Onslow County creates $2 million loan fund to bring ‘orphan’ roads up to NCDOT standards

Onslow County announced a $2,000,000 Orphan Road Loan Fund to help neighborhoods repair private roads that lack a clear owner so they can meet North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) standards and be accepted into the state maintenance system.

Assistant County Manager Carrie Sanders said the county’s commissioners directed staff to create the program after hearing residents’ complaints about road conditions. “In North Carolina, counties are considered agents of the state, which mean that we only have the powers granted to us by the North Carolina General Assembly,” Sanders said, adding that “under North Carolina General statute, counties are not legally responsible for road maintenance.”

The program targets so-called orphan roads — private or intended-public roads that are not currently part of the NCDOT system. Planning and Development Director Carter Metcalfe described an orphan road as “a private road within a neighborhood or a subdivision that lacks a clear owner,” and said the county’s goal is to bring those roads up to the three primary NCDOT requirements for adoption: construction standards, residency thresholds and connectivity to the existing state system.

Joseph Bauer, senior planner with the county’s Planning and Development Department and the staff liaison for the program, told residents the county will lead technical steps including filing petitions with NCDOT, coordinating deficiency inspections and producing cost estimates. “I will be, for all intents and purposes, your liaison and, communication, in between the county,” Bauer said.

How the progr…