Opinion ID: 2449953
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Halvorsons' constitutional and administrative arguments with regard to the width of Camps Canyon Road

Text: The Halvorsons argue that their substantive due process rights have been violated through the application of I.C. § 40-2312. This argument must fail. Where no fundamental right or suspect classification is involved or when dealing with legislation involving social or economic interests, courts apply the rational basis test's deferential standard of review. In this context, this Court has stated that: Substantive due process means that state action which deprives [a person] of life, liberty, or property must have a rational basisthat is to say, the reason for the deprivation may not be so inadequate that the judiciary will characterize it as `arbitrary.' Bradbury v. Idaho Judicial Council, 136 Idaho 63, 69, 28 P.3d 1006, 1012 (2001) (quoting Pace v. Hymas, 111 Idaho 581, 586, 726 P.2d 693, 698 (1986)). The Halvorsons argue that there is no rational basis for the mandatory fifty-foot width of Idaho's highways. However, the statement in Meservey provides exactly that rational basis: the statute fixes the width of highways at not less than 50 feet, and common experience shows that width no more than sufficient for the proper keeping up and repair of roads generally. 14 Idaho at 148, 93 P. at 785. The Highway District may require additional space beyond the edge of the traveling surface of the roadway for upkeep, repair, or improvements to the road and these are all factors that the legislature might reasonably have considered when establishing a statutory fifty-foot requirement for Idaho's highways. More importantly, to the extent that the Highway District's actions that led to the creation of Camps Canyon Road as a public highway deprived any person of a property right, the deprivation occurred no later than 1979, prior to the Halvorsons' acquisition of their property. The Halvorsons' purchase did not vest them with greater rights in the property than their predecessor possessed. The Halvorsons' other constitutional and administrative claims regarding Camps Canyon Road's width are defeated by the disposition of the other issues in this case. Because the road was established as fifty feet wide at the time it became a public highway, long before the Halvorsons bought the property, there has been no additional taking and the Halvorsons' claims are without merit, as discussed above. Similarly, the Halvorsons' predecessors had the right to be heard and were put on notice through the use of the road during that period. Due process has, therefore, been accorded. Finally, no additional administrative procedure was necessary to establish the width of Camps Canyon Road as that width was defined by operation of I.C. § 40-2312. We find that the district court properly concluded that all claimed injuries occurred within the Camps Canyon Road right-of-way.