Franklin, whose Town Council accepts roads, sought help from the state Legislature. Lawmakers last year approved a simplified acceptance policy that eliminates some of the legal work.
Department of Public Works Director Robert Cantoreggi said the town has been working in recent years to accept streets. State data shows the town has about 29 miles of unaccepted roads.
Franklin will plow a road, fix potholes and perform other limited maintenance once it has three homes on it.
"People kind of forget about it," Cantoreggi said. "No one really knows (it is unaccepted) until a road falls apart."
Read more: http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/x35743936/Unaccepted-roads-pose-challenges-for-residents-and-towns#ixzz2DEeFA7cR
The MassDOT report for 2011 can be found here
http://www.massdot.state.ma.us/Portals/17/docs/RoadInventory/2011_ye_rpt.pdf
What is an unaccepted road? MassDOT defines this as "unaccepted roads consist of roads open to public travel but not formally accepted by a city or town, as well as some private ways." A road that is not legally owned by the local community. It was put in by a developer in order to complete the development of some number of residences. It may not have been built to the local community standard by the developer. The community may have a process to bring a road up to standard and then "accept" it as part of the community maintenance. Bringing roads up to standard can be a costly proposition and the question of who contributes to the delay in accepting the road.
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