Confusion Abound In Amarillo Over Who Owns S. Grand St.

A few weeks ago, we all heard about the tragic accident on S. Grand St. that took the lives of three people in Amarillo, TX. There was a lot of public outcry about the road not being in good condition, needing to be widened, etc.

None of that stuff would be incorrect. The road out that way is full of cracks, potholes, etc. and could throw your car off and put you in a ditch. Now to be fair, the driver of the car that caused the accident was going 100 mph as we know, and that's not advisable anywhere.

It did though spark the conversation as to how they can improve it. The thing that got brought up was widening it to five lanes. Costs have already been discussed in the wake of the tragedy and it seems there is forward momentum in getting that done.

Until now. It seems we've run into a bit of a snag with the project, and it's not a good one.

WHO OWNS THAT STRETCH OF GRAND?

That's the million dollar question that has come into play at the moment. Is it the City of Amarillo? Or is is Randall County? You would think the answer would be pretty straightforward, but it's not. It's actually relatively complicated because of something that happened nearly 45 years ago.

WHAT'S CAUSING THE CONFUSION?

The aforementioned nearly 45 years ago comes into play because that's when the city first annexed the land around the area, and part of the land that was annexed included parts of S. Grand St. In 1999, there was a Joint Maintenance Responsibilities Agreement between City of Amarillo and Randall County about who would be responsible for what when it came to maintaining that area of Grand.

What it didn't include, and what nothing seems to include is who actually owns the portions of Grand St. in question.

2015 TEXAS STATE LAW DIDN'T APPLY

In 2015, the Texas Local Government Code stated that land that was being annexed that included a county road had to annex the entire width of the road. It also included the right-of-way space on both sides.

One problem, it wasn't retroactive, therefore it didn't apply to this particular situation and the annexation plan from 1978 stayed in place.

WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

Well, point blank the entire plan gets put on hold until the city knows how much of the roadway is within their limits. Once that is figured out, they'll need to work out a plan with Randall County to proceed forward.

In other words, this could be a long drawn out process that could take months to figure out, and will probably cause some fighting between the two.