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162.02 MS 1957 [Repealed, 1959 c 500 art 6 s 13]
162.02 COUNTY STATE-AID HIGHWAY SYSTEM.
    Subdivision 1. Creation. There is created a county state-aid highway system which must be
established, located, constructed, reconstructed, improved, and maintained as public highways
by the counties under rules not inconsistent with this section made and promulgated by the
commissioner as provided in this chapter. The counties are vested with the rights, title, easements,
and their appurtenances, held by or vested in any of the towns or municipal subdivisions or
dedicated to the public use prior to the time a road or portion of a road is taken over by the
county as a county state-aid highway.
    Subd. 2. Rules; advisory committee. (a) The rules shall be made and promulgated by
the commissioner acting with the advice of a committee selected by the several county boards
acting through the officers of the statewide association of county commissioners. The committee
shall be composed of nine members so selected that each member shall be from a different state
highway construction district. Not more than five of the nine members of the committee shall
be county commissioners. The remaining members shall be county highway engineers. In the
event that agreement cannot be reached on any rule, the commissioner's determination shall be
final. The rules shall be printed and copies forwarded to the county engineers of the several
counties. For the purposes of this section, the expedited process for adopting rules established in
section 14.389 may be used.
(b) Notwithstanding section 15.059, subdivision 5, the committee does not expire.
    Subd. 3. Rules have force of law. The rules shall have the force and effect of law upon
compliance with the provisions of sections 14.05 to 14.28.
    Subd. 3a. Variances from rules and engineering standards. The commissioner may grant
variances from the rules and from the engineering standards developed pursuant to section 162.021
or 162.07, subdivision 2. A political subdivision in which a county state-aid highway is located
or is proposed to be located may submit a written request to the commissioner for a variance
for that highway. The commissioner shall publish notice of the request in the State Register
and give notice to all persons known to the commissioner to have an interest in the matter. The
commissioner may grant or deny the variance within 30 days of providing notice of the request. If
a written objection to the request is received within seven days of providing notice, the variance
shall be granted or denied only after a contested case hearing has been held on the request. If no
timely objection is received and the variance is denied without hearing, the political subdivision
may request, within 30 days of receiving notice of denial, and shall be granted a contested case
hearing. For purposes of this subdivision, "political subdivision" includes (1) an agency of a
political subdivision which has jurisdiction over parks, and (2) a regional park authority.
    Subd. 4. Location and establishment; commissioner's review. The county boards of
the several counties shall by resolution and subject to the concurrence of the commissioner
locate and establish a system of county state-aid highways in accordance with the rules made
and promulgated by the commissioner. It shall be the duty of the commissioner to review each
system considering the availability of funds and the desirability of each system in relation to an
integrated and coordinated system of highways. After review the commissioner shall by written
order approve each system or any part thereof which in the commissioner's judgment is feasible
and desirable. A certified copy of the order shall be filed with the county engineer.
    Subd. 5. Acquisition of necessary property. The several county boards shall have power
to acquire by purchase, gift, or condemnation in accordance with the provisions of chapter 117,
and acts supplemental thereto, lands and properties necessary for the establishment, location,
relocation, construction, reconstruction, improvement, and maintenance of the county state-aid
highway system or as in section 163.12, subdivisions 1 to 10 inclusive.
    Subd. 6. System includes certain roads. The system shall include all roads and extensions
thereof which were designated on June 30, 1957, as state-aid roads, and which were on June 30,
1957, under the jurisdiction of the counties, and shall include all roads which were designated
on June 30, 1957, as state-aid parkways; provided, that with the consent and approval of the
commissioner, any roads made a part of the county state-aid highway system by the provision of
this subdivision may be abandoned, changed, or revoked by the county board having jurisdiction
over such roads.
    Subd. 7. Establishment in new location or over established roads. The county board of
any county may establish and locate any county state-aid highway on new location where there
is no existing road, or it may establish and locate the highway upon or over any established
road or street or a specified portion thereof within its limits. Except as provided in subdivision
8a, no county state-aid highway shall be established or located within the corporate limits of any
city without the approval of the governing body of the city, except that when a county state-aid
highway is relocated the approval of the plans by the governing body shall be deemed to be a
transfer of the previous location of the highway to the jurisdiction of the city. The approval shall
be in the manner and form required by the commissioner.
    Subd. 7a. Prohibition against certain designations. Notwithstanding Laws 1997,
chapter 238, section 3, a county must follow the procedures established in this chapter for the
establishment and designation of a county state-aid highway.
    Subd. 8. Approval by city. Except as provided in subdivision 8a, no portion of the county
state-aid highway system lying within the corporate limits of any city shall be constructed,
reconstructed, or improved nor the grade thereof changed without the prior approval of the plans
by the governing body of such city and the approval shall be in the manner and form required
by the commissioner.
    Subd. 8a. Dispute resolution board. If a city has failed to approve establishment,
construction, reconstruction, or improvement of a county state-aid highway within its corporate
limits under subdivision 7 or 8, the county board may, by resolution, request the commissioner
to appoint a dispute resolution board consisting of one county commissioner, one county
engineer, one city council member or city mayor, one city engineer, and one representative of
the Department of Transportation. The board shall review the proposed change and make a
recommendation to the commissioner. Notwithstanding any other law, the commissioner may
approve the establishment, construction, reconstruction, or improvement of a county state-aid
highway recommended by the board.
    Subd. 9. Commissioner's power. When it shall be made to appear to the commissioner that
the county board of any county has refused to locate and establish a county state-aid highway
which in the opinion of the commissioner is necessary to provide an integrated and coordinated
highway system, the commissioner may, until the county state-aid highway is located and
established, withhold from the county so much of the county's share of the county state-aid
highway fund as the commissioner deems advisable.
    Subd. 10. Abandonment or revocation. County state-aid highways may be abandoned,
changed, or revoked by joint action of the county board and the commissioner. If a county
state-aid highway is established or located within the limits of a city, it shall not be abandoned,
changed, or revoked without the concurrence of the governing body of such city; provided, that
any county state-aid highway established or located within a city may be abandoned, or revoked
without concurrence if the city refuses or neglects for a period of one year after submittal to
approve plans for the construction of such highway which plans conform to the construction
standards provided in the commissioner's rules.
    Subd. 11. Reverted trunk highways. The county state-aid highway system is hereby
increased in extent by the addition thereto of the mileage of all trunk highways reverted or turned
back to the jurisdiction of the counties pursuant to law on and after July 1, 1965.
    Subd. 12. Former municipal state-aid streets. Former municipal state-aid streets located
in a city that previously received money from the municipal state-aid street fund but whose
population fell below 5,000 under the 1980 or 1990 federal census must be included in the county
state-aid highway system, subject to the approval of the governing bodies of the city and the
county. An action taken by a county board approving the inclusion of a former municipal state-aid
street in the county state-aid highway system must also include a resolution taking over the street
as a county highway under section 163.11. The county state-aid highway system is increased in
extent by the addition of the mileage of municipal state-aid streets reverting or turned over to the
jurisdiction of the counties under this subdivision.
History: 1959 c 500 art 3 s 2; 1967 c 320 s 1; 1969 c 63 s 1; 1973 c 123 art 5 s 7; 1976 c 2 s
172; 1979 c 167 s 2; 1980 c 509 s 53; 1982 c 424 s 130; 1984 c 465 s 1,2; 1985 c 248 s 70; 1986 c
444; 1988 c 629 s 38; 1991 c 233 s 58; 1991 c 298 art 4 s 5; 1995 c 233 art 2 s 56; 1996 c 455 art
7 s 1-3; 1997 c 238 s 1; 1Sp2003 c 19 art 2 s 11-13; 2004 c 295 art 1 s 3; 1Sp2005 c 6 art 3 s 9,10

Official Publication of the State of Minnesota
Revisor of Statutes