Our goal is to keep our roads open at all times. Road crews are on call 24/7 to respond to emergencies, from downed trees to traffic accidents to slides and washouts. Our emergency response follows best practices to ensure safety for the public and ourselves, and to protect our rivers and streams.
When we’re called out after hours, our goal is to get the road open and ensure everyone’s safety. We then follow up during regular working hours with further inspection and any additional repairs.
Sometimes we can’t reopen a road right away. There may be a major landslide, or we may have to wait for a private utility to clear downed power or communication lines. We may have to wait for an accident investigation to be complete. In these cases, we will detour traffic to appropriate routes and set a high priority on communicating with the public and the local community.
We respond to a broad range of incidents. Some of the more common reasons we are called out include:
- to provide traffic control for first responders
- to clear fallen trees or debris from the roadway
- to unblock drainage and stop flooding
- to plow snow, spread sand and remove ice
- to repair slides and washouts
- to clean up storm damage
- to manage spills or other hazardous materials