| Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: |
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| | Sec. 1. 23 MRSA §653, as amended by PL 1971, c. 593, §22, is | repealed and the following enacted in its place: |
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| | 1.__Authority.__The department may establish the boundary | lines, limits or locations of any or all state highways and state | aid highways and cause durable monuments to be erected at the | angles thereof. |
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| | 2.__Reestablishment of lost or doubtful boundaries.__Whenever | in the opinion of the department the boundary lines, limits or | location of any state highway or state aid highway or any part | thereof are lost, uncertain or doubtful, the department may | reestablish those lines, limits or location; land lying within | those lines is a part of the highway right-of-way.__The | department shall file with the town clerk of the town in which | the highway is located and with the registry of deeds in the | county in which the highway is located maps showing the boundary | lines, limits or location of such a reestablished highway, and | those lines, boundaries, limits and location are those of the | reestablished highway. The department shall post descriptions of | those parts of such highways that lie within towns in one | conspicuous place in those towns and in the vicinity of the | highway, and it shall publish a description of those parts of | highways that lie within any county in a newspaper, if any, in | that county. |
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| In the absence of record, plan or layout sufficient to | reestablish the boundary lines, limits or location of a state | highway or state aid highway, the width of a state highway or | state aid highway is deemed to extend to and include the area | lying outside the shoulders and ditch lines and within any | landmarks or historic features such as fences, fence posts, tree | rows, stone walls, corner stones or other similar monuments | indicating the boundary line. |
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| In the absence of record, plan or layout or any landmarks or | historic features that evidence the location of the boundaries of | the right-of-way, the width of a state highway or state aid | highway is deemed to extend to and include the shoulders and | ditch lines adjacent to that highway and to the top of cuts or | toe of fills where they exist. |
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| Any person aggrieved by the reestablishment of boundary lines, | limits and location of a reestablished highway may file a | complaint for the assessment of damages to the Superior Court in | the county where the reestablished highway is located within 60 | days from the filing of maps with the registry of deeds, and not | thereafter, and the court shall assess the damages, if any, by | jury, as long as the reestablished boundary lines, limits or |
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