66.1035 Rights of abutting owners. The owners of land abutting on any highway, street, or alley shall have a common right in the free and unobstructed use of the full width of the highway, street, or alley. No town, village, city, county, company, or corporation shall close up, use, or obstruct any part of the highway, street, or alley so as to materially interfere with its usefulness as a highway or so as to damage abutting property, or permit the same to be done, without just compensation being made for any resulting damage. This section does not impose liability for damages arising from the use, maintenance, and operation of tracks or other public improvement legally laid down, built, or established in any street, highway, or alley prior to April 7, 1889. All rights in property that could entitle an owner to damages under this section may be condemned by any business entity that is listed in s. 32.02 in the same manner that other property may be condemned by the business entity.

History: 2003 a. 214 s. 101; Stats. 2003 s. 66.1035; 2015 a. 55.

NOTE: 2003 Wis. Act 214, which affected this section, contains extensive explanatory notes.

This section does not authorize the recovery of damages for a loss of business due to the temporary closing of a street for construction purposes. Weinandt v. Appleton, 58 Wis. 2d 734, 207 N.W.2d 673 (1973).

Landowners whose property abuts a public roadway, but who have no ownership interest in the land under the roadway, are abutting landowners for purposes of access rights. The right attributed to an abutting landowner is the right of reasonable access. Geyso v. Daly, 2005 WI App 18, 278 Wis. 2d 475, 691 N.W.2d 915, 04-0748