State and counties identifying public roads

The state and counties are working to create a list of roads qualifying as public roads across public lands under a plan hoped to end controversies over most roads in Utah, the governor's office announced.

The entities have been gathering information to identify roads claimed under the more than century-old Revised Statute 2477, State Public Lands Policy Coordinator Lynn Stevens reportedly announced to the Utah Association of Counties and to the State Legislature's Natural Resources Interim Committee.

While the validity of a few roads would remain at issue, thousands of noncontroversial roads will be identified in the county records, the governor's office reported.

"This should satisfy criticism that insufficient information is available regarding the existence, the description and the location of county roads," Stevens said in the governor's office release.

The state and U.S. Bureau of Land Management also are working out an agreement for how roads across U.S. Bureau of Land Management land will be maintained, the governor's office reports. This agreement will also standardize road numbering systems and signage within each county.

The announcement follows this month's 10th Circuit Court of Appeals decision favoring the state's over the BLM's criteria for defining a road. The state's criteria allows a right of way for roads that have been in continuous use for 10 years prior to 1976. The BLM criteria includes mechanical construction.

The ruling was called a victory for the rights of the public to access old road rights of way that cut through federal land.

But the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance has said the issue is about undermining attempts to preserve wilderness areas.