Old Walker Road Abandonment
Summary
The purpose here is to make the case that a long unused section of Walker Road which abuts our property should be declared by the town as fully abandoned. New York State Highway law section 205 makes clear that disuse establishes abandonment. Case law, which we will cite, affirms this. However, the burden of proof of disuse rests on those who would have a road declared abandoned.
There are 2 motivations for this request. The first is a desire to improve the appearance of our property where the old road connects to Walker Road. The area is frequently used by large trucks to turn around, resulting in constant ruts and having the ground torn up. The second is vehicles sometimes going down the old road, getting stuck there, tearing it up and discarding trash. It's a nuisance.
Location
About 1927 a section of Walker Road (then NY Route 8) was re-routed. The bypassed section of road plunged deep into a ravine and up the other side, using several cut-backs to reduce the incline. The south end began about 200 feet north of the entrance to what was then the Broad Acres skilled nursing facility. This is about 1/2 mile west of Smith Hill Road, where the road turns abruptly north. The northern end of the bypassed section meets Walker Road about 200 feet south of Browns Gulf Road. Pictured here is the north end of the bypassed section.
