Public and Private Way Information

The Town of North Attleborough has over 150 miles of roads.  Roadways within North Attleborough are the responsibility of one of the following:

• MADOT (State Maintained Highways and Roads)
• North Attleborough Department of Public Works (Local Roads Accepted by Town Meeting)
• Residents (Private and unimproved Ways, not accepted by Town Meeting).

The Town is not responsible for gravel roads that have not been accepted by the Town or paper streets, which are roads that were created by a subdivision of land, but never constructed.  Below is a link to the list of roads that have been accepted (updated by the Town Clerk's Office):

Accepted Town Streets

Unaccepted Streets (PDF) (plowed and graded by the Town) and Private Ways (NOT Maintained by the Town)

Application for Street Acceptance (PDF) (to be submitted to Planning Board)

If a street is not on the list of Accepted Streets it has not been approved at Town Meeting and is considered private or unaccepted.  Ownership of Paper Streets is complicated, but most often they are the responsibility of the abutting property owners under Massachusetts Derelict Fee Laws.

Under the Art. 11, Section 11 of the Town Bylaws (PDF), the Town will only grade and patch with approval of the BPW and BOS, but may not install drainage or perform tree or brush maintenance on private ways. Such improvements to the roads are not permitted with Town funds.  There are several State Laws that pertain to work a municipality may do within a private way:

MGL c.40, s. 6C and MGL c.40, s.6D Snow Removal on Private Ways

MGL c.40, s.6N Temporary Repairs to Private Ways

Two times per year, the Highway Division grades a number of private, gravel roadways (PDF) for emergency vehicle access. These roads are also plowed by the Town.

Massachusetts Private Ways Information (PDF) has additional information regarding private ways within Massachusetts. If you have any questions about your street, please contact the DPW office at 508-695-9621.