The board of county commissioners may open, establish or condemn for roads on section lines and may vacate, alter, widen, change or lay out other new roads according to the following procedure:

1. (a) Action to locate, alter, or vacate a road may be upon a petition to the board of county commissioners signed by at least twelve freeholders residing in the vicinity of the road affected. One or more of such petitioners must execute a bond, payable to the county, conditioned to pay the costs of proceedings if the petition be not granted. The petition shall show clearly the location and terminals of the road and shall be promptly considered by the board of county commissioners if in proper form. But if the board concludes, upon investigation, that the road applied for is unnecessary and impractical, then no further proceedings shall be had, and the bond of the petitioners shall be liable for any costs accrued. Due legal notice to the public for twenty (20) days by advertisement in the official county paper shall be given setting forth the facts and the date when hearing will be held and the petition acted upon. A record of all such proceedings shall be made by the county clerk. One of the petitioners must give at least six (6) days notice in writing to the owner or his legal representative (if within the county) through whose land the proposed road goes and copies of such notice, duly served, must be filed with the county clerk before the proceedings are complete.
2. (b) Or the county engineer may be designated by either side to represent all of the interests involved and proceed to locate or alter the road to the best advantage, make estimates of the cost of doing the work involved, and shall stake it out. In case the owners of the land to be taken agree in writing to the proposed location or changes, or donate the land required, then if the work can be accomplished with reasonable expense the judicial procedure of viewing may be omitted and the board of county commissioners may order and establish the road as a county highway, and make appropriate record thereof. The board shall determine and award the amount of damages to be paid out of the county funds, if there are any such damages sustained by the owner of the land involved, and if such owner actually had notice of the procedure. Failing to give such notice to him, he may claim damages within twelve (12) months after the location and opening of the road, but all claims thereafter shall be barred. Any person aggrieved by the foregoing proceedings shall have the right of appeal to the district court for final review and adjudication.
3. (c) Wherever in those counties the amount of Indian lands or those exempt from taxation by reason of the operation of any federal law is thirty percent (30%) or more of the total area of the county, then the board of county commissioners may, upon its own initiative, and if the public interests demand it, move to secure roads over, adjacent to, or for the benefit of all such exempted lands in the following manner: The board shall call upon the Director as a disinterested party to undertake and make such surveys, plans and estimates and obtain all other essential data and records as are required to make a full and complete statement and report upon the interest involved, and to make such recommendations as in the premises may seem proper. When so prepared, the Department shall then advance the matter to the Department of the Interior of the United States, or to any other federal department concerned, through its proper local representative, if there be one, with the request that the matter be considered and disposed of as speedily as possible. If the project be so approved and authorized, then the work may proceed under the special supervision and direct administration of the Department and subject to such special regulations as the circumstances seem to require.

Added by Laws 1968, HB 501, c. 415, § 646, emerg. eff. July 1, 1968.