Massachusetts General Laws Part I. Administration of the Government (Ch. 1-182) Ch. 41, § 77

The powers of the city council or of the selectmen in regard to highways shall not be abridged by sections seventy-three to eighty-one, inclusive, in any manner, except as provided herein, and the powers conferred by said sections shall be in addition to other powers possessed by cities and towns. No public way shown on any plan filed as aforesaid shall hereafter be laid out, located anew, altered or widened, and no such way, whether already or hereafter laid out, shall be constructed by any public authority except in accordance with the plan duly attested and recorded under said sections. If any person shall open for public travel any private way the location, direction, width, grades and in cities the plan of drainage of which have not previously been approved in writing by the board of survey in the manner provided in said sections, neither the city or town nor other public authority shall place any public sewer, drain, water pipe or light in, or do any public construction work of any kind, or make repairs, on such private way; provided, that this section shall not prevent the laying of a trunk sewer, drain, water or gas main if required by engineering necessities for the accommodation of other territory.