PLACER COUNTY
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS
The Department of Public Works (DPW) administers a variety of programs and services including the following:
Programs and Services
DPW employs 222 people with a 2010-2011 budget of $123 million. Funding sources include revenues from land use fees, Transportation Development Act funds, highway user taxes, state and federal aid, grants, user service charges, transit fares, general fund and propositions 1B and 42.
The main offices for DPW are located in Auburn at the Dewitt Center. The department also has offices in Tahoe West Shore, Kings Beach, and Cabin Creek. Corporation Yards are located throughout the county at Auburn, Lincoln, Colfax, Foresthill, Burton Creek (Tahoe), and Cabin Creek (Tahoe).
Road Maintenance – (530) 745-7565
- Road Maintenance repairs and maintains 1,155 miles of roadways within unincorporated Placer County from Roseville to Tahoe.
- Provides roadside tree and vegetation control and emergency roadway hazard response.
- Repairs and maintains 125 bridges throughout Placer County.
- Maintains 42,000 roadway signs, striping, and traffic signals.
- Provides snow removal for 235 miles of roadway in eastern Placer County, including North Lake Tahoe.
- Snow removal web link http://www.placer.ca.gov/Departments/Works/SnowRemove.aspx
- Road Division has 88 employees located in six corporation yards.
- Corporation yards are located in Tahoe (Burton Creek and Cabin Creek), Colfax, Foresthill, Auburn and Lincoln.
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Fleet Services – (530) 745-7536
- Fleet Services mission is to provide and maintain safe, dependable, and cost-effective vehicles for county departments.
- We maintain, repair, and give replacement recommendations for over 1253 pieces of equipment, including 601 vehicles in the general fleet for all county departments as well as over 298 pieces of road maintenance equipment.
- In addition, we provide service and products to 337 vehicles including transit, lease units and specialty vehicles.
- We operate fully-equipped maintenance shops in Auburn and Tahoe capable of performing complex equipment maintenance tasks, including a fully-licensed Smog Check Station.
- We operate and maintain compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles and electric hybrid cars to offset today’s high price of fuel.
- We provide countywide refueling services, including CNG refueling stations located in Auburn and Tahoe.
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Transit Services
Placer County Transit (PCT) (530) 885-BUSS or (916) 784-6177
Tahoe Area Regional Transit (TART) (530) 550-1212 or (800) 736-6365
Dial-A-Ride (530) 889-2342 or (916) 788-2342
Placer Commuter Express (PCE) (530) 885-BUSS or (916) 784-617
- Transit Services provides safe and reliable transit service to passengers in western Placer County and North Tahoe.
- Ridership for Placer County’s two bus systems for fiscal year 09/10:
- Placer County Transit (PCT) fixed route and Dial-A-Ride service ridership increased about 23% compared to five years ago.
- Tahoe Area Regional Transit (TART) ridership increased about 16% compared to five years ago.
- PCT also operates Placer Commuter Express (PCE), a weekday bus service that takes commuters from western Placer County to downtown Sacramento and back. It had 75,098 riders last fiscal year, which was about the same as the year before and 39% more than two years ago.
- PCT operates a fleet of 21 buses six days a week throughout western Placer County with connections to transit services in Roseville, Lincoln, Auburn, and Sacramento.
- PCT coordinates 10 Commuter Vanpools with an annual ridership of more than 31,000.
- TART operates 17 buses and trolleys seven days a week. Service is provided year ‘round for North Lake Tahoe and the Hwy. 89 corridor between Tahoe City and Truckee. Service is provided in the winter only for the Hwy. 267 corridor between Truckee and Crystal Bay, and trolley service is added in the summer along with increased bus service to the north shore.
PLACER COUNTY TRANSIT
“We’re going your way!”
www.placer.ca.gov/transit
TAHOE AREA
REGIONAL TRANSIT
www.placer.ca.gov/tart
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Transportation Planning/Traffic Engineering – (530) 745-7500
Transportation Planning provides for the short and long-range transportation needs of the county, including:
- Predicting future traffic
- Analyzing traffic impacts from development projects
- Administering a countywide traffic fee program
- Coordinating transportation plans with federal, state, and local agencies
Traffic Engineering provides technical services including:
Traffic signal operations
Evaluating speed limits
Collecting and analyzing accident information
Performing traffic counts
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Roadway and Bridge Design – (530) 745-7500
Roadway Design - Design and/or manage the design and construction of:
- Sidewalks, ADA Ramps, Multi-Purpose Paths
- Roadway widenings and other roadway capacity increasing projects to reduce congestion
- New County Roadways and Intersection Improvements
- Traffic Signals and Land Slide Repair Projects
Recent Projects:
Upcoming Projects:
- Foresthill Road Upper Clementine Curve Improvements
- Sierra College Sidewalk Improvements
Bridge Design - Design and/or manage the design and construction of:
Recent Projects:
Upcoming Projects:
- Foresthill Bridge Seismic Retrofit and Re-Painting
- Alpine Meadows Road Bridge Replacement over the Truckee River
Blue Canyon Airport - Oversee the operations of the only county-owned airport including:
- Daily management and operations
- Coordinate with the USFS for use permits and operations for fire fighting
- Work with Caltrans Div. of Aeronautics to keep current on FAA regulations
- Coordination with NOAA Weather Service for use of the area for data collection
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Tahoe Engineering – (530) 581-6238
Tahoe Engineering provides a wide range of public services including planning, engineering, and construction of capital improvement projects around the north shore from Kings Beach to Tahoma.
Since 1984, public works staff have designed and delivered over 50 erosion control projects in the Placer County portion of the Lake Tahoe Basin, retrofitting County roads and eroded areas with stormwater best management practices (BMPs) to preserve and improve the nationally recognized and famed clarity of Lake Tahoe.
Our capital improvement projects are funded by a mix of federal, state and local funding.
Our goals are to continue to improve the environment of Placer County’s jurisdiction at Lake Tahoe and to continue to support and lead projects where economic revitalization, social benefits, improved public safety and alternative modes of transportation result from project delivery.
Tahoe Engineering projects include:
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Stormwater Quality Program – (530) 745-7500
The goal of Placer County’s Stormwater Quality Program is to protect the health of the county’s creeks, streams, rivers, and lakes.
Stormwater Quality implements a county-wide program aimed at altering human behaviors that negatively impact the quality of stormwater runoff to our waterways. We are also tasked with ensuring that federal and state regulations for stormwater quality are properly enforced within the county. Placer County Code Section 8.28 prohibits the discharge of anything except clean stormwater and snowmelt into our ditches, creeks, and streams.
Three areas are subject to State-issued National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permits: Tahoe, Truckee, and Western Placer. The cities of Auburn, Lincoln, Loomis, Rocklin, and Roseville, each have their own NPDES permits; we lead a coordination group with these entities to promote consistency and efficiency in stormwater program implementation.
Placer County’s Stormwater Quality Program includes:
- Public Education - inform members of the public and businesses of the effects of their activities. This is done through publications, website, trainings, and direct contact.
- Public Participation – promote opportunities for citizen involvement, such as restoration efforts during annual Creek Week, and storm drain marking with “clean water only” message.
- Illicit Discharge – detect and eliminate illicit discharges through site investigations and enforcement of the stormwater quality ordinance. Current efforts include restaurant inspections and investigations based on public complaints.
- Construction Activity – enforce sediment and erosion control at construction sites through building and site inspections. We provide regular training of contractors in proper use of sediment and erosion controls.
- Post Construction – implement standards for new development through the project approval processes. We also inspect existing facilities for maintenance of water quality controls.
- Municipal Operations – assure that County operations themselves follow good stormwater quality practices. We regularly train county personnel and inspect facilities annually.
- In addition, the county has a comprehensive water quality monitoring plan for the Truckee River Watershed which requires ongoing monitoring in Martis Creek, Squaw Valley, Alpine Meadows, and the Placer County portion of the Truckee River.
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Flood Plain Management Program – (530) 745-7503
Placer County’s Floodplain Management Program, administered through the Department of Public Works, is a community effort of corrective and preventive measures for reducing flood damage to properties. The primary objective of the floodplain management program is to administer the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s policies to protect public health and safety, reduce damage to buildings and contents, prevent increases in flood damage from new construction, reduce the risk of erosion damage, and protect natural and beneficial floodplain functions.
The County uses specific zoning, subdivision or building requirements, and special floodplain protection and development ordinances to reduce flood damage potential. Placer County participates in the National Flood Insurance Program, thereby providing homeowners, renters, and business owners in our community with access to federally-backed flood insurance. Furthermore, the County participates in the Community Rating System (CRS) which allows flood insurance premium rates to be adjusted to reflect the reduced flood risk resulting from community activities that meet the three goals of the CRS: (1) reduce flood losses; (2) facilitate accurate insurance rating; and (3) promote the awareness of flood insurance. There are ten CRS classes: Class 1 requires the most credit points and gives the largest premium reduction; class 10 receives no premium reduction. The CRS recognizes 18 creditable activities, organized under four categories: Public Information, Mapping and Regulations, Flood Damage Reduction, and Flood Preparedness. By implementing these floodplain management activities, residents of Placer County’s unincorporated areas qualify for a flood insurance premium rate reductions.
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