Tripp County v. Department of Transportation

429 N.W.2d 473, 1988 S.D. LEXIS 142, 1988 WL 96860
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 21, 1988
Docket15997
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 429 N.W.2d 473 (Tripp County v. Department of Transportation) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering South Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tripp County v. Department of Transportation, 429 N.W.2d 473, 1988 S.D. LEXIS 142, 1988 WL 96860 (S.D. 1988).

Opinions

MILLER, Justice.

The issue in this appeal is whether a county continues to have the duty to repair and maintain a highway after it has been legislatively removed from the county highway system and placed on the state trunk highway system. We hold that it does not.

FACTS

In 1986, the South Dakota Legislature amended SDCL 31-4-169 by adding a section of highway in Tripp County, South Dakota (County) to the state trunk highway system (see 1986 S.D.Sess.L. ch. 236, § 1). This section of highway was originally constructed in 1949 with federal aid secondary funds and prior to the 1986 amendment had been maintained by County, pursuant to SDCL ch. 31-6.

After passage of the 1986 amendment, County advised the South Dakota Department of Transportation (DOT) that the highway was in immediate need of repair and that County would no longer be responsible for its maintenance and care. DOT, by letter from its counsel, advised County that it disclaimed any responsibility for the maintenance and repair of the highway because:

The Department of Transportation only constructs and maintains that part of the state trunk highway system it has funds available to handle. The Transportation Commission has the legal discretion to determine this. (This is similar to all the county and township section line highways that county commissioners and township supervisors determine not to construct or maintain.)
That part of the state trunk system added in Tripp County in the 1986 Session has not been put on the Department of Transportation construction or maintenance program for expenditure of federal and state highway funds as of this date.

County then commenced this declaratory judgment action seeking an adjudication that the responsibility for the maintenance and repair of the highway transferred from County to DOT by virtue of the 1986 legislation. Both parties moved for summary judgment. The circuit court granted summary judgment for DOT. In its memorandum decision,1 the trial court generally stated that the legislative enactments in SDCL Title 31, when read as a whole, do not require DOT to maintain and repair the added segment of highway until DOT constructs or improves it pursuant to SDCL 31-5-1 or exercises its discretion to do so under the option afforded by SDCL 31-5-2. We disagree and therefore reverse.

DECISION

County argues that transfer of the highway to the state trunk highway system also transferred responsibility for its maintenance and repair to DOT, citing Robinson v. Minnehaha County, 65 S.D. 628, 277 N.W. 324 (1938), which held that 1923 S.D.Sess.L. ch. 285 (the original legislative enactment of current SDCL 31-5-1, -2) relieved the counties of the duty to maintain and repair highways in the state trunk [475]*475highway system. See also Cain v. Meade County, 54 S.D. 540, 223 N.W. 734 (1929). Moreover, County argues that it is prohibited from expending county road and bridge funds on the highway once it was placed on the state trunk system, pursuant to SDCL 31-5-14 and 31-11-30.

DOT argues that the trial court’s interpretation of SDCL 31-5-1 and -2 is correct. Additionally, DOT argues that because this highway was built with federal aid secondary funds (under the legislative predecessor to SDCL ch. 31-6) and considering this court’s prior holding in Bogue v. Clay County, 75 S.D. 140, 60 N.W.2d 218 (1953), County remains responsible for maintenance and repair of the highway despite its transfer to the state trunk highway system. In Bogue, we held that a county road built with federal aid is no less a county road for being built with such federal funds. However, Bogue does not address the situation arising in this case where the county road, although built with federal aid, has been transferred to the state trunk highway system. Irrespective of that, DOT argues that SDCL ch. 31-6 provides County with the responsibility to maintain and . repair the highway, supporting that argument further with SDCL 31-12-19.

There is no statute which specifically states that DOT automatically assumes responsibility for maintenance and repair of a highway when it is added to the state trunk highway system. This court’s decision, therefore, primarily must be premised upon an interpretation of the collective legislative enactments contained in SDCL Title 31, “Highways and Bridges.”

SDCL 31-5-1 provides:

The department of transportation shall maintain, and keep in repair all highways or portions of highways, including the bridges and culverts thereon, which highways have been constructed or improved by the department and are on the state trunk highway system. (Emphasis added.)2

Under this provision, DOT’s duty to maintain and repair a highway on the state trunk highway system clearly does not arise unless the highway was constructed or improved by DOT. DOT, therefore, takes the position that it merely has an option to maintain and repair this highway under SDCL 31-5-2.

SDCL 31-5-2, in giving DOT an option to maintain and repair a highway on the state trunk highway system in two instances, states:

The department of transportation may at its option, maintain and keep in repair such other portions of the state trunk highway system [1] which have not been constructed or improved by the department of transportation, or [2] the construction or improvement of which has not been paid for in whole or in part by state or federal aid. (Emphasis added.)

This section, however, does not afford DOT an option here because (1) the highway was not constructed or improved by DOT and (2) its construction was paid by federal aid.

Because neither SDCL 31-5-1 nor 31-5-2 apply here, we are left with a statutory hiatus. Therefore, in determining legislative intent, it is necessary for us to consider and analyze the salient statutory provisions of SDCL Title 31. We recognize that all of the statutory provisions must be read together in such a manner as are harmonious and workable. Meyerink v. Northwestern Public Service Co., 391 N.W.2d 180 (S.D.1986);

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Related

Pennington County v. State ex rel. Unified Judicial System
2002 SD 31 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 2002)
Pennington v. STATE EX REL. JUD. SYSTEM
2002 SD 31 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 2002)
Tripp County v. Department of Transportation
429 N.W.2d 473 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1988)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
429 N.W.2d 473, 1988 S.D. LEXIS 142, 1988 WL 96860, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tripp-county-v-department-of-transportation-sd-1988.