Also known as: reasonable rights of ingress and egress · ingress and egress easement · right of access
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A property right held by an owner of land abutting a public street or road that permits reasonable access to and from the public way. Loss of reasonable or substantial access through government action constitutes a taking of property even when the government neither enters the land nor acquires title.
Roland Rhodes owns a commercial lot that fronts a public street. The city installs a permanent concrete barrier that prevents all vehicular entry and exit from the street. Rhodes loses the ability to receive deliveries or allow customers to reach the property. The city action eliminates reasonable ingress and egress and therefore takes the access right.
Ralph Richardson owns a retail store whose only public-road access crosses a private shopping-center driveway. The center owner erects gates that close the driveway during peak business hours. Richardson can no longer bring customers or suppliers to the store at reasonable times. The obstruction destroys the reasonable right of ingress and egress that attached to his abutting parcel.
Rosa Ruiz owns a home whose driveway opens directly onto a public road. A city sign ordinance forces her to remove a directional sign and erects a median that prevents left turns into the driveway. Ruiz must now travel several blocks out of her way to reach her property. The median and sign rules together eliminate reasonable ingress and egress.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Ricardo Rojas owns oceanfront land that abuts a public coastal road. The commission conditions a building permit on Rojas dedicating a strip of his frontage for public pedestrian access. The required dedication severs direct vehicular access from the road to the remainder of the parcel. The condition destroys the reasonable right of ingress and egress that previously existed.
Ronald Reed owns a warehouse whose loading docks open onto a public street. Union picketers park vehicles across the driveway for extended periods, preventing trucks from entering or leaving. Reed cannot conduct normal business operations. The sustained blockade eliminates the reasonable right of ingress and egress to the public way.
Roger Ramirez leases a ground-floor storefront whose entrance faces a public sidewalk. The landlord obtains an eviction order and immediately installs a locked gate across the sidewalk entrance. Ramirez cannot bring inventory or customers into the premises. The gate destroys the reasonable right of ingress and egress that the lease included.
An abutting owner loses the right when government action or another party substantially or totally blocks direct access to the public street. Courts measure whether the remaining access is reasonable under the circumstances. Complete elimination of vehicular entry or exit ordinarily qualifies as a taking.
Supporting sources
An easement holder may enjoin unreasonable interference with the access granted by the easement. Third parties as well as the servient owner must refrain from obstructing the easement in a manner that prevents reasonable use. The protection extends to both the servient owner and outsiders who block the way.
Supporting sources
Condemnation modifies or terminates the easement only to the extent the new public use conflicts with continued exercise of the right. The easement survives in modified form when the public project is inconsistent with the original scope but the basic purpose of access remains compatible.
Supporting sources
…a condemnation for the purpose of ensuring access to a resource to which similarly situated members of the public had a legal right of access. Likewise, in Strickley v. Highland Boy Gold Mining Co. , 200 U. S. 527 (1906), the Court upheld a condemnation establishing an aerial right-of-way for a bucket line operated by a mining…