When it comes to jurisdiction of roadways, there can be a bunch of confusion.  There are almost as many different levels of ownership as there are levels of government.  In Auburn Hills, there are private streets, city owned streets, Road Commission of Oakland County (RCOC) owned roads, and Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) owned highways. Each agency is responsible to service and maintain what they own. This can be done with their own personnel or under contract through another agency or company.  The city maintains all our streets through snow plowing, repairing, and sweeping.  While the city has a contract with RCOC to lend our services of snow plowing and sweeping on some of their roads, the city does not do any maintenance on them.  Clear as mud, right?  A map can be found here to aid in the understanding of all of this.

Why even go into the topic and create confusion? Hopefully it will add a bit of clarity.  Recently, the DPW has been receiving some phone calls with concern for the bridges for N Squirrel Road over highway M-59.  While N Squirrel Road is a city owned roadway, the bridges that cross over the M-59 highway are owned by MDOT.   The city is aware of the concerns and has passed them on to MDOT.  The concerns are being handled seriously and a major repair plan is in the final design stage with the work projected for next year.  In the meantime, MDOT has promised to investigate and implement a short-term solution before winter to prevent further damage to both the bridge and to vehicles traveling over and under it. 

Jason Hefner, Manager of Fleet & Roads, Department of Public Works