By Michael Robinson | Uvalde Hesperian
03-24-26
If you’ve ever driven in a rural part of Texas and stopped at an old gas station back in the day and asked the manager on duty for directions to a location and have been told. “go straight for two miles and turn left at the intersection where the old dance hall used to be,” this little story might be a good segway into a topic that has a real basis in reality here in Uvalde County.
The Uvalde Hesperian recently spoke with Uvalde County Commissioner Roy Kothmann after the Monday, March 23rd, Uvalde County Commissioners Court meeting. Hesperian asked, when has the Uvalde County road map been officially updated. He stated the last time a group was appointed to review all county roads was maybe 26 years ago and they designate roads based on input from citizens.
Why it matters:
While Kothmann went on to say the county isn’t actively paving new county roads, over time existing county roads become shorter as sections of public roadway are abandoned by the county and turned over to private property owners who petition the County to abandon parts or all of a county road.
This happens when a landowner buys land on both sides of an existing county road and effectively surrounds the public road with land owned by one private owner.
Such an occurrence was made official at Monday’s Uvalde County Commissioners Court meeting where the court voted to abandon one entire county road and a portion of another.
This happened in 2025 with another county road. In both instances, a private gate is placed over the once public road creating a dead-end not reflected on the official Uvalde County map. Additionally, Google maps and other maps may not get the memo either and show a road on map that appears to be one or two miles in length when in reality the road dead-ends much sooner,
With parcels of land being bought and sold over the years, county road sections that are abandoned continue to create a greater level of inaccuracy with road maps.
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