# Private property/public road?



## #1DEER 1-I (Sep 10, 2007)

I am just wondering, how does a road going through private property work in the state? Can a private property owner close a road that has been open forever to the public if it crosses through their property? In some instances I thought there were agreements when some lands were purchased they would always have public right of ways on roads and landowners couldn't close the road? Am I wrong on this and if not how do you find out about a specific road?


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

Historically if a road was open to public access for X amount of years it has to remain open. Some landowners close a gate on it for 1 day a year to legally remain entitled to closing it. Lately I've seen a lot of roads that were open to the public shut down "en-mass", off the top of my head all the roads draper closed above alpine that had been open and used for 50 years. I guess technically they are still considered being "open", its just that they now restrict access to foot traffic only.

Snowbird just did the same thing in Mary Ellen Gulch, closed down a road that had been open for +100 years.

I hope someone who knows the actual laws can chime in.

-DallanC


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## #1DEER 1-I (Sep 10, 2007)

There is a road that has been open for probably 50+ years and they have now put up a gate but not locked it and I'm just wondering if there would still be public right of way or if I shouldn't travel on it anymore.


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## CPAjeff (Dec 20, 2014)

I don't know the actual law, but this situation happened to a large chuck of BLM that my family used to deer hunt. There are sections of private on both sides of the BLM, both private land owners decided to rip up the cattle guards leading from their sections to the BLM and block the road so there was no way to access all the BLM.


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## bowgy (Oct 10, 2007)

I can give you one example of a road through some of our property, the road went through several landowners and the county maintained it. The county road supervisor checked his maps and found out that they didn't have any responsibility to maintain the road so they stopped maintaining it after it entered the private land, at that time the landowner of the first property contacted the other property owners and put up a new heavy gate and locked it.

The DWR got some complaints and I got a call from the DWR because some state trust lands were surrounded by the private property, there were no roads to the state trust lands and I informed the DWR of this and that ended the conversation.


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## Packout (Nov 20, 2007)

Rights-of-way are grandfathered into a public use right after, I believe 7 years on continuous use. As was stated, many private landowners close their roads for one day each year to disrupt the right of use time (BYU is an example of this as they close all roads on their private campus for one Sunday each year). This does not apply to roads which have a dedicated/deeded right of way-- highways, county roads, numbered BLM/FS roads, etc...

Here is the problem-- if a landowner blocks use of what was once a public use road then the government has to fight it in court and prove the right of way/use. For example- there was a landowner in Bennie Cr who locked a gate on a road and did not allow the public access to the Forest Service lands behind his private property. After much complaining by citizens, the gov't (either county or Forest Service, I can't remember) sued the landowner and it took years of litigation to reopen the road to the public use. It costs a lot of money and gov't agencies seem less than willing to fight for the right of use.

So that is my understanding of it-- as explained to me by lawyers and a judge. (And no, I didn't close a road that the public benefited from. haha)


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## bowgy (Oct 10, 2007)

Packout said:


> Rights-of-way are grandfathered into a public use right after, I believe 7 years on continuous use. As was stated, many private landowners close their roads for one day each year to disrupt the right of use time (BYU is an example of this as they close all roads on their private campus for one Sunday each year). This does not apply to roads which have a dedicated/deeded right of way-- highways, county roads, numbered BLM/FS roads, etc...


This is how I understand it too, that is if the right of way is to access something, such as one private landowner accessing his land by a road/access through another landowner's property to get to his.

In our case it was just people driving into private property, crossing several different property owners then having to turn around and return. There are some springs on the private land that were acquired by a government entity that they have a right of way to access the springs but not the general public, when the county maintained the roads people traveled on the road but would just have to turn around and return the same way, there was a lot of road hunting going on but when the county no longer maintained the roads the gate was installed. The right of way was not used to access public property.


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

so how did snowbird get to close down the mining roads through Mineral Basin and now Mary Ellen? Those roads existed for 100 years.


-DallanC


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## Packout (Nov 20, 2007)

DallanC said:


> so how did snowbird get to close down the mining roads through Mineral Basin and now Mary Ellen? Those roads existed for 100 years.
> -DallanC


Either because the roads lead to no public property/public use areas (They just traveled through private private to the various claims) or the Forest Service does not deem it necessary to fight the closures.


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## bowgy (Oct 10, 2007)

I would like to add a question to the OP.

Who should pay to maintain a right of way through private ground to access the public ground?


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## Finnegan (Sep 7, 2007)

Legal right might be legal, but that doesn't make it right. Legal has to do with forcing a landowner to comply with the law. Right has to do with respecting the landowner. My experience has been that if you respect the landowner, the legal stuff is moot and you can have access anytime you want.


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## Finnegan (Sep 7, 2007)

bowgy said:


> Who should pay to maintain a right of way through private ground to access the public ground?


You didn't ask me, but I'll answer anyway. The county pays. BUT...counties are people...neighbors. So counties are often reluctant to do maintenance because it's another intrusion through private land which often invites conflict. Since the landowner typically needs to use the county road, the landowner often gets stuck with the maintenance costs.

If I was King of Utah, landowners would be reimbursed for any maintenance of county right of ways + 15%.


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## hazmat (Apr 23, 2009)

I have a road up by the cabin that the original landowner put a gate up and locked. This road was used by the public for many years. Well the dwr contacted my neighbor because yes the road passed through his private property but it lead to national forest. 

After some back and forths my neighbor and the dwr came to an agreement and turned it into a walk in access property. The public can not drive through his property but can access the national forest via walk in access. 
My neighbor holds the right to pull away from the program if his land is abused by the public.

To complicate it more landowners like myself have access to this road via land title insurance and the fact it leads to other peoperties.

So in this case yes he was able to shut the road down to the public


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## riptheirlips (Jun 30, 2008)

I know a couple guys that have closed roads simply because of the hunters disrespect. Driving wheelers off the road on their land, leaving trash, cutting trees down, etc. I think a lot of these problems have been caused by a few disrespectful hunters. It is easier to close off than to continually argue with them.


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