Buying Hill Country Land on a Highway? Check the Driveway

Why can’t you assume road frontage means a driveway?

Because touching a road and having a permitted way onto it are two separate things. A tract can show hundreds of feet of frontage on a Hill Country highway and still leave you asking where, and whether, the state will let a new driveway connect.

On a state highway, the rule is plain. Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) rules say a permit is required before the construction of an access connection, and they define an access connection as a facility such as a driveway that connects to a highway on the state highway system. The same rules define a private driveway as an entrance to or exit from a single-family residential dwelling, farm or ranch for the exclusive use of the permittee.

The rules also explain why TxDOT cares. The department treats access management as a way of balancing mobility and safety on the highway with access to the land next to it. Your driveway is one more place where cars slow down, turn and pull out.

County roads have their own permit. Comal County says a driveway installation, modification or any other work within the public right-of-way requires a permit in advance. So whether the tract fronts a state highway or a county road, someone other than you and the seller gets a say in where the driveway goes.

My 20-plus years as a landman taught me to ask about access before price.

How does a TxDOT driveway permit work?

You apply through the local TxDOT district office. TxDOT’s Access Management Manual says an applicant who wants to build a driveway or change an existing one should contact the local district office and submit Form 1058, Permit to Construct Access Driveway Facilities on Highway Right of Way. The application has to describe the proposed work and give the applicant’s contact details and the driveway location.

Here is what the rules and the manual say about the process:

• Who applies. The manual says applications shall be made by the property owner or the owner’s authorized representative, who represents all parties in interest. The rules define the permittee as a real property owner, or the owner’s authorized representative, who receives the permit.
• Who decides. The permit comes from the TxDOT district, and TxDOT’s manual describes the district as the office that issues the access permit.
• What gets weighed. The rules say TxDOT considers access connection spacing, materials, geometrics, accessibility and other design specifications, plus the impact on drainage, utility locations and the environment. They add that an engineering study may be required.
• When work can start. The manual says no construction on the right-of-way may begin until the applicant has a fully executed permit and has given TxDOT 24-hour notice.
• When it counts. The manual says an inspector reviews the finished driveway, and it is an authorized permitted installation only after TxDOT finds the construction satisfactory.

Read the permit closely, because it comes with conditions. The rules say the permit includes the terms, conditions and attachments for driveway design and location plans. The manual says the conditions for granting access will be stated in the permit, and a violation of those conditions may require TxDOT to reevaluate the access.

What about drainage along the highway?

This is where Hill Country land gets practical. TxDOT’s manual says drainage in highway side ditches shall not be altered or impeded, and when a drainage structure such as a culvert pipe is required, TxDOT approves its size and design. The manual also requires safety end treatments for driveways with drainage structures in the right-of-way, with no culvert headwalls or similar vertical ends.

So the cost of a driveway is not only gravel or concrete. If the ditch along your frontage carries water, ask a contractor to price the pipe and end treatment the manual describes.

What can stop or reshape the driveway you planned?

Spacing between driveways is one of the factors the rules list.

For state highways other than new highways, freeway mainlanes and frontage roads, TxDOT’s manual sets minimum connection spacing by posted speed, measured along the edge of the road from one driveway’s edge of pavement to the next.

The manual also says that table does not apply to rural highways outside metropolitan planning organization boundaries where there is little, if any, potential for development and current traffic is below 2,000 vehicles a day. On those highways, it says TxDOT evaluates access location and design on safety and traffic operation, such as traffic volumes, posted speed, turning volumes, shoulders and roadway geometrics. Where topography or other conditions make the spacing impractical, the manual says the location of reasonable access will be determined with consideration given to topography, established property ownerships and physical limits.

When the preferred spot does not meet the standards, the owner can ask for a variance. The rules say the district engineer or a designee approves a variance, and TxDOT’s manual says the request goes to the district office for that decision. If you are still under contract, the seller would be the owner making that request. Ask the district what it will need to see before you count on one.

Why does it matter if the land was split from a bigger tract?

On a split tract, read this part closely. TxDOT’s manual says potential land-locking caused by subdividing a larger tract and selling the lots will not, alone, justify a variance from the spacing requirements. It says the party proposing the subdivision should provide internal access easements to the existing access points instead.

In plain terms, if you are buying a piece carved out of a larger ranch and the original tract already has a permitted gate, do not count on a spacing variance just because your piece has no gate of its own. Ask the seller how your tract reaches the road, and look for a recorded access easement to that existing gate. Your title company and your survey are where that shows up. My guide to what a title company does in a Texas home purchase explains the title side.

What if TxDOT says no?

The rules say a decision denying a request for access at a specific location must be in writing, and the appeal rule runs from the written notice of the denial. What happens next depends on the decision and the place:

• Decisions you can appeal. The appeal rule and TxDOT’s manual cover a denied request for a driveway permit under the standard permit rule, a denied variance, a required change or repair to an existing driveway, and a finding that a remodeled business threatens public safety. The manual says the appeal goes first to the director of the Design Division, then to the executive director, and finally to a board of variance.
• What the appeal has to include. The written petition has to state the grounds and include documentation such as drawings, surveys or photographs.
• Where a city holds the permits. TxDOT’s manual says that where a municipality has access permitting authority, a denial cannot be appealed to TxDOT.
• Where TxDOT owns the access. Along some highways the state owns the right of access from the adjacent land. The rules handle a permit at such a location under a separate section from the standard permit rule. TxDOT’s manual says access where TxDOT controls it is an interest in real property that cannot be sold without Texas Transportation Commission approval.

An appeal adds time and paperwork to a land deal. If your purchase depends on one particular driveway location, find out where TxDOT stands before you close.

How do county road driveways work in Comal County?

Through the Comal County Engineer’s Office, with a permit called PIPROW, short for Private Improvement within the Public Right-of-Way. The county says the permit covers right-of-way safety and drainage, and damage to the county road.

Here are the steps the county lists:

1. Submit the application to the Comal County Engineer’s Office with the $25 application fee.
2. Contact the Right-of-Way Inspector to schedule an on-site meeting. The county says the Permit to Construct is typically issued at that meeting.
3. Build the driveway to the county’s Driveway Detail Standard.
4. Notify the County Engineer in writing when construction is done and schedule a final inspection.
5. The county issues the PIPROW permit after the final inspection.

What should you check before you commit to the land?

Put access on the same list as water, septic and taxes, and work it while your contract still lets you walk away. Here is the order I would use:

1. Name the road and the office. Find out whether the frontage is on the state highway system, a Comal County road, a city street or a private road, then confirm which office issues driveway permits there. A city may hold that authority on some state highways.
2. Find the existing access. Walk the frontage and look for a gate, a culvert or a driveway apron, then ask the seller whether it was permitted and for what use.
3. Ask what the gate is permitted for. If the only entrance is an agricultural gate, ask whether it is permitted as a field driveway, since that kind of permit is limited to farm equipment.
4. Check how the tract was created. If it came out of a larger property, ask for any recorded access easement and look at the survey and plat for how your piece reaches the road.
5. Look at the ditch. Note whether water runs along the frontage, because TxDOT approves the size of any pipe and the county inspector checks drainage too.
6. Talk to the permitting office. Call the TxDOT district office, or the Comal County Engineer’s Office at 830-608-2090 for a county road, and ask how they would look at a driveway where you want it.
7. Line it up with your option period. Get these answers before the option period ends. My guide to option fees and earnest money in Texas explains how that window works.

My post on reading a Texas land listing with a landman’s eye covers other raw-land checks, and the ag valuation guide covers the tax side of Hill Country acreage.