Duties of the County Engineer's Office
An Engineering Tradition
Ohio became the 17th State of the Union in
1803, and Franklin County, named in honor of Benjamin Franklin, was one of the
first counties created by the new general assembly for settlement by
Revolutionary War veterans and refugees.
Guiding the development of the new frontier was
the County Surveyor whose primary job was to clarify land titles and property
boundaries. Population and economic growth, however, expanded the County
Surveyor's duties to include the planning and design of local roads and bridges.
In 1935, the Ohio Legislature redesignated the
County Surveyor's position to that of County Engineer. Only persons who meet the
rigorous standard of holding Ohio licenses as both a Professional Engineer and
Professional Surveyor may qualify for the public office, which is elected every
four years.
From the early dirt, wooden plank and granite
block roads to today's modern thoroughfares of asphalt and concrete, the
Engineer's office is continuing the historic tradition of meeting the County's
transportation and land record needs.
Our Roads and Bridges
Today, the Franklin County Engineer's Office is
responsible for the maintenance and construction of 276 miles of county roadway.
Improvements to county roads range from resurfacing, reconstruction and widening
projects to Highway Maintenance Department operations. This work includes
pavement and berm repairs, drainage upgrades, traffic signal management, sign
and guardrail installation, lane striping, and snow and ice removal. During the
winter months, "Snow Fighter" crews work around the clock to maintain
safety on nearly 800 miles of roads and streets, and we provide road salt to 23
communities and public entities.
The Engineer's office is also responsible for
the inspection, maintenance and rebuilding of 355 county bridges and 199
culverts. Notable structures include Beach Road over Big Darby Creek; Hayden Run
Road, Fishinger Road, and Greenlawn Avenue over the Scioto River; and Lane
Avenue, King Avenue, and Third Avenue over the Olentangy River.
Surveying and Land Records
To meet the continuing development and
infrastructure needs of Franklin County, the Engineer's office utilizes the
latest technologies for surveying, tax map maintenance, and land record keeping.
Use of a countywide network of horizontal and vertical control monuments and the
satellite Global Positioning System (GPS) enables the most accurate surveys
necessary for the design of construction projects and the definition of road
centerlines, property limits, and county, municipal and township boundaries.
The Engineer's office maintains the property
layers of the County Auditor's Geographic Information System (GIS) along with
other related road records, historical maps, and annexation plats. This is the
foundation for the development of our comprehensive county road map and atlas
that is distributed to the public through the Engineer's Office.
Storm Water Management
In addition to our
transportation and land record keeping duties, the County Engineer’s Office
works to control flooding, prevent erosion, and promote better water quality
within the public right-of-way along county roads in township areas.
To fulfill these goals, we
perform a variety of drainage services that include inspection and inventory of
all county drainage structures; use of video camera equipment for underground
inspections; cleaning and debris removal; replacement of deteriorated or
insufficient roadway drain tile, pipe, and catch basins; and construction of new
storm water management facilities including roadway drainage tile, pipe, catch
basins, and pre-cast concrete box culverts.
The County Engineer is not
responsible for storm water management on private property, but drainage
assistance in unincorporated areas can be requested through the county's ditch
petition process, or for new subdivisions, through the subdivision platting
process. The cost of these improvements are then assessed to the property owners
in the petitioned areas.
Currently, the county's
petition ditch inventory includes 94 miles of open ditches, and 147 miles of
closed (tiled) ditches.
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