There are over 110 miles of street in the public street system. The Public Works Department is responsible for the maintenance and repair of the street system including pavement management, street sweeping, shoulder maintenance, snow & ice removal, and bridge maintenance.

The City maintains the public drainage system consisting of catch basins, conveyance pipe, detention ponds, tanks and vaults. 

City crews perform vegetation maintenance in designated areas throughout the city on a continuous basis. Some landscaped areas are maintained through contracts with private vendors. Vegetation maintenance throughout the City is the responsibility of the adjacent property owner. Property owners are responsible for maintaining trees, bushes and other vegetation on their property and in the right of way adjacent to their property.

Street sweeping is not request based with the exception of safety issues such as gravel, or illicit discharge issues such as mud tracked on the road. The City has a contract for street sweeping which is scheduled to complete a full city sweep five times per year. The City operates it's own street sweeper weekly on the arterial roads to keep bike lanes free of debris. The City will also do additional city sweeps during the fall and winter months to clean up leafy debris. The street sweeping program not only keeps streets clean, it also keeps debris from blocking storm drains and ditches helping to minimize flooding.

Public Works prepares for storm events by applying de-icer to dry roads, procuring sand and ice melt, and using plows to break up icy areas that have been melted. They prepare all trucks and snow equipment, and meet with their staff and Northshore Utility District to plan shifts and routes. Depending on the severity of the event, crews may shift to a 24 hour a day operation with 12 hour shifts.

During a snowstorm, city crews work around the clock on our roads according to our snow response priorities map.  Designated citywide priority routes are cleared first to accommodate emergency response, main arterials, and bus routes. If snowfall is continuous, those arterials may require repeated plowing and sanding before crews can work to clear neighborhood streets. Visit the Emergency Preparedness page to learn more about preparing for severe weather.

Crews provide maintenance services for City assets located in the right-of-way such as fences, rockeries and retaining walls. Many other utilities also own, operate and maintain assets within the right-of-way.

Repair and replacement of damaged, missing or knocked down signs. Installation of new signs. Annual sign inventory and retro-reflectivity evaluation.

Arterial streets are striped twice a year and neighborhood collector streets are striped annually. Striping services are performed through a contract with King County. 

Streetlights throughout the City are owned, operated and maintained by Puget Sound Energy. Use PSE's online form to report burned out or malfunctioning streetlights. Each light standard has an identifying pole number at eye-level or slightly higher. If you do not know the pole number, you can provide the intersection or street address.

Sidewalk maintenance is evaluated on a case by case basis. The municipal code dictates responsibility for sidewalk maintenance and repairs. The adjacent private property owner is responsible for maintenance if the cause of damage is from private property or actions of property owners. If the cause is not on private property, the City will repair sidewalks based on a prioritized program and funding availability.