter 523.”

Show all 30 citing cases →

— Mo. Rev. Stat. § 227.120(1) — 1 case

Pogue v. Associated Elec. Coop., Inc., 760 S.W.2d 169 (Mo. Ct. App. 1988). “’ § 227.120 ...” The court said the existence of those two express statutory grants of a right of pre-condemnation survey and the absence of a similar grant to rural electric cooperatives did not preclude a determination that the cooperatives had such a right to survey under…”

— Mo. Rev. Stat. § 227.120(10) — 1 case

White v. Burkeybile, 386 S.W.2d 418 (Mo. 1965). “Section 227.120(10), RSMo 1959, V.A.M.S. The evidence demonstrates that the area in question was such a place.”

— Mo. Rev. Stat. § 227.120(13) — 10 cases

Missouri High. & Transp. Comm'n v. Eilers, 729 S.W.2d 471 (Mo. Ct. App. 1987). “530 RSMo 1978 speaks to “geodetic surveys,” § 242.720 to “survey of the lands both surface and underground,” and § 256.”

State Ex Rel. Rhodes v. Crouch, 621 S.W.2d 47 (Mo. 1981). “210, RSMo 1978; and to the State Highway Commission to "determine the most advantageous route," § 227.120, RSMo 1978. [1] The United States Department of Agriculture has made aerial photographs of every county in Missouri.”

State Ex Rel. State High. Comm'n v. Swink, 537 S.W.2d 556 (Mo. 1976). “Section 227.120(13), as noted supra, requires the commission to also proceed under chapter 523.”

State Ex Rel. State High. Comm'n v. Smith, 303 S.W.2d 120 (Mo. 1957).

State ex rel. Missouri High. & Transp. Comm'n v. Gillespie, 86 S.W.3d 459 (Mo. Ct. App. 2002).

— Mo. Rev. Stat. § 227.120(3) — 1 case

State Ex Rel. State High. Comm'n v. Eakin, 357 S.W.2d 129 (Mo. 1962).

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.