Hargrove v. Sawyer

• Citation: 146 S.E. 685,149 S.C. 79
• Decision Date: 08 February 1929
• Docket Number: 12579.
• Parties: HARGROVE et al. v. SAWYER, Chief Highway Commissioner et al.
• Court: South Carolina Supreme Court

146 S.E. 685

149 S.C. 79

HARGROVE et al. v. SAWYER, Chief Highway Commissioner et al.

No. 12579.

Supreme Court of South Carolina

February 8, 1929

Original action in the Supreme Court by J. N. Hargrove and others against Ben M. Sawyer, as Chief Highway Commissioner of South Carolina, and others, to obtain a writ of mandamus to compel defendants to pave and hard-surface certain road, and for a writ of injunction. Writs denied, and complaint dismissed.

M. C Woods, of Marion, for plaintiffs.

John M Daniel, Atty. Gen., and Cordie Page and J. Ivey Humphrey Asst. Attys. Gen., for defendants.

STABLER J.

This is one of the several road cases brought to this court in its original jurisdiction. The object of the action is to obtain a writ of mandamus to compel the defendants to pave and hard-surface route No. 23 in Dillon county, between Dillon and Latta, as marked by the present roadbed; also to obtain a writ of injunction to restrain the defendants from expending public funds in the paving and hard-surfacing of any road or sections of road connecting the towns of Latta and Dillon "other than the road designated and defined by the General Assembly."

The road in question was incorporated into the state highway system by an act of 1924 (33 St. at Large, 1193), generally referred to as the Pay-as-You-Go Act, and described therein as a highway to be hard-surfaced "from Latta northeasterly by way of Route No. 23 through Dillon. ***" The act also provided for the continuation of this highway "from Dillon northeasterly on route 23 to the North Carolina line." This road was afterwards made a part of the coastal highway system by an act of 1926 (34 St. at Large, 1492), and is described therein as a highway to be hard-surfaced "on route No. 23 from the North Carolina line through Dillon and Latta to the Marion county line in Dillon county."

The present road, as now and heretofore used, extends along route 23, approximately in a southerly direction from the North Carolina line, through the upper part of Dillon county, and across that part of the town of Dillon lying to the north of Main street, which it intersects at right angles; from that point westerly along Main street, across the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, for more than two blocks; then southerly, at right angles to Main street, along First avenue, and out of the town in the direction of Latta, again crossing the Coast Line Railroad a short distance south of Dillon.

The state highway department proposes to relocate a short section of the road, so that it shall cross Main street, instead of turning west thereon, at the point where route 23 intersects that street on its northern side; continue along Second avenue through that portion of the town to the south of Main street, on the eastern side of the Coast Line Railroad; and intersect the existing highway at some distance beyond the town limits.

The plaintiffs contend that such a relocation of the road is contrary to the terms of the acts of 1924 and 1926, and that the department is undertaking to abandon route 23, which it has no power under the law to do. The defendants insist that the slight change made in the road at the point named does not destroy in any way the identity of route 23; that the deviation from the old road is for a short distance only, and results in a material shortening and straightening of the road; and that greater safety is insured in travel, by eliminating two right-angle turns and two dangerous railroad crossings; that the change is made in the exercise of the discretion vested in the department; and that, under the...