GA Code § 32-4-91 (2021)
2021 Georgia Code|Title 32 - Highways, Bridges, and Ferries|Chapter 4 - State, County, and Municipal Road Systems|Article 4 - Municipal Street Systems|Part 1 - General Powers and Duties of Municipality|§ 32-4-91. Construction and Maintenance of Systems; Acquisition of Labor; Maximum Bridge Weight; Notification of Department About New Streets and Abandoned Streets

  A municipality shall plan, designate, improve, manage, control, construct, and maintain an adequate municipal street system and shall have control of and responsibility for all construction, maintenance, or other work related to the municipal street system. Such work may be accomplished through the use of municipal forces, including inmate labor, by contract as authorized in paragraph (1) of subsection (a) of Code Section 32-4-92, or otherwise as permitted by law.   A municipality shall notify the department within three months after a municipal street is added to the municipal street system and shall further notify the department within three months after a municipal street is abandoned. This notification shall be accompanied by an appropriate digital file, map, or plat depicting the location of the new or abandoned street.    (a.1)A municipality shall post on each bridge on the municipal street system and on each approach thereto on the municipal street a sign containing a legible notice showing the maximum safe weight limit for such bridge, each such sign to conform to the department regulations promulgated under authority of Code Section 32-6-50.   (Code 1933, § 95A-502, enacted by Ga. L. 1973, p. 947, § 1; Ga. L. 1981, p. 953, § 2; Ga. L. 1996, p. 6, § 32; Ga. L. 1998, p. 1206, § 2; Ga. L. 2011, p. 583, § 7/HB 137.)   Cross references.   - Weight of vehicle and load, § 32-6-26.    Promulgation of rules and regulations governing hiring out of inmates, § 42-5-60.   JUDICIAL DECISIONS   Editor's notes.   - In light of the similarity of the statutory provisions, decisions under former Code 1933, Ch. 95-15; and former Ga. L. 1953, Nov.-Dec. Sess., p. 556 (see now O.C.G.A. § 40-6-20), which were subsequently repealed but were succeeded by provisions in this Code section, are included in the annotations for this Code section.   Municipal regulation and control of state highway use.    - This section does not give municipalities power to regulate and control use of state highways. Mayor of Woodbury v. State Hwy. Dep't, 225 Ga. 723, 171 S.E.2d 272 (1969) (decided under former Ga. L. 1953, Nov.-Dec. Sess., p. 556).   Construction of state highway through municipality.    - State Highway Department (now Department of Transportation) may construct public highway through municipality without the municipality's consent. City of Carrollton v. Walker, 215 Ga. 505, 111 S.E.2d 79 (1959) (decided under former Code 1933, Ch. 95-15).   State Highway Department's control of traffic signals on state highways.    - State Highway Department (now Department of Transportation), instead of the municipalities of the state, has the power to place and operate traffic control devices on state highways within the limits of the municipalities. Mayor of Woodbury v. State Hwy. Dep't, 225 Ga. 723, 171 S.E.2d 272 (1969) (decided under former Ga. L. 1953, Nov.-Dec. Sess., p. 556).   State DOT not liable for failing to erect road closure signs on county road.    - Because an accident occurred on a county-owned road and did not occur on a part of the state highway system upon which the DOT owed a duty to motorists, and the couple's expert's affidavit could not establish a legal duty to erect signs or to take other steps to inform drivers of the closure of the county-owned road, summary judgment for the DOT was proper. Diamond v. DOT, 326 Ga. App. 189, 756 S.E.2d 277 (2014).   Photographs of roadway taken after accident insufficient to show city's notice of defect.    - In a driver's action against a city under O.C.G.A. § 32-4-91, alleging that an accident occurred because an area of broken pavement around a manhole caused the driver's vehicle to veer into oncoming traffic, photographs of the area taken two weeks after the accident did not constitute evidence of the city's notice of the defect under O.C.G.A. § 32-4-93(a). City of Macon v. Brown, 343 Ga. App. 262, 807 S.E.2d 34 (2017).   OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL   County must maintain roads in county road system.   - Because the county must maintain roads on the county road system and because public roads are not removed from the system by mere annexation into a municipality where the road lies, the county must continue to maintain roads on the county road system which are in areas annexed into a municipality until the governing authority of the county removes the roads from the county road system. 1976 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U76-21.   Truck routes.   - By establishing truck routes, a city may effectively regulate the amount of weight which may be carried on designated streets on a municipal street system. 1982 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 82-20.    Any city or county ordinances purporting to regulate vehicular weights must not exceed maximum weights permitted by O.C.G.A. § 32-6-26. 1982 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 82-20.   RESEARCH REFERENCES   Am. Jur. 2d.   - 39 Am. Jur. 2d, Highways, Streets, and Bridges, § 86.   ALR.    - Liability of municipal corporations and their licensees for the torts of independent contractors, 52 A.L.R. 1012.   Municipal power as to billboards and outdoor advertising, 58 A.L.R.2d 1314.   Relative rights and liabilities of abutting owners and public authorities in parkways in center of street, 81 A.L.R.2d 1436.   Power of eminent domain as between state and subdivision or agency thereof, or as between different subdivisions or agencies themselves, 35 A.L.R.3d 1293.   Liability, in motor vehicle-related cases, of governmental entity for injury or death resulting from ice or snow on surface of highway or street, 97 A.L.R.3d 11.