Sloan v. State Highway Dept.
| Decision Date | 09 May 1929 |
| Docket Number | 12658. |
| Parties | SLOAN et al. v. STATE HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT et al. |
| Court | South Carolina Supreme Court |
Original proceedings by S. P. Sloan and others for injunction, opposed by the State Highway Department of South Carolina and others. Injunction denied, and petition dismissed.
W. E Bowen, of Greenville, and H. S. Blackwell, of Laurens, for petitioners.
John M Daniel, Atty. Gen., Cordie Page and J. Ivey Humphrey, Assts. Atty. Gen., and James H. Price, of Greenville, for defendants.
By an act of 1924 (33 Stat. at Large, p. 1193), the Legislature created a state-wide connected system of hard-surface and other types of public roads, to be constructed and maintained by the state highway department. Of the roads designated by the act to be hard surfaced in Greenville county is one "from end of pavement near Greenville southeasterly along route No. 2 by way of Mauldin, Simpsonville to the Laurens County line near Fountain Inn."
The petitioners, property owners or taxpayers residing on or along route 2, have instituted this proceeding in the original jurisdiction of the court for the purpose of obtaining injunctive and other relief.
They allege that the defendant state highway department has determined, in violation of law, to abandon a part of route 2 between Mauldin and Simpsonville, and to substitute therefor a different road along an entirely new route. Numerous reasons are stated why the old road is preferable to the proposed new location, and why the petitioners and others residing and owning property on or along the abandoned section of the old road will be damaged by the proposed change. The affidavit of W. D. Neves, civil engineer, was filed by the petitioners as supporting their contentions.
The highway department, by its return to the rule issued in the case, alleges that the contemplated change between Mauldin and Simpsonville, complained of by the petitioners, is for the purpose only of straightening and improving the road by eliminating dangerous turns and curves and two dangerous grade crossings near Simpsonville; that the proposed new road is at no place far distant from the old road, follows its identical tracks at places, and does not extend any considerable distance at any point before again uniting with it; and that the proposed relocation has been made with reasonable reference to the old roadbed as a factor in determining the route to be followed. The defendant filed a number of affidavits in support of its return and answer. The parties also filed a map or plat, showing the old road and the proposed new location.
This court has so recently announced and discussed the legal principles governing cases of this kind that a further discussion of them here is unnecessary. See Gaston v State Highway Department, 134 S.C. 402, 132 S.E. 680; Boykin v. State Highway Department, 146 S.C. 483 144 S.E. 227; Fairey v. Sawyer, 147 S.C. 97, 144 S.E. 926; Hargrove v. Sawyer, 149 S.C. 79, 146 S.E 685. In the Hargrove Case it is said: ...
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Cooke v. State Highway Department
... ... cases are Boykin v. State Highway Department, 146 ... S.C. 483, 144 S.E. 227; Hargrove v. Sawyer, 149 S.C ... 79, 146 S.E. 685; and Sloan v. State Highway ... Department, 150 S.C. 337, 148 S.E. 183. If the case were ... here on its full merits, the cases cited would be applicable ... ...
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Fant v. State Highway Dept.
... ... Under the Boykin Case, unless the ... roadbed is a controlling factor, the state highway department ... does not have to follow it. See [164 S.C. 191] , also, ... Gaston v. State Highway Department, 134 S.C. 402, ... 132 S.E. 680; Hargrove v. Sawyer, 149 S.C. 79, 146 ... S.E. 685; and Sloan v. Highway Department, 150 S.C ... 337, 148 S.E. 183. We are constrained to hold, therefore, ... that the defendants have the right to adopt and include, in ... the manner and on the terms required by law, the road ... proposed to be adopted and included by them in the state ... highway ... ...