Smith County Commissioners Court unanimously voted to accept a new subdivision and road infrastructure policy during a regular meeting this week. The new policy will compliment and support a recent agreement with the City of Tyler to set new standards for construction within the city's extra territorial jurisdiction (ETJ). "These new standards help support an agreement between Smith County and the City of Tyler that will help improve transparency and accountability in the building projects that come into the county maintenance inventory and help the city and county to promote well-built roads in the future," Smith County Judge Joel Baker Said. Urban growth, private development, and increasing heavy-haul traffic and stress on county roads are among the reasons that Smith County has needed to update and clarify its subdivision regulations and policies for acceptance of county roads into its maintenance system. The new policies comply with state law and streamline the acceptance of roads into county maintenance while being careful not to allow public money to be used on private roads.