Highway status and road adoption

Highway register - Legal status of streets

The online map shows the current legal status of all streets in Bolton.

Colour key	Description	Responsibility for maintenance
ADOPTED (amber)	An adopted public highway, maintained at public expense. The public has a right to pass and re-pass along adopted highways, either on foot or dependent on suitability, in a vehicle motorised or otherwise.	Bolton Council
UNADOPTED (pink)	An unadopted public highway which Bolton Council has no duty to maintain, but on which the public have a right to pass and re-pass, either on foot or dependent on suitability, in a vehicle motorised or otherwise.	The landowner (Usually the owners of properties fronting an unadopted street own the road up to the centre line)
PRIVATE* (green or uncoloured)	These are streets that the public do not have the right to use. Generally they can only be used by the owner of the road and anyone who has the permission of the owner to use them.	The landowner
UNDER CONSTRUCTION (blue)	These are streets which are still being built (for example, on new housing estates) and which the Council has not yet adopted.	The landowner
ADOPTED TO ANCIENT HIGHWAY (light yellow)	These are public highways that have existed for a very long time but where there has been no pressing need for them to be brought up to a modern standard. They are often unmade roads or tracks, but they are maintained at public expense.	Bolton Council

*Any street or area of the map that is not coloured is not Public Highway and should be assumed to be private.

Our staff are often out of the office and unable to take calls.

The best way to contact us for all Highways enquiries, is to complete this form and we will get back to you as soon as we can.