What happens to the land when a street gets moved?

[masraum]

The road that runs in front of our property that our driveway dumps on and where our mailbox is is being moved, it looks like 30-40' to the south. The current plan shows that they'll be extending our driveway to the new road. What is likely to happen to the land where the road is now? Is the state just going to remove the road, retain ownership of the land, and keep the grass mowed. I'm not expecting that they'd move our property line. I'm just curious. We're thankful that they didn't take some of our property through eminent domain.

They aren't planning to start construction until late 2027. As much as we love this place and the land, we are hoping to finish some updates to the house and move before construction starts.

The road with the red cross-hatch is the current road. The solid red is how they plan to extend our driveway to the new road (magenta).

[cabmandone]

I'd guess they'll keep it as road front right of way or "setback" If you're lucky, you can have it surrendered to your property.

[917_Langheck]

It's likely the jurisdiction will keep the easement that the old road was/is located, but whether they require the adjacent property owners to maintain the abandoned alignment or contract that out to department or contractor depends on your county rules. Maybe they will offer to sell the parcels.

[herr_oberst]

Private test track!

[JackDidley]

You will probably have to maintain it. I live on a corner and there is a small ditch down one side of my property. I dont own the ditch but I have to mow it. Same for the alley at the back.

[E Sully]

I don't know all the details, but when a new road was put in front of my house 20' out, the previous owner put in a quit claim deed and it became parcel 2. When I bought the house it was finally combined into one parcel. My next door neighbor still has 2 parcels as his father thought combining it would increase his property taxes.
My issue became that the new front yard was a roadbed that had 2 inches of dirt over it. I dug up quite a bit of it and put some new dirt over it. I still have a few issues keeping the grass alive during the hot summer as the rocky base drains off water rather quickly. It could use a couple more inches of top soil.

[javadog]

Do they own the land or just have an easement to use it? Quick trip to the county records will tell you the answer.

[Seahawk]

Interesting thread. A friend of mine owns the stables, etc. in the below pic, about a mile or so from my farm.

The crude black line I inserted is the old road...the sweeping turn, Breton Beach Road, is the improved turn put in 15 years ago. The old 90% turn was a mess.

The county offered him the land between Camp Maria Road and Solitude Lane following the new turn for survey and admin costs, which he did.

Camp Maria, a Catholic retreat, got, I think, the other parcel.

Granted, that is here and well over a decade ago...the OP's circumstances may be different but it is clearly worth the time and effort he will spend finding out.

[911 Rod]

Does the new road crisscross over the old road? Will it still be maintained?
We have old roads here that run beside the waterfront lot roads and they just built a new road parallel to them 30ft. out.

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by JackDidley

You will probably have to maintain it. I live on a corner and there is a small ditch down one side of my property. I dont own the ditch but I have to mow it. Same for the alley at the back.

How do they compel you to maintain property you are not responsible for?

[jyl]

What happened to Joe Krejci - did he lose land to eminent domain? If so did the state offer him the strip of land where the old road was?

I think it would be will be well worth your time to navigate to the right person at the state to find out what will happen and if you can end up owning the land. It would be a substantial increase to your lot. Maybe you can agree to keep it natural habitat or reforest it or something. I’d plant trees that, in time, will screen your house from the new road and line the driveway. Maybe an orchard? My brother in law had a small orchard on his property, leased it out to people who maintained the trees, mowed the grass, paid him for the water and a small rent, took the harvest, and gave him more apples each year than he really knew what to do with.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by 911 Rod

Does the new road crisscross over the old road? Will it still be maintained?
We have old roads here that run beside the waterfront lot roads and they just built a new road parallel to them 30ft. out.

I'm assuming that they'll remove/dig up the old road, but I don't know for sure. One thing is that the road in front of our place now is a 2 way road. The new road will be one way (west bound). What that means for us is that when we want to go east (towards Houston), we'll have to first go 2.5 miles west so we can take an overpass to an east bound on-ramp. Now we're able to go east to hwy-90 and then about 4 miles down to the nearest east bound on-ramp. And the crazy thing is that our driveway is 850' from an overpass that will have an east bound on-ramp. It would be great if they just left it and we could still use it. But I don't think that's going to happen.

Originally Posted by Tobra

How do they compel you to maintain property you are not responsible for?

Yeah, how do they require you to mow their land. Here, the county mows the sides of the roads from time to time. My wife does mow between our property and the road so things look nice in the front of the house, but we've never mowed the other side of the property.

Originally Posted by jyl

What happened to Joe Krejci - did he lose land to eminent domain? If so did the state offer him the strip of land where the old road was?

My guess is that he just lost his land. It was just an empty plot full of trees and a little water. It's not used for anything (actually, the trees nicely shield us from having to look at the Interstate).

I think it would be will be well worth your time to navigate to the right person at the state to find out what will happen and if you can end up owning the land. It would be a substantial increase to your lot. Maybe you can agree to keep it natural habitat or reforest it or something. I’d plant trees that, in time, will screen your house from the new road and line the driveway. Maybe an orchard? My brother in law had a small orchard on his property, leased it out to people who maintained the trees, mowed the grass, paid him for the water and a small rent, took the harvest, and gave him more apples each year than he really knew what to do with.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, it would be nice if the size of the plot could be increased and then like you said, trees planted to provide a visual barrier.

[jyl]

I’ll say that it never ceases to impress me the spreads that some of you have. Postage-stamp city lot dweller here!

[rockfan4]

Originally Posted by masraum

I'm assuming that they'll remove/dig up the old road, but I don't know for sure. One thing is that the road in front of our place now is a 2 way road. The new road will be one way (west bound). What that means for us is that when we want to go east (towards Houston), we'll have to first go 2.5 miles west so we can take an overpass to an east bound on-ramp. Now we're able to go east to hwy-90 and then about 4 miles down to the nearest east bound on-ramp. And the crazy thing is that our driveway is 850' from an overpass that will have an east bound on-ramp. It would be great if they just left it and we could still use it. But I don't think that's going to happen.

Any chance you could convince them to leave the old road as a sort of frontage road? How many neighbors would be affected by the new configuration?

[masraum]

Originally Posted by rockfan4

Any chance you could convince them to leave the old road as a sort of frontage road? How many neighbors would be affected by the new configuration?

Part of the issue is that a creek runs under the current road and will run under the new road. It only runs water in heavy rains, but those do happen. It doesn't look like the plans have the new culvert and the old culvert lining up exactly.

I would love them to leave the current road, that would be convenient for us, but wouldn't benefit anyone else.

We're planning to be out of here before they begin construction. We love the property, but only because the property where the new road is going provides a lot of visual and aural isolation from the Interstate due to trees growing on it. The construction is going to completely clear that land.

[gregpark]

Put up a light tree and have your own drag strip. That little bend in the road will be exciting

[JackDidley]

Originally Posted by Tobra

How do they compel you to maintain property you are not responsible for?

Its in the town bylaws. Town of 3000 peiple and the town board does whatever they want. Sort of like fine print when you file for the deed. Its been 35 years since I bought the place so I dont remember the details. Also if nobody maintained it, my place would look terrible.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by gregpark

put up a light tree and have your own drag strip. That little bend in the road will be exciting

lol!

[vash]

Was there or is there a public outreach meeting? Every project should have a PIO. Public information officer that organizes meetings with the locals. Find this person.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by vash

Was there or is there a public outreach meeting? Every project should have a PIO. Public information officer that organizes meetings with the locals. Find this person.

Will look into it. I found the TX DOT page for the project. I suspect that info is there.