Transportation

County Road’s responsibility is to operate over 1,600 miles of road system through maintenance and preservation activities. Through a public process the county has established levels of service (LOS) for both roadway maintenance and preservation. These established levels of service provide the user with safe and reliable mobility within the county roadway network.

A roadway classification system determines LOS maintenance. We have LOS 1 through 5. Level 1 receiving the most maintenance to Level 5 receiving no or minimal maintenance on a annual basis, all determined by the LOS classification. LOS for preservation projects is determined through the Transportation Element of the County’s Comprehensive Plan. This plan is then implemented through the County’s 6-yr Transportation Program.

County Road performs large and small roadway construction projects. Projects include roadway realignments, rehabilitation and reconstruction. An in-house design team is responsible for project design and use consultants for specialty disciplines. Construction is accomplished in-house with day labor or put out to bid. County Road seeks, receives and manages numerous state, federal and specialty grants. Along with developer mitigation requirements these funds become the bulk of the monies used in roadway construction projects.

The Road Superintendent manages the County Road maintenance operations. The county is divided into three road districts; East Wenatchee, Waterville and Mansfield. Each road district has a shop and personnel to perform maintenance activities including seal coating, asphalt overlays, snow removal, stormwater and vegetation control, signing, etc.

Equally important, the county has an obligation to perform an annual bridge inspection on 21 federally classified bridges.

The county also approves of all development activities that impact the county road system. This is accomplished through the use of the County Road Standards that were established through a public process. This defines the mitigation requirements and standards required for all development.

E. R. & R. is a working capital budget that has the ability to rent equipment to other divisions and sources. The equipment rental rates are established once a year. These rates cover the cost of overhead, equipment replacement, maintenance and fuel for each piece of equipment.

County Road also manages the Surveying, Environmental, Road Log and GIS departments, Utility Inspection program and Stormwater Utility. Activities are performed in compliance with the statutory requirements listed in R.C.W. 36.80.030 through 36.80.080.