North Carolina State Highway Commission v. Asheville School, Inc.

Defendant bases its right of appeal to this Court upon the premise that plaintiff’s taking of the .074-acre tract in dispute involves a substantial constitutional question. State v. Colson, 274 N.C. 295, 163 S.E. 2d 376, cert. denied, 393 U.S. 1087. The appeal presents this question: In building a controlled-access highway, is the State Highway Commission empowered to condemn land reasonably necessary to furnish access to private property which would otherwise be landlocked by the construction?

An unfortunate, but unavoidable, consequence of the construction of limited-access highways is the…