Several DeKalb County residents have complained about not being able to obtain crushed gravel for their driveways or repair for their roads. Though this is something that may have done for many years in the past, Road Supervisor Danny Hale addressed the county commission during Monday night’s meeting to explain why all of the requests have been denied. He recapped the law concerning county public roads versus private roads.

Tennessee Code Annotated 841 states that one of the main duties of the chief administrative officer of county highways is to exercise supervision over the construction, repair and maintenance of county roads.  The chief administrative officer must be careful not to work on private roads and the code forbids the use of any county highway materials or equipment to improve or repair private roads, with the limited exception for school bus and postal vehicle turnarounds.  A chief administrative officer who authorizes or knowingly permits county equipment to be used for private purposes is guilty of a misdemeanor.

All roads running through a county are not county public roads. Some are private roads; others are state highways or city streets. Private roads where the most difficult to distinguish form county public roads. Private roads are generally one of two types. First, a private road may be one used by only one or a few property owners, such as a driveway; or second, it may be a road which the landowner allows the general public to use but which has never been formally accepted by the county legislative body as a county road, or which the landowners has never given the public any rights, either express or implied.

“I just wanted to let you know what the law is,” Hale told the commission members, “in case any of your people are talking about it.”

“I just want to put it out there so everyone knows what the law says. Every road is not a county road,” he continued.

Though a road may be on the 911 emergency system, it could actually not be considered to be a county road. If you question whether or not your road is considered a county road, you can contact the county road department with your inquiry.