Behind the gates of a community in Tarrant County sits a public roadway, maintained by the county but used exclusively by residents, raising questions about the legality of such an arrangement.
Billings Road runs north and south through a residential area west of Lake Worth. The road is less than two miles long, beginning at Nine Mile Bridge Road and ending at Orilla Lane. A portion of Billings Road south of Confederate Park Road is private and gated, but a roughly quarter-mile stretch beyond that is designated as a public road, even though it’s confined within the gated La Cantera neighborhood.
The road was labeled public and was included in a plat map when La Cantera’s developer turned over the land to the county in 2002. In October 2008, Tarrant County accepted responsibility for Billings Road, according to county map data…