I am interested to determine if any offices, most likely County Attorneys, have had to deal with issues between the County and I.S.D.'s regarding destruction of roads. Facts: I.S.D. uses a county road to bus kids to school (35 buses, 4 x per day) and has destroyed the road. Commissioner has directed the issue from the complaining homeowners to the school board but receive no willingness to assist in repairing the road. Short of litigation, any AG Opinions or existing case law out there to help guide the Comm. Court on behalf of the citizens. Chris Martin VZDA
I don't know of anything which would allow you to require that the school pay for the road. If the road is a county road, then the upkeep is the responsibility of the county. If there is a weight limit on it, and the school has overweight permits, you might be able to go after the bond that they post, but I doubt a school bus is overweight.
With a little negotiation, they may agree to help you, but as a general rule, the maintenance of county roads is strictly a county budget item.
I agree with Lisa, but you might look at 251 and 621 of the Transportation Code which covers setting load limits on County Roads, which in essence you need TXDOT approval to do. Once load limits are set, you can have a permitting process for overweight vehicles that can require bonding and help with overweight vehicles on county roads. School buses are going to weigh less than 30,000 lbs, and therefore not subject to load limits that I believe you could reasonably set. And if you can't set weight limits that would restrict the school buses, they are going to be free to travel your county roads without being responsible for damage. You might also consult with TXDOT for more guidance, information, and an opinion on what a reasonable weight load would be on your county roads.
Rather than start a new topic, I thought I would try this here since it is closely related. Does anyone have any pleadings/advice/information on County filing suit to enforce road bond posted by Pipeline Company?
