# river right of way on bridges



## Beaglernr (Dec 1, 2002)

Quick question...this weekend I was on AuSable and at Wakley bridge there is a no trespassing sign at the base of the bridge over some private property. 
Now, on the north end, Sign side is easy to get out and safe, the south side has a deep hole with sticks and trip hazzards. 
How much up to a public bridge does the landowner really own and what can they say is not safe to trespass on? I can understand a landowner not wanting excess foot traffic, canoe and such but in this care I am wondering where they can draw a line and where I can be in trouble if I take the easy way.

Thanks in advance.


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## boehr (Jan 31, 2000)

Landowners own to the center of the road. I don't know the area so I would advise you to call the District of the area you are talking about.


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## trout (Jan 17, 2000)

Depends on the road I think?
33 feet from many center lines is County owned right of ways.
Much of the area here has no parking signs near the bridges to keep access to nil.
The county told the township that was the only way to stop people from canoeing down a certain river here.


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## east bay ed (Dec 18, 2002)

the word i got for alcona county is that a bridge is not a acessable point. the land owner owns to the center of the road and althoughh the county has a right of way that doesn't mean you can use it to get to the water. i don't much care for this whole idea of the river is mine cause i own the land movement. but its here in a lot of places already.


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## boehr (Jan 31, 2000)

Best I can say is to contact the appropriate District Office.

General information is:
Some waters are touched or bordered by public roadways, most of which have been established by public use or by easement. Ownership of the land beneath such roadways remains with the private landowner. The public has merely acquired the right to use the land for roadway purposes, but not the right to pick the fruits, nuts, or crops alongside the roadway. These remain the property of the landowner. The courts have held the public has no right to enter a non-navigable lake or stream from a public roadway any more than to enter the orchards or uplands along such roadway.
However, the Michigan Supreme Court in Cass County Park Trustees v Wendt, 361 Mich. 247; 105 NW2d 138 (1960), ruled that whenever a highway actually and in the natural state of things contiguously borders or ends in navigable public waters, the public has a right of access from the highway by land to the highway by water. The court in so ruling did not differentiate between right-of-way owned in fee, granted by easement, or established by user. In fact, the Cass County Park case, where right-of-way was granted by easement, was not quite as simple as in most cases in that the evidence clearly illustrated that there was also a strip of land between the highway and the water's edge. It was established the strip had been used for public purposes, including the launching of boats, swimming, fishing and parking of automobiles, and that such use had been a constant one. Notwithstanding, the court additionally held that the right of public access to bodies of water bordered or skirted by public roads may be lawfully created by long continued use (prescriptive easement) even across such strip of intervening private property.


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## Beaglernr (Dec 1, 2002)

Thank you all, I knew this would be a good place to get an anwser. Looks like they (landowner) is well with in there rights to post the sign and I had better honor it. Good to know how much we can and can not do.


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## WILDCATWICK (Mar 11, 2002)

Trout, I gained access to the river your talking about at a bridge this spring and had an enjoyable day. Several day's later a friend went to the same spot. When he got out of the river he was greated by law enforcement and the land owner. The Law enforcement scorned my friend and told him the next time he will arrest or ticket him for tresspassing.  My friend is an Iraqi I don't know if this played into things at all but he felt like it did. I beleive at this bridge it was only posted on the upstream side. The downstream side has a pull off for your car and is not posted. My friend gained access on the downstream sided and waded upstream. Is all sections of that river navigitable?


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