Streets Maintenance and Collections

The City of Port Townsend’s Streets Division maintains over 80 miles of roads. Watch How Streets Are Built on YouTube, part of our How Your City Works Series, and visit our YouTube channel for more videos about City infrastructure related to streets, including the financial sustainability of streets improvements and the City sewer system. 

Streets Division work includes pothole repairs, street striping, street surface restoration, lighting, signing, vegetation control, ditching, sweeping, and repairs to sewer and stormwater piping. The Streets Division supports the traveling public whether motorized or non-motorized. While the division assists with right of way stewardship, trail maintenance is under the Parks division purview.

Funding
The City’s Street Fund (a category of the General Fund) pays for all maintenance described above as well supports capital projects both by Developer and by the City. Revenues for it come from three primary sources:

• Taxes (Utility tax, Sales tax, including Transportation Benefit District funds, and Property Tax)
• Motor vehicle fuel tax
• Capital projects are often financed through Street Fund revenues, through grants from other government agencies, or through private development.

Winter Weather
During the winter, street maintenance responsibilities include storm debris clean up, snow removal, and ice control activities. Street staff are responsible for applying sand as needed for traction.

• Snow Plow Routes
• Snow Removal Policy

Right-of-Way Stewardship
Management and maintenance of the right-of-way in front of private property is a partnership between the City and the adjoining property owner.  Management is the City's responsibility, but this does not include maintenance. The City's responsibility for maintenance is for publicly maintained streets. The adjoining property owner to City streets has all other responsibilities for maintenance of the right-of-way generally to the centerline of the right-of-way or edge of pavement in the case where a street exists. This means that the adjoining property owner has the responsibility of maintaining vegetation, sidewalks, ditches, and landscaping in the right-of-way. The City has guidelines for how maintenance of right-of-way is preformed and the role of management on behalf of the public. Please refer to the following links for additional information concerning right-of-way management and maintenance. Please note, that the vegetation maintenance map illustrates where the City maintains vegetation, which is primarily along city owned property.

• Right-of-Way Maintenance Requirements
• Trees in the Right-of-Way
• Landscaping in the Right-of-Way
• City Vegetation Maintenance Map (property owners maintain vegetation along their frontage)
• Fences (Fences are not allowed in the right-of-way)
• City Code - Private Use of the Right-of-Way link: https://www.codepublishing.com/WA/PortTownsend/#!/PortTownsend12/PortTow...

Vegetation maintenance required by property owners often requires a permit. Please contact the City for information concerning permit requirements before doing work.  Controlling vegetation along streets means that property owners are required to keep the brush back, control weeds, keep grass mowed and ditches clear, keep ditches mowed and debris from clogging culverts, keep site distance clear at intersections, keep trees trimmed up above sidewalks, keep brush and landscaping from encroaching on the sidewalk, and maintenance of parking spaces. Maintaining vegetation in right-of-ways that are undeveloped or do not have a street means controlling noxious weeds, maintain trails if one exists, address hazards, and maintaining tree health. Minor landscaping in the right-of-way is encouraged by City Code to improve and beautify our city as well as for environmental benefit. Please contact the City if you have questions before doing work. Some work requires permits and some work does not. At no time is privatizing the right-of-way allowed by City Code. Right-of-way is to be maintained as public open space, transportation, recreation, and tree preservation.
 

Streets and Sidewalks
The City maintains over 80 miles of paved and gravel streets. Most of the roads in the City are paved with chip seal. City crews endeavor to fill potholes and do other street/sidewalk maintenance in an attempt to keep up with a backlog of needs.
 

Pavement Markings
Crosswalk, parking stall, center line, and fog line striping and bike lane painting are done annually to help ensure that street markings are visible. This helps keep drivers and pedestrians safe. We hit roughly 1/3 of the city's streets each year, approx. 200,000 linear feet of the fog line (white edge line). This mobile operation uses cones placed over the lines to keep traffic off of the wet paint. Please drive slowly through the areas where striping is occurring and watch out for street crews. 
 

Sweeping
The City does have and regularly provides street sweeping, downtown once per week on Fridays and as needed in other locations. They have to sweep twice per week in the fall to pick up leaves before they block storm drainage systems. The sweeper doesn’t run during freezing conditions.
 

Shoulder and Vegetation Maintenance
City crews perform road shoulder, ditch, and limited vegetation maintenance. They also perform a limited amount of grading the shoulders and ditches due to the concerns for erosion and storm water requirements.  Vegetation and tree maintenance typically is the responsibility of the adjoining property owner.
 

Transportation
The City of Port Townsend is building streets that provide people more choice – to walk, bike, ride the bus, and drive. The City oversees transportation systems and infrastructure by implementing plans to develop an efficient, accessible, and convenient transportation network in the City.
 

Deceased Animal Disposal
The City is responsible for picking up deceased animals if they are on public property or in public right-of-way. Call the City of Port Townsend for deceased animal pickup up at (360) 385-3000. Deceased animal pickup only is performed during normal working hours unless blocking a roadway.  Call 9-1-1 for emergency if dead animal is blocking a roadway for police response or if animal is injured.   Dead animals that are on private property are the responsibility of the property owner.  If there is a wild animal that is injured, call the Department of Wildlife at (360) 796-4601.

Report an Issue
If you have a street maintenance problem you’d like to report, please visit our Report a Concern page and fill out the form.