Opinion ID: 874087
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: The County Was Within Its Statutory Authority to Validate ACR as a Fifty-Foot-Wide Road

Text: Sopatyk notes that even if the County can validate ACR, the road's travelway is presently only about ten feet wide. He asserts that it was beyond the Board's statutory authority to validate ACR at fifty feet wide. As explained above in Parts V.A and V.B, the Board was correct to hold that ACR became a public road by legislative declaration. From 1887 forward, the Legislature mandated: All highways, except alleys and bridges, must be at least fifty feet wide except those now existing of a less width. Rev. Stat. of Idaho § 932 (1887). This 1887 statute is the progenitor of today's I.C. § 40-2312, which similarly states: All highways, except bridges and those located within cities, shall be not less than fifty (50) feet wide, except those of a lesser width presently existing. [11] Therefore, all highways are fifty feet wide unless a lesser width is established. Neither side presented any evidence establishing the road's width. As discussed in Part V.A, ACR was likely seventy five feet wide in 1881. Therefore, the Board did not exceed its statutory authority to validate Anderson Creek Road at fifty-feet wide.