County highways; ownership

(a) As used in this section: "Disputed road" means any highway, road, alley, street, way, lane, bikeway, bridge, or trail that is open to the public and is located in any county with a population of five hundred thousand or more, for which there is a dispute over ownership and jurisdiction, as determined by the department of transportation, between the State or any of its political subdivisions and a county or a private party, or between a county and a private party. (b) If no party has exercised ownership over the disputed road in the five years prior to July 1, 2017, the disputed road shall be deemed to have been surrendered to the county in which the road is situated, pursuant to an administrative order issued by the state director of transportation. The county shall accept without exercise of discretion all surrendered roads and shall record its ownership immediately with the bureau of conveyances. For purposes of this subsection, driving on a disputed road shall not, on its own, constitute an act of ownership.