There May Be Nothing Wrong With A 49.5' Right-of-Way

Paul in PA, post: 333529, member: 236 wrote: I have found record maps with 49.5' (3 rod) roads and 40.25' (2.5 rod) roads. I have seen reference deeds from these maps call them 50' and 40' roads.

Paden Cash's pdf in the proration thread, shows dimensions clearly derived using a chain to nearest 1/2 link.
Road; 3 rod, 3/4 chain, 75 links = 49.5'
Lot width, 1.5 rod, 3/8 chain, 37.5 links = 24.75'
Lot depth, 9.9 rod, 2 chain 47.5 links = 163.35'

Or the layout surveyors chain was 1 link short.

Paul in PA

3 rod roads are fairly common. The one I still wonder about is the 63' 7 1/4" road on an early 1900s plat. Somebody had something very specific in mind when they drew that.
Either that or an awesome sense of humor. .

Paul in PA, post: 333529, member: 236 wrote: I have found record maps with 49.5' (3 rod) roads and 40.25' (2.5 rod) roads. I have seen reference deeds from these maps call them 50' and 40' roads.

Paden Cash's pdf in the proration thread, shows dimensions clearly derived using a chain to nearest 1/2 link.
Road; 3 rod, 3/4 chain, 75 links = 49.5'
Lot width, 1.5 rod, 3/8 chain, 37.5 links = 24.75'
Lot depth, 9.9 rod, 2 chain 47.5 links = 163.35'

Or the layout surveyors chain was 1 link short.

Paul in PA

I went into a big explanation about this very thing when we were doing some county farmland preservation surveys. They insisted on making the road 50'. They were able to do this by taking 0.25' of R/W from either side of the road. (The parcels were on both sides of the road because the lot actually existed long before the road even though the road was about 150 years old.) I protested but ultimately lost the battle, so there is a little 50' wide piece of road now on a road that has been 49.5' wide for 200 years........I guess that will never cause any problems......idiots.

Dan,
Way back when the roads were dirt. The extra half foot makes room for paint stripes. . Makes perfect sense...
Tom
;^)