Roads

Public Announcement – January 15, 2023

In August, 2022 Paul Slater became the Public Works Director/Roadmaster here in Coos County. With the change in the guard here, the public might notice some changes in how we do our work.

Right of Way

Any work in a County right of way requires County authorization. We no longer allow private structures in our right of ways (i.e. fences, wells, etc.). Most right of ways in our road system are 60 feet wide, which generally can be found by measuring 30 feet from the center of the existing roadway. If you are wanting to complete any work in, or adjacent to, one of our right of ways, please contact our office first to discuss. A conversation before work begins can avoid problems later. We do allow private utilities such as power, water, electric, etc by special permit only.

We have been, and will continue to, install signage on each of the roads we maintain showing the end of maintenance, in some cases the beginning of maintenance. Additionally, we will be installing signs at the beginning of each of our roads notifying the public they are on a County maintained road, the width of the right of way and a reminder to call before completing any work. This will take some time as we have a lot of roads and our resources are limited.

Fences

Fences are a huge issue for us. In many cases, costing the public 4-5 times more for us to complete basic maintenance like brushcutting/mowing a road. We will allow existing fences to remain if they do not impede our ability to do our work, but fences will need to be removed from the right of way once they require any repairs and/or replacement.  If you have any questions about this, please don’t hesitate to call our office.

Road Maintenance

We are going to be shifting more of our focus back to basic road maintenance moving forward (i.e. ditch cleaning, culvert cleaning, tree removal, brush cutting/mowing, etc.). While it will take a long time to get all of our basic maintenance caught up given our budget and staffing levels, we are confident that we can make drastic improvements in the quality and reliability of our road system.

We have a goal of shifting from a reactive management style to a proactive style. This means rather than chasing complaints from the public, we will be developing a more “program approach” to our work. For example, instead of moving our graders or brush cutters around from one side of the county to the other side to chase complaints, we will start our machines in an area and work towards another part of the county while working on each road in our system along the way. In some rare cases we may move a machine to take care of what we believe to be a priority problem; but this should no longer be the norm.

Please bear with us while we make some changes to how we get our work done. If at any time you have questions or concerns, feel free to call the office.

"Coos County shall strive to provide and encourage a transportation system that promotes safety and convenience for citizens and travelers that strengthens the local and regional economy by facilitating the flow of goods and services."
                  
Coos County maintains approximately 529 miles of roadway; 341 miles of paved roads and 188 miles of gravel roads. Maintenance activities include road grading, ditching, culvert replacement and cleaning, spraying for vegetation control, paving and patching (cold mix), shoulder rocking, brushing and mowing, striping, signage, and bridge maintenance.

Coos County owns and maintains 124 bridges; 116 are in the National Bridge Inventory.

Types of Public Roads

*County Maintained Roads - Map
*County Maintained Roads - List

*County Bridge List

Coos County Transportation System Plan

Click Here to:
Read Final Plan 
Read Final Ordinance Memorandum

ONLINE PAYMENTS: The Road Department is now taking payments online payment. Please click on the link below.
Coos County Road Payment

FREE FILL DIRT AVAILABLE

11/30/23 - PUBLIC SURPLUS AUCTION