Sacramento City Council recently recognized National Public Works Week, which runs May 21-27. This year’s theme, chosen by the American Public Works Association, is “Connecting the World through Public Works.”
The City’s Department of Public Works delivers critical services that keep the people and city moving forward, overseeing traffic and street lights, parking, road maintenance, recycling and solid waste, the City’s urban forest and more.
“Public Works is a thread that connects us all, no matter where we live,” said Assistant City Manager Ryan Moore, who is also acting director for the Department. “Every Public Works professional strives to improve the quality of life for the community they serve, creating happier, healthier communities.”
The Department is the second largest in the City with more than 760 employees, separated into seven divisions: Engineering Services, Facilities & Real Property Management, Fleet Management, Maintenance Services, Parking Services, Recycling & Solid Waste and Transportation.
Read on to learn more about each division.
Engineering Services
Engineering Services focuses on managing the City’s investment in new transportation infrastructure. By planning, funding and delivering capital improvement projects and reviewing private development projects, this division improves the safety and usability of the City’s transportation system for all users: pedestrians, bicyclists and vehicles.
The division delivers road, bridge, traffic signal and streetlight improvement projects, and provides planning, design, inspection and survey services.
Facilities & Real Property Management
This division purchases, designs, constructs, renovates, maintains and manages all City facilities and real estate. Staff are responsible for over 1800 land parcels and over 400 buildings and structures.
Fleet Management
This division provides City employees with safe and dependable vehicles, equipment and service facilities. The Fleet division manages maintenance, services, repairs, fueling and replacement of all the City’s fleet vehicles.
Maintenance Services
Maintenance Services is responsible for the street infrastructure system which includes maintenance of all paved rights-of-way, urban forestry of the City’s 100,000 public trees, median landscaping and repairs of asphalt.
Parking Services
This division is responsible for the collection and maintenance of over 5,800 paid on-street parking spaces within the central city as well as over 18,680 spaces in City-owned garages and lots. Parking Services staff also oversee parking enforcement, parking meters, retail lease space, parking garages and lots, and the operation of the Sacramento Marina.
Recycling & Solid Waste
The Recycling and Solid Waste Division provides garbage, recycling, organic waste collection and street sweeping to more than 130,000 residential customers in the City.
The division collects approximately 250,000 tons of waste and material and sweeps more than 150,000 miles of public right-of-way every year. Yard waste comprises 80,000 tons of the annual material collection, with about 25,000 tons picked up just during leaf season. Recycling amounts to 35,000 tons of material a year.
Transportation
The Transportation division maintains and enhances traffic operations, traffic safety and multimodal mobility across Sacramento. Staff are responsible for design, management, studies, entitlements, education, investigation, traffic signs and markings, and traffic signals and street lighting.