Engineering, Streets & Right-of-Way

Resident Hours (by appointment):
2nd Thursdays 4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Carefree Maintenance Shop
7177 Ed Everett Way
Carefree, AZ 85377
Phone: 480-488-3686
Fax: 480-488-3845

MISSION:
Ensure the traveling public has a safe and efficient roadway system, coordinate with Planning and Zoning and Economic Development to accommodate growth, oversee the safe and efficient operations of the Public Works Department, and give technical guidance for the public and all other Town staff.   

The Engineering Department oversees the following functions:

• Roadways
• Signing and Striping
• Sight Lines
• Crosswalk Maintenance and updates
• Drainage and Grading including culverts and washes
• ROW Permits
• Public Works
• Inspection of Storm Drains, roadway construction, parking lots, signage, and town owned streetlights.
• Review of Building, Development, and Planning and Zoning Permits
• All Resident concerns
• Inspection of commercial properties for compliance with engineering tasks.

Public Works Department

MISSION: 
Provide reliable, efficient, friendly customer service in its duties to keep the Town maintained in a manner that represents a clean, safe, beautiful Town for all those who reside within its boundaries.

The Public Works Department performs the following functions:

• Refuse collection
• Maintenance of the Carefree Desert Gardens
• Sightline trimming
• Special event activities
• Collection of illegal dumping
• Roadway sweeping
• Catch basin maintenance
• Pothole repair
• Monsoon cleanup
• Streetlight bulb replacement
• Bull nose painting
• Sign maintenance
• Traffic incident cleanup
• Roadway animal carcass removal
• Shoulder maintenance
• Facilities maintenance
• Fleet maintenance
• Erosion control activities including Rip Rap placement

Carefree’s Engineering Department's overall priority is the safety of the traveling public and pedestrians which use its roadways. Since the roadway system is the Town’s largest resource, this department is constantly working to be proactive when it comes to a safe roadway system. In that vein, this Department also oversees the Public Works Department, which is committed to ensure a safe, clean Town which raises the level of pride in the staff that keep it clean and the residents who live within the Town. The Engineering Department has issued it’s Pavement Preservation Program which outlines preservation activities for the following period: 2023 through 2032. This document is used as a blueprint for roadway maintenance pursuits. The Department is also working on an initiative similar to ‘Vision Zero’ to work toward keeping pedestrian incidents and injuries to zero. Finally, the Engineering Department looks forward to using it’s newly adopted Capital Improvement Program (CIP) to be able to execute crucial improvements that do not fit into the Towns annual budget.

Approximately every 7 years, the Town evaluates the condition of streets to determine and prioritize the level of maintenance to extend the life of the streets. On January 10, 2012, the 10-Year Pavement Preventative Maintenance Plan was considered and approved by the Town Council. The 10-Year Preventative Maintenance Plan gives an introduction to pavement preventative maintenance. It outlines why asphalt typically cracks and  summarizes the different procedures used to minimize this effect and prolong the life of streets.

The plan summarizes the results of the 2011 evaluation of the Town’s streets and outlines the recommendations for the type of maintenance, scheduling, and the estimated cost. The recommendations are grouped into larger projects that will occur in intervals over a 10-year time horizon. The new 10-Year plan will be available in early 2022.