228.110. 1. Any twelve residents of the township or townships through which a road runs may make application for the vacation of any such road or part of the same as useless, and the repairing of the same an unreasonable burden upon the district or districts. The petition shall be publicly read on the first day of the term at which it is presented, and the matter continued without further proceedings until the next term.

2. Notice of the filing of such petition and of the road sought to be vacated shall be posted up in not less than three public places in such township or townships, at least twenty days before the first day of the next term of the commission, and a copy of the same shall be personally served on all the persons residing in the district whose lands are crossed or touched by the road proposed to be vacated in the same manner as other notices are required to be served by law; and at the next regular term the same shall again be publicly read on the first day thereof.

3. If no remonstrance is made thereto in writing, signed by at least twelve residents of the township, the commission may proceed to vacate such road, or any part thereof, at the cost of the petitioners; but if a remonstrance thereto in writing, signed by at least twelve residents of such township or townships, is filed, and the commission after considering the same shall decide that it is just to vacate such road, or any part thereof, against the vacation of which the remonstrance was filed, the costs shall be paid by the parties remonstrating, and the original costs, and damages for opening such vacated road shall be paid by the petitioners to those who paid the same, except that if five years have elapsed since the original opening of the same no such reimbursement shall be made.

4. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section to the contrary, in any county with a charter form of government, any twenty-five residents of the county through which a road subject to this section runs and who reside on any portion of such road or on another road that intersects such road and within one mile of the right-of-way to be vacated, may apply for the vacation of such road or part of such road as no longer serving the public health, safety, and welfare. The county may, by order or ordinance, provide for notice and hearing of such petitions and for filing and hearing remonstrances against them.

(RSMo 1939 § 8482, A.L. 1990 H.B. 1070, A.L. 2007 S.B. 22)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 7836; 1919 § 10634; 1909 § 10445

CROSS REFERENCES:

City streets, how vacated, RSMo 71.240 to 71.280

Temporary abandonment to permit mining--limited to certain counties-- procedure, RSMo 229.420 to 229.450

Vacation of streets in cemeteries, proceedings, RSMo 214.060, 214.070

228.190. 1. All roads in this state that have been established by any order of the county commission, and have been used as public highways for a period of ten years or more, shall be deemed legally established public roads; and all roads that have been used as such by the public for ten years continuously, and upon which there shall have been expended public money or labor for such period, shall be deemed legally established roads; and nonuse by the public for five years continuously of any public road shall be deemed an abandonment and vacation of the same.

2. From and after January 1, 1990, any road in any county that has been identified as a county road for which the county receives allocations of county aid road trust funds from or through the department of transportation for a period of at least five years shall be conclusively deemed to be a public county road without further proof of the status of the road as a public road. No such public road shall be abandoned or vacated except through the actions of the county commission declaring such road vacated after public hearing, or through the process set out in section 228.110.

3. In any litigation where the subject of a public road is at issue under this section, an exact location of the road is not required to be proven. Once the public road is determined to exist, the judge may order a survey to be conducted to determine the exact location of the public road and charge the costs of the survey to the party who asserted that the public road exists.

(RSMo 1939 § 8485, A.L. 1953 p. 674, A.L. 2006 S.B. 932, A.L. 2007 S.B. 22)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 7839; 1919 § 10635; 1909 § 10446

(2005) Road created by implied or common law dedication is subject to section's provision of abandonment through nonuse. Kleeman v. Kingsley, 167 S.W.3d 198 (Mo.App. S.D.).