I live on a road on a hill where we have a very high water table and water constantly runs off our property onto the road. During the winter months the water freezes onto the road and can cause some hazardous conditions. The road lacks a gully or some form of trench to keep this water and ice off the road. The highway dept came yesterday after salting and sanding the ice in front of our property and chopped up the ice and scooped up all the sand salt etc. and dumped it onto our lawn. They also did this last year and caused huge areas of dead grass which has not grown back. Essentially they are defacing our property. I called up the highway dept today and spoke to a secretary who answered me simply by repeating that they are allowed to clean up the road and utilize up to 10 feet onto our property by law. What should I do?

Beniny.:(

Hello ben:

Call the secretary back. Ask her what particular law she's referring to. If she tells you (and she won't, because she's a bureaucrat, and they don't know squat), look it up. If they CAN do that, and I doubt it, call the mayor. You're a citizen. Of course, if the mayor says the same thing, either hire a lawyer to fight them, or go buy a big shovel.

excon

It is possible that such a law does exist. For example, when snow plows come through, the snow they remove has to go somewhere. But definitely get them to cite the exact statute.

If the statue does say 10' and the dead areas are more than 10', take pictures and submit a bill to the town for repair of the damaged areas.

Some alternatives are to put up a fence that will prevent them from dumping too far into your property or digging your own run off trench.