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2012 South Dakota Attorney General Reports and Opinions [i] (2012)

handle is hein.sag/sagsd0021 and id is 1 raw text is: OFFICIAL OPINION NO. 12-01, Highway Maintenance Responsibility at State/County Hwy Instersections STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL May 7, 2012 Glenn Brenner Pennington County State's Attorney 300 Kansas City Street #400 Rapid City, SD 57701 OFFICIAL OPINION NO. 12-01 Highway Maintenance Responsibility at State/County Highway Intersections Dear Mr. Brenner: You have requested an official opinion from this Office regarding responsibilities for maintenance of the driving surfaces that lie within the state highway right-of-way where state trunk highways and county highways intersect. Recognizing that you have narrowly framed your questions to address only existing state/county highway intersections, I believe a broader review of the law is necessary to assist in properly addressing the issues. Your refrained questions are as follows: QUESTION 1: For intersections connecting a state trunk highway with a local government highway, is the South Dakota Department of Transportation (DOT) responsible for maintaining all connecting driving surfaces (roadways) located within the state highway right-of-way? ANSWER: Responsibility for maintenance of an intersecting local government highway roadway located within a state highway right-of-way is controlled by SDCL 31-24-9 and is dependent upon the date each highway came into existence. The government entity of the second or intersecting highway is responsible for construction and maintenance of the connecting roadway within the state highway right-of-way. QUESTION 2: Is maintenance of the roadway for Pennington County secondary highway Teewinot Drive located within the South Dakota Highway 44 (SD 44) right-of-way the responsibility of DOT or of Pennington County, where the approach was originally constructed by a developer as a connection to a private roadway and the county later added the roadway to its county secondary system? ANSWER: