Alabama § 11-49-80 - Definitions; Responsibility for Streets Within Municipality Controlled by County; Annexation of Unincorporated Territory; Alternative Arrangements; Evacuation Routes.

§ 11-49-80. Definitions; Responsibility for Streets Within Municipality Controlled by County; Annexation of Unincorporated Territory; Alternative Arrangements; Evacuation Routes.

(a) For the purposes of this article, the following terms shall have the following meanings:

(1) COUNTY-MAINTAINED STREET. A public street, road, or bridge that the county commission has the authority or responsibility to control, manage, supervise, regulate, repair, maintain, or improve.

(2) MUNICIPAL STREET. A public street, road, or bridge that the municipality has the authority or responsibility to control, manage, supervise, regulate, repair, maintain, or improve.

(3) RESPONSIBILITY FOR A STREET. The authority or responsibility to control, manage, supervise, regulate, repair, maintain, or improve a public street, road, or bridge.

(4) STREET. A public street, road, bridge, or portion thereof.

(b) Where the responsibility for a public street or streets lying within a municipality is vested in the county commission of the county within which the municipality is located, the municipality may assume responsibility for the public street or streets designated in the resolution adopted by the governing body of the municipality.

(c) Notwithstanding the adoption of a resolution as required in Sections 11-49-80 and 11-49-81, the annexation of unincorporated territory into a municipality, after July 7, 1995, shall result in the municipality assuming responsibility for all public streets lying within the territory annexed, provided the public streets were county-maintained streets for a period of one year prior to the effective date of the annexation. The annexation of unincorporated territory into a municipality shall also result in the municipality assuming responsibility for all public streets lying within the territory annexed, provided the public streets were county-maintained roads for a period of less than one year prior to the effective date of the annexation if the construction of the public streets was also approved by the municipal planning commission of the annexing municipality. Except as herein provided, this section shall not require a municipality to assume responsibility for any public street located within the territory annexed which was not a county-maintained street prior to the effective date of the annexation. Further, nothing in this section shall require a county to assume responsibility for any public street located within the territory annexed which was not a county-maintained street prior to the effective date of the annexation.

(d) After July 7, 1995, when the annexation of unincorporated territory by a municipality results in a public street being located outside the corporate limits of the annexing municipality while at the same time bounded on both sides by the corporate limits of the annexing municipality, the county governing body shall consent to the annexation of the public street by the municipality if the street was a county-maintained street for a period of one year prior to the effective date of the annexation or was approved upon construction by the municipal planning commission. Once consent to annexation is given by the owners of the public street, the municipality shall annex that portion of the public street which is bounded on both sides by the municipal corporate limits. Once the annexation becomes effective, the municipality shall assume responsibility for the public street as provided in subsection (c).

(e) The responsibility for public streets lying within the corporate limits of an incorporated municipality on July 7, 1995, shall remain the responsibility of the entity responsible for the public streets on July 7, 1995.

(f) Nothing contained in Sections 11-49-80 and 11-49-81 shall prohibit a county and municipality from entering into a mutual agreement providing for an alternative arrangement for responsibility of public streets lying within the corporate limits of an incorporated municipality.

(g) A county-maintained divided four-lane public street that has been designed or designated by the county or Governor as an evacuation route to be utilized under emergency conditions found in Chapter 9, Title 31, may not be annexed by a municipality, regulated by a municipal planning commission, nor considered a part of the police jurisdiction of any municipality except where there is a mutual agreement between a county and municipality providing otherwise.

Nothing in this subsection shall prevent a municipality from annexing territory on either side of the evacuation route that would otherwise be considered contiguous for the purpose of annexation under any provision of Alabama law.