Mission Statement

This department is responsible for the administrative duties to ensure that all highway, facilities, and park divisions daily operations are conducted in a responsive and efficient manner.

Contact Department of Public Works (DPW)

Office | 845.878.6331
Fax | 845.808.1908
Email | Send us a message
Address | 842 Fair Street
Carmel, NY 10512

Thomas Feighery

Commissioner

Department of Public Works (DPW)

Services Offered

Automotive Maintenance

The Automotive Division of Putnam County maintains a fleet of over 300, vehicles not counting vehicle attachments, small engine tools and mowers. Our qualified mechanics weld, do bodywork, paint, diagnose and repair. These vehicles include the Sheriff Department’s unmarked and marked patrol units, Department of Social Services, Office for the Aging buses, Health Department vehicles, as well as the Highway Department’s heavy equipment to name a few.
Along with doing major repairs, our Division is accountable for performing the preventative maintenance on these vehicles on a regular basis. We have NYS Certified inspectors on staff assuring our vehicles meet the safety standards set by New York State. Our dedicated employees are willing to respond to any problems 24 hours a day, 7 days a week which giving all County employees the security in knowing that help is just a phone call away.

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Facilities

The facilities division is responsible for the planning, design, operations, maintenance, construction, and general administration of the County’s 39 buildings and various properties. The division consistently addresses verbal, written, or scheduled work orders for a variety of maintenance and repair tasks. The division is responsible for 5 park and rides, 9 radio towers, 27 standby generators with remote monitoring along with building management systems. The Division’s workforce consists of highly skilled tradesman licensed in Electrical, HVAC, Carpentry and Plumbing disciplines.

Fiscal

The Fiscal Division is directly involved with all aspects of Highways & Facilities that relate to funding issues. Annual operating and on-going capital project budgets are prepared. The Highway Department administers all major capital construction projects and most Federal Highway Administration/New York State construction projects on County roads and bridges. The Highway Department also administers many facility construction projects that involve grant reimbursement from various other agencies. These road, bridge and facility construction projects require that we work with Law, Audit, Finance, Purchasing and Personnel at the County level and the Department of Transportation & Emergency Management, at the State level. For specific type grants, we work with the Governor’s Office for Small Cities and the Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation in Albany and the Office of Housing & Urban Development in Washington, DC.

Our dedicated Fiscal Staff contributes greatly to keeping the department running smoothly.

Click to View Contracts

Planning & Design (Engineering)

The Division of Planning & Design provides engineering, planning and technical support services for the Department of public works. These services include engineering and architectural design, land surveying, generation of contract and bid documents (including drafting of plans), construction support and inspection, and contract administration. It is the Division’s responsibility to deliver these services in a professional manner that ensures quality and economy in the designed project.

Additional duties of the Division include administering the County’s highway work permit program, pavement and bridge management systems, and traffic count program;

Maintenance of the Division’s maps, drawings, records and aerial photography; research for Freedom of Information requests and litigation cases; and coordination with the Department’s design consultants.

Pothole Reporting Form

There are various types of street defects but the most common are cave-ins/sinkholes, cracking, drainage issues and potholes:

Cave-ins/Sinkholes-Depressions within the surface of the roadway typically caused by undermining
Cracking -Cracks along the surface of the roadway that penetrate through the asphalt layer
Drainage Issues -Water remaining on the roadway that fails to drain properly through normal means
Potholes -Bowl-shaped or irregular shaped holes in the asphalt layer of the roadway

Click to Report a Street Defect

Projects

Click here to see the current projects that we are working on.

Road Maintenance & Construction

The Construction and Maintenance Division is comprised of workers ranging from laborers to heavy equipment operators. This Division is responsible for over 200 miles of roads from the Hudson River to the Connecticut border. These faithful employees will respond on a moments notice to any emergency situation which might occur on our highways 24 hours a day 7 days a week. In conjunction with snow and ice removal, these workers maintain the roadways by installing drainage pipes and basins, repairing guide rail, cutting and trimming roadside vegetation and many other projects.

This Division is appreciative to have these dedicated workers on its staff to serve the motoring public of Putnam County.

Sign Shop

The Putnam County Sign Shop’s number one priority is maintaining the traffic signals along with regulatory and warning signs on the County’s 117.77 miles of roads. With our state of the art Sign Shop we fabricate all the signs needed to ensure the pedestrian / motoring public that travels through Putnam County the highest quality of reflective signs available.

We also maintain all the pavement markings on our road system. Together with stop bars, railroad crossings, crosswalks, etc. We are also responsible for keeping all our facilities parking lots marked and in accordance with ADA standards.

We manufacture and apply various decals for a wide range of applications from Police vehicles to window directories. Our responsibility includes signage of all the buildings owned by Putnam County. Our signs are in compliance with ADA and we have the capability fabricating our own Braille signs.
In an effort to conserve resources we work in partnership with our Towns and Villages within our county and supply them with their sign needs in a timely manner.
In partnership with our Towns and Villages, our goal is to provide the motoring public a safe journey through Putnam County.

County Roads

Announcements & Current Road Closures

Current list of partial county road closures / Partial Closures that remain in effect

Oscawana Lake Rd. from Church Rd. to Enloe St.- Drainage repair work to begin on Monday (10/28) requiring intermittent lane closures.
Turk Hill Rd Paving from Allview Ave. to 684 Overpass- Milling and paving operations will begin on Thursday (10/24). There will be intermittent lane closures required for the work so please follow all work zone traffic control measures set forth by the contractor.
Doansburg Rd. Paving in the Towns of Southeast and Patterson- Milling and paving of Doansburg Rd. from Mt. Ebo Rd. North to the Fairfield Dr./East Branch intersection will begin on Monday (10/21) weather permitting. Intermittent lane closures will be in effect throughout the project so please exercise caution and follow the work zone traffic control measures set forth by the contractors performing the work.
Peekskill Hollow Road, Bridge near the Peekskill Hollow Rd. Turnpike:

The contractor will be closing the bridge near Putnam Valley High School on Monday, 11/11/24 to complete the remaining milling and paving work which will commence at 7am on Tuesday, 11/12/24. The bridge closure will be executed on 11/11/24 (Veteran’s Day) so there will be no impact on the local schools for that day. The bridge closure will be for the full work week (11/11/24 – 11/15/24) if full depth reconstruction at the bridge approaches is required. This will be determined after the milling has been completed. If full depth reconstruction is not required, the Contractor will reopen the Alt 1 bridge as soon as the paving has been completed (approximately 3 days). The detour will be established on Peekskill Hollow Turnpike after 9AM and would have to be removed by 2:30PM as per the School District.

for details about State road closures, visit 511ny.org by clicking here.

ARTICLE 1219 - BLOWING OR PLOWING SNOW INTO THE STREET IS ILLEGAL & DANGEROUS - CLICK TO VIEW FULL NOTICE

Winter is officially upon us in the Hudson Valley and the Putnam County Department of Public Works along with the Putnam County Traffic Safety Board would like to remind the public that blowing or plowing snow into the street is dangerous.

Under New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law (VTL) Section 1219(a), “ no person shall throw or deposit upon any highway any glass bottle, glass, nails, tacks, wire, cans, snow or any other substance likely to injure any person, animal, or vehicle upon such highway”. Fines for a first offense include up to a $150 fine and/or 15 days in jail, plus applicable surcharges.

CLICK TO VIEW LARGER MAP

Road Permits

Are planning to do any work on or along a County road?

If you are planning to do any work on or along a County road, you must first obtain a permit from the Putnam County Department of Public Works (DPW).

To obtain a permit, you must provide the Department with the following Items:

Two completed copies of the “Application for Permit to Do Work on and Within a County Road Area”, both signed by the person or entity that will provide the security money. The signatures must be notarized.
A map or plan(s) of the project, if applicable
Permit fee (cash, money order, or check. Checks must be certified or bank check, made payable to the “Commissioner of Finance, Putnam County”. No personal checks.)
Certificate of insurance from the person or entity actually performing the work
Security (cash, bond, money order, or check. Checks must be certified or bank check, made payable to the “Commissioner of Finance, Putnam County”. No personal checks.) This will be returned upon satisfactory completion of the work

Upon receipt of Items 1 through 4, the application will be reviewed by our Engineering staff. Applications will be reviewed in the order that they are received. The length of the review process is dependent on the work load of the Engineering staff, so please plan your work schedule accordingly.

Upon completion of the review (which includes at least one site inspection), and if Items 1 through 4 are satisfactory, the amount of the security (Item 5) will be determined by the Engineering staff based on the amount and scope of the work planned. If any of Items 1 through 4 are not satisfactory, the applicant will be notified of the corrections or changes that must be made.

When all five Items have been received and are satisfactory, the applicant will receive one of the original applications, signed by the Commissioner of Public Works (DPW), which serves as the Permit. No work can begin until the applicant receives the signed application.