What is a Class VI road?
A. In the state’s highway classification system, which is defined in RSA 229:5, Class VI roads are “all other existing public ways,” meaning public ways not otherwise classified as Class IV or Class V roads. Class VI roads include those that have been discontinued subject to gates and bars, as well as those that have “not been maintained and repaired by the town in suitable condition for travel” for five successive years or more. (See RSA 229:5, VII.) The two important keys to this statutory definition are that Class VI roads are public ways, and they are roads that the town has no duty to maintain. Note that the definition of a Class V road is one that the town does have a duty to maintain. (See RSA 229:5, VI.) Q. Can the town appropriate money to maintain or repair Class VI roads? A. RSA 231:59 authorizes municipalities to spend money to repair Class IV and V highways, not Class VI roads. One of the basic tenets of New Hampshire municipal law is that towns and cities have only that a
