HB3377, titled the Non-State Owned Roads Improvement Act, creates a framework for West Virginia counties and municipalities to identify, acquire, and maintain “orphan roads” and bridges—roads and bridges that existed as of January 1, 2025, are open to public use, and are not maintained by any governmental entity. The Division of Highways would be authorized to establish an identification program for these roads and bridges, including reports to local governments or an online GIS map showing roads not on the state system. Local governing bodies could then decide whether to add a road or bridge to their maintenance system based on factors such as available resources, usage, condition, alternate routes, and access for maintenance equipment.
The bill also sets out procedural requirements before a county or municipality can take on an orphan road or bridge. Necessary rights-of-way must be dedicated or donated, or otherwise funded through donations to cover acquisition costs. Before any acquisition, local governments must provide public notice and maintain transparency by publishing project details, timelines, and funding sources online. The bill authorizes funding from existing infrastructure funds, state and federal grants, and private partnerships, and it allows the Division of Highways to use donated money for right-of-way acquisition. It also requires the Division to publish an online, address-searchable GIS map of all state-controlled roads by July 1, 2026, updated at least annually.
In addition to the road-acquisition program, the bill creates a new legal category called Infrastructure Only Common Ownership Associations. These associations would be governed generally by West Virginia’s Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act unless the new chapter provides otherwise. The bill allows homeowners to create such an association by recorded declaration and requires plats and plans describing the property and infrastructure. These associations may exist to administer only certain infrastructure functions, including common roadways, utility access, telecommunications infrastructure, water control and drainage, and sanitary sewers.
The bill would affect state law by adding new provisions to Chapters 17 and 36C of the West Virginia Code and by creating a new article in Chapter 17 for orphan road and bridge acquisition. It would expand local government authority over previously unmaintained roads and bridges, impose transparency and notice requirements, and create a statutory structure for infrastructure-focused common ownership associations. It also clarifies how those associations are formed, managed, terminated, and limited in scope, and it ties them to existing common-interest-community law in Chapter 36B.
No committee transcript or recorded votes were provided, so there is no direct evidence of debate or formal support/opposition in the supplied materials. Based on the bill text alone, the measure appears designed to address long-standing maintenance gaps for private or unclaimed roads while also providing a legal mechanism for shared infrastructure management. Likely points of contention would include local fiscal responsibility, property-rights issues around right-of-way acquisition, and the creation of a new association structure that could affect homeowners and developers.
HB3377 would add new statutory authority for counties and municipalities to acquire and maintain qualifying non-state-owned roads and bridges, while also requiring the Division of Highways to identify those roads and publish a statewide road map. It would create new procedures for notice, funding, and right-of-way acquisition, and it would establish a new chapter governing Infrastructure Only Common Ownership Associations, affecting homeowners, developers, local governments, and property owners connected to shared infrastructure.
No voting record or committee discussion was provided, so the bill’s sentiment cannot be measured from the supplied history. From the text, the bill appears generally constructive and problem-solving in tone, aimed at improving infrastructure maintenance and clarifying responsibility for roads that are currently not maintained by any government entity. The absence of recorded opposition or support in the materials prevents a more specific assessment.
The main likely areas of contention are who pays for acquiring and maintaining orphan roads and bridges, whether counties and municipalities have sufficient resources to take on these obligations, and how right-of-way acquisition would affect private property owners. The new Infrastructure Only Common Ownership Association provisions may also raise questions about governance, homeowner consent, restrictive covenants, and the extent to which private communities can be organized around shared infrastructure. Local governments, property owners, developers, and infrastructure advocates would likely have different interests in these provisions.