Streets & Highways

Welcome to the Streets & Highway Division

The Streets and Highway Division is responsible for maintaining 250 miles of streets within the City. The Division handles all street cleaning; snow and ice removal; tree trimming; street signs; right-of-way mowing; and open drain and storm sewer repair. The Division also performs both targeted and generalized pavement repair as part of the City’s spot pavement repair program.

City of Southfield Street Sweeping Procedures

Street sweeping provides a safe and clean road surface for traffic on streets and highways. Street sweeping responsibilities are divided into north and south sweeping. North end sweeping crews are tasked with sweeping many major and secondary streets with county and some state roads from 10 Mile North. South end sweeping crews are tasked with sweeping many major and secondary streets with county and some state roads from 10 Mile South.

City of Southfield roads are swept Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. throughout the summer months (weather permitting). The Department of Public Works services major roads only while interior and subdivision roads are swept by contractors three times a year. In the case of an emergency such as a water main break, major accident or other issues, city crews are also dispatched to service interior residential streets as needed.

Streets & Highways Winter Safety Information

The City of Southfield Streets & Highways Division recognizes that dealing with snow and ice covered roads is an inconvenience we all must face. Our road crews do their best to clear the roads as quickly and safely as possible. We start off by plowing the major roads first, followed by Priority 2 roads (Collector streets) and potentially hazardous locations. Collector streets and potentially hazardous intersections and hills are plowed or salted as required at all storm depths after city major streets are completed followed by all local roads. We appreciate your patience and cooperation during this process.

Following please find several helpful hints to keep you and your family safe and to minimize some of the potential frustrations of the winter season:

  • Instruct children to stay away from the roads that are being plowed even when waiting for the school bus.
  • Children should not play in ditches or by the side of the road. They should never build snow forts close to the road, not even at the end of a driveway.
  • Never throw snowballs at vehicles. This could cause an accident resulting in personal injury or property damage.
  • Move parked vehicles off roadsides when possible so plow drivers can safely clear the roadways.
  • Keep rocks, timber fences, flower beds, etc. away from the road right-of-way.
  • Keep garbage cans off the shoulder and in your driveway so that they do not get damaged by snow removal operations.

DRIVEWAYS & SNOW

Following are some steps that you can take when clearing your driveways to reduce the amount of snow that may get piled into your driveway as the road is plowed:

  • If possible, clean driveways and around mailboxes after we have finished plowing the roads.

If this is not possible . . .

  • When clearing your driveway, place as much snow as possible in the direction of travel downstream on your side of the road.
  • Clear an area upstream from your driveway opening to form a “pocket” for the snow from the road to go into. The result will be that more of the snow from the clearing of the road will go into the open “pocket” area and less will end up in the end of your driveway.

MAILBOX INFORMATION

Damage to mailboxes is corrected by the city as quickly as possible so that mail delivery service is not interrupted. Temporary mailboxes can be installed in buckets of sand as a base until the ground thaws and permanent installation can be completed by Streets & Highway personnel. The Streets & Highways Department maintains a supply of one standard mailbox in three different colors.

Snow being discharged from the plow can damage or knock down your mailbox without having any contact from our equipment. It is the City’s policy to consider replacing mailboxes only if they are hit by our equipment. Specialty, decorative, delicate or artistic mailboxes damaged by normal road maintenance activity will be replaced with a standard mailbox.

For more information, call the Streets & Highway Division of the Public Works Department at (248) 796-4860.