When Jurisdiction Doesn't Follow the Pattern

Where the usual city, county and state stack breaks, and what to do about it

Every weekday morning, the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway in Washington, D.C., runs one way: into the city. Every afternoon it flips and runs out. The National Park Service has handled rush hour this way since 1937.¹ On its busiest stretch, about 55,000 vehicles a day use it.¹

It's a commuter road through the middle of the capital, and the city doesn't run it. A crosswalk request sent to city hall would go nowhere.

The four questions in How Road Changes Actually Happen still work here. But in some places, the answer to "which government?" is one most people wouldn't guess. This page covers ten documented cases.

#Why you should care

You'll call the right office first. A route number or a city limit sign won't always tell you who's in charge.
"We can't" may be literally true. In some states, a city can do only what the legislature allows.
You may be paying a government you've never heard of. Some Colorado subdivisions repay 30-year bonds through a district tax.
The money follows different rules. In U.S. territories, federal highway funds can't be spent on local roads.

#Which one is you?

If you live...	You may be dealing with	What changes for your request
In Jacksonville, Indianapolis or another merged city-county	A consolidated government	Check whether your town opted out
In a Virginia city, Baltimore, St. Louis or Carson City	An independent city	The city owns the streets; no county is involved
In a Virginia county other than Arlington or Henrico	State-maintained secondary roads	The state DOT, not the county, maintains your road
In a Dillon's Rule state	Limited local power	The fix may need the legislature
On or near tribal land	Tribal sovereignty	Two governments may both need to approve
In a newer Colorado subdivision	A metropolitan district	The district board may be the one to ask
At a Hudson River bridge or tunnel	An interstate compact authority	Neither state decides alone
In Connecticut	Towns and the state, no counties	Your town's traffic authority, or CTDOT on state roads
In Michigan, outside a city or village	A county road commission	The township can't fix it
On a parkway through federal parkland	A federal land agency	The agency decides, not the city
In Puerto Rico or a U.S. territory	A territorial government	Different federal funding rules

#Consolidated city-counties

When a city and county merge, some towns usually stay out. In 1968, Jacksonville merged with Duval County, Florida. Baldwin, Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach and Jacksonville Beach opted out and kept their own governments.² Baldwin, the only one surrounded by Jacksonville, now gets its policing from the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.²

Indianapolis and Marion County merged in 1970 under Unigov.³ State law left out municipalities of more than 5,000 people.⁴ Four stayed out: Beech Grove, Lawrence, Southport and Speedway. Their residents still vote for the consolidated mayor and council and pay countywide taxes.⁵

For your request: Check whether your address is in the consolidated city or an excluded town. Excluded towns provide their own services or contract for them.²⁵

#Independent cities

Virginia has 38 independent cities, which belong to no county. Only three exist elsewhere: Baltimore, St. Louis and Carson City.⁶

In Virginia, cities maintain their own streets, with quarterly state payments based on lane miles.⁷ In counties, the state DOT maintains secondary roads.⁶ Arlington and Henrico counties are the exceptions: they withdrew from that system, and the state pays them to maintain their own roads.⁸

For your request: In a Virginia city, go to city hall. In most Virginia counties, a neighborhood road goes to the state DOT.

#Dillon's Rule states

This one doesn't change who owns the road. It changes what that government may do.

Under Dillon's Rule, from an 1868 court opinion, a local government has only three kinds of power: those the state grants in so many words, those fairly implied from them, and those essential to its purpose.⁹ Virginia is one of about half the states that follow it. There, an act the General Assembly hasn't authorized is void.¹⁰

Home rule flips the presumption: a local government can act unless state law forbids it. Some states tie home rule to size. In Washington, only cities over 10,000 people qualify; in Texas, cities over 5,000 can vote to adopt it.¹¹

For your request: "We don't have the authority" may be accurate. If it is, the next step is the legislature, not more local pressure.

#Tribal land

Tribes are governments, alongside federal, state and local ones. The Bureau of Indian Affairs maintains BIA-system roads, and tribes can run all or part of the federal Tribal Transportation Program themselves.¹² Each tribe sets its own four-year Tribal Transportation Improvement Program, which the Federal Highway Administration approves.¹³ Of about 157,000 miles in the federal tribal road inventory, about 100,000 are state and local roads.¹⁴

Where a Washington state highway crosses a reservation, the tribe can change the speed limit after an engineering and traffic study. The change takes effect only once the state approves it and signs go up. If the highway is also a city or county road, that government must approve too.¹⁵

For your request: Find out whose system the road is in: BIA, tribal, or state and local. A road through a reservation may still be a county road.

#Special and metropolitan districts

In Colorado, a new subdivision's streets may be financed by a metropolitan district: a local government with an elected board and the power to tax property and issue bonds. Developers often set them up.¹⁶ Builders say state tax limits make them more attractive. Their bonds usually run 30 years, repaid through residents' property taxes, and they may maintain streets the city hasn't accepted.¹⁷

For your request: Check your property tax bill for a district. If one is there, its board may be the one to ask.

#Interstate compact authorities

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey was created by a 1921 compact between the two states, with the consent of Congress. Twelve commissioners run it, six from each state, appointed by the governors with state senate approval.¹⁸ Its police enforce motor vehicle law at the Holland and Lincoln tunnels and the Bayonne, Goethals and George Washington bridges.¹⁹

For your request: At a compact facility, the authority is in charge. Neither state's DOT nor any city decides alone.

#States without county government

Connecticut abolished county government in 1960. In 2022, the Census Bureau made its nine planning regions, served by councils of governments, the state's county equivalents.²⁰

Roads split between towns and the state. Glastonbury publishes which of its streets are state routes and sends residents to a state DOT garage for those.²¹ Traffic control splits too. Each town's traffic authority is its police commission, its manager or police chief, or its board of selectmen, depending on the town. On state highways, it's the Office of the State Traffic Administration.²² Each town also names a Local Traffic Authority who takes state-road requests to the state DOT.²³

For your request: On a town road, start with the town's traffic authority. On a state route, the town can pass your request along, but the state decides.

#Michigan road commissions

Michigan townships have no direct authority over local roads.²⁴ County road commissions do, under a 1909 state law, and they are separate from general county government. In Wayne and Macomb counties, a county department fills that role.²⁵ Road commissions can't levy taxes; they run mainly on fuel taxes and registration fees. They hold about 75 percent of Michigan's road miles; the state holds 8 percent, and cities and villages 17 percent.²⁵²⁶ Some also maintain state highways under contract.²⁵

Townships can still pay for road work, through a millage or special assessment.²⁴

For your request: Outside cities and villages, call the county road commission, not the township.

#Federal land inside cities

In Washington, D.C., Beach Drive and the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway are National Park Service roads that serve as commuter routes.¹ The Park Service uses its own sign manual. Under a 1973 agreement with the Federal Highway Administration, amended in 2006, that manual counts as in substantial conformance with the MUTCD.²⁷

For your request: On park roads, the agency that manages the park decides.

#Puerto Rico and the territories

Puerto Rico has no counties. Its 78 municipios are county equivalents, and all are working governments.²⁸ Highway building and maintenance belong to the Puerto Rico Highways and Transportation Authority, created in 1965 under the Department of Transportation and Public Works.²⁹ The Federal Highway Administration's Caribbean division works with it.³⁰

Federal highway law defines "State" to include Puerto Rico.³¹ Yet Puerto Rico gets its own annual allocation and can't receive funds apportioned to states.³²

Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands share a separate Territorial Highway Program. Its money flows only after each territory signs an agreement with the U.S. Department of Transportation covering road standards and maintenance. It can't pay for routine maintenance or for roads classed as local.³²

Guam has 19 villages and no counties. Its Department of Public Works maintains the island's roads; village mayors help set street priorities. About 155 miles are federal-aid highways, beside about 860 miles of other roads.³³
U.S. Virgin Islands: the territorial Department of Public Works plans, builds and maintains the public roads and runs the federal-aid highway program.³⁴
Northern Mariana Islands: the Department of Public Works maintains primary and secondary roads.³⁵ Some roads are part of a Territorial Highway System eligible for federal aid.³⁶
American Samoa has about 150 miles in its territorial highway system.³⁷ Village roads can be funded another way: in 2024, a village access road was paid for by the Interior Department's Office of Insular Affairs and supervised by the Department of Public Works.³⁸

For your request: In a territory, the territorial public works department is usually the road agency. Ask whether the road is in the federal-aid system; if it's local, the money comes from somewhere else.

#Fair questions

My city says it doesn't have the authority. Is that an excuse? Maybe not. In a Dillon's Rule state, an act the legislature hasn't authorized is void.¹⁰ Ask which law they're relying on.

Can an old private road become public? Sometimes. In Virginia, a county board can ask the state to take a road into its secondary system once motor vehicles have used it for 20 years and it serves at least three families per mile. The county must pay to bring it up to standard.³⁹ In Connecticut, a court can find a road public when the owner intended it and the public accepted it, and long public use can show acceptance.⁴⁰

My road crosses a reservation. Whose rules apply? It depends on the road's system. Most miles in the federal tribal inventory are state and local roads.¹⁴ On a Washington state highway, both the tribe and the state have a say.¹⁵

Why can't my Michigan township fix my road? Because it has no direct authority over it. The county road commission does. Your township can still help pay.²⁴

#What you can do

Find your row in the table above.
Ask the first office two things: who maintains this road, and who controls its signs and signals?
Check your property tax bill for a district you didn't know about.
Before pushing locally, check your state's rule. Dillon's Rule or home rule changes what your city can do.
On tribal or federal land, contact the tribe's transportation department or the agency that manages the land.