City Forester (815) 987-5763

• The lowest branches must provide a 15 foot clearance over the public street. Branches over the sidewalk or other public places must provide a clearance of at least eight (8) feet.
• A written permit is required for any work on or affecting public trees. Application for a permit must be made of the City Forester a reasonable length of time in advance of the time the work is to be done.
• A written permit from the City Forester is also required for the removal or planting of a tree in the public right-of-way.

The City has a tree trimming schedule it uses for trees in the right-of-way. Any trees with utility or service lines running through them are trimmed by an area utility company (ComEd, Cablevision, etc). These companies also follow a tree trimming schedule. For more information, contact (815) 987-5570.

Back to top

Street Section Supervisor - (815) 987-5763

• The City is responsible for ice and snow control on City streets.
• Residents are responsible for their sidewalks and alleys.
• Neither snow nor ice from sidewalks or private property shall be deposited in the street or piled so high as to obstruct motorists’ view.
• Where ice cannot be removed, the business shall use sand, salt, or other suitable substance that will prevent the ice from being dangerous.
• Odd/Even parking is in effect during most snow clearing operations. Changes at 8 am.

The Snow and Ice Control Program is a vital public service. The program is designed to keep the urban area functioning under the most adverse weather conditions.

The Public Works Department will make every effort to provide clear and safe travel for its residents as a result of a winter snow and ice event. However, due to the wide fluctuations in possible snow and ice storm patterns, it is virtually impossible to generate a plan for each and every situation. Instead, the City recognizes and encourages flexibility of field management to logically reshape the approved plan to fit the particular storm conditions. In short, the City of Rockford feels the snow control plan is a dynamic tool, always ready to accept a change to meet the changing parameters of manpower, equipment, boundaries, laws, etc.

Timing is critical. Weather forecasting is a very important element in the program (click here for information on City weather forecasting). The readiness of the equipment, materials and personnel is most important to provide a quick response to the snow emergency (click here for equipment and material information). City crews are responsible for keeping the arterial system plowed and salted. Contractor routes are configured to cover 24 residential snow routes, assigning two (2) plows in each route.  As a result of redistributing several salt routes and primary responsibilities; we have been able to remain relatively constant with our employee base after the layoffs of 2003.

The snow program provides six levels of operations readiness; Class A, B, C Heavy, C Light, D and E. Click here for a definition of each level.

Matching the level of service to roadway classification and vehicular volumes will reduce salt usage and still provide a high quality winter travellway for our citizens. The arterial roadways receive the first and the highest level of effort in order to serve the most citizens, then major and minor collectors and last residential roadways. The City of Rockford has, in fact, not established a "bare pavement" policy for each and every roadway, as it does dramatically increase our costs as well as negative environmental impacts. If a citizen will drive carefully for a few blocks to a roadway with a higher level of service, travel throughout Rockford can be made easier and safer. Balancing levels of service to user volumes is the most efficient use of Rockford's tax dollars and minimizes damage to the environment.

Weather Forecasting
Equipment and Materials
Snow Route Operational Levels
Ice and Snow Ordinance (Update Pending)

Back to top

Storm Sewer Backup(815) 987-5763

You can help reduce flooding and backups by keeping inlets clear of leaves, brush and debris.

Back to top

Pothole Hotline (815) 987-5771

Neglected small holes become big ones and will cause damage to vehicles.
Help us find them. Give the location by nearest house address if possible.

Back to top

Sidewalks are installed by the developer or property owner within the public right of way.  Construction requirements related to the installation of sidewalks can be found in the Engineering Design Criteria for Public Works Improvements Manual.
 
Property owners are responsible for maintaining the sidewalks adjacent to their property. They must make sure snow and ice does not pose a hazard to pedestrians. They must also repair cracks and other damage.

If a property owner installs a new concrete sidewalk, the owner or the contractor must obtain a Street Use Permit to make sure the walkway meets the City's current standards, including wheelchair ramps at street corners and proper drainage of the street area.

Back to top

Contact (815) 987-5763

The Street division has up to five street sweepers in use throughout the year, as weather allows. Their purpose is to clean leaves and other debris from City streets. Although the Street division doesn't take sweeping requests, they may come out for extenuating circumstances, such as a water main break. While street sweepers normally pick up leaves and debris that naturally fall into the street, the operation is not designed to pick up raked leaves/yard waste. Please bag your yard refuse  and set out for collection on your weekly garbage pickup day.

To request graffiti removal, call (815) 961-3243, or fax your request to (815) 987-8193. You may also request removal online by clicking here.

Graffiti is removed on structures within the City of Rockford. The graffiti program is operated out of the Property division of the Public Works Department. This program is operated Monday through Friday all year long. Citizens can call the graffiti hotline 24 hours a day, 7 days a week where they can leave a recorded message.

The removal order is based upon the order the call came in. Exceptions are made for high profile sites or offensive types of graffiti. These receive top priority.

The goal is to remove the graffiti within 24 hours of the request. Exceptions occur due to inclimate weather, most notably in March, which is one of the most active months for graffiti to be applied. December, January, and February weather limits the amount of days available for removal.

Graffiti cannot be removed or covered if the temperature falls below 30 degrees, or during inclimate weather such as rain or snow. For painting- 24 hours of dry weather must be available after area is painted for drying purposes.

There are three basic methods of eradication: chemical, sand blasting, and painting.

The preferred method of eradication is chemical. Painting is used as a last resort and on wood structures only.

Currently two people operate the graffiti program:     

• Supervisor- Reviews the messages on the answering machine; visits the location; takes a photo of the graffiti; enters the site in a logbook, and determines what method of eradication to use. 
      
• Technician- Using the removal orders, works 8 hours each day to eradicate the graffiti.

Records are kept as to what type of removal was used at each site. This information is recorded in a book next to the picture of the graffiti site. If painting method is used, the color is recorded so that the same color is used if a return trip to that site occurs. A great effort is made to match the existing paint color with the color that is used for eradication.

Back to top

Each year, the City of Rockford programs funds for street and bridge reconstruction and resurfacing.  This is detailed in our Capital Improvements Plans which is a 5 year plan indicating the roadway to be repaired, the type of repair needed, and the funding to be used.

Many factors are reviewed in the determination of streets and bridges to be improved and the timing of that improvement: amount of traffic, age of roadway, condition of pavement, drainage facilities, and utility requirements just to name a few.

The selection of streets and bridges for improvement is coordinated by the Capital Projects Division and the Project Engineering Division.  Maintenance such as filing of potholes, debris removal, sweeping and snow removal, are perform by the Street Maintenance Division of Public Works.

Back to top

Our Signal section is responsible for 250 signalized intersections plus 30 county-owned signals.  The section operates and maintains traffic signals to regulate traffic control and ensure motorists and pedestrian safety.  Oversees signal construction projects. The section also maintains 2400 city-owned streetlights.

To request repairs to either a traffic sign or signal, please call Public Works Operations at 987-5763. A Request for Service (RFS) will be entered into the City computer system and the problem will be corrected as soon as possible.  For after working hours and weekends, please contact the city Ocean Remote Station at 987-5712  and on call duty staff will be contacted.  

To request a new traffic signal, contact the Traffic Engineering Division. These types of requests must be brought before the Traffic Commission for approval. This can be done by submitting the request in writing to the Traffic Division, Department of Public Works, 425 E. State St., Rockford, IL 61104. Attention: Mr. Hong Liu (Lou).  City staff will research the request and forward it to the next meeting of the Traffic Commission which convenes the second Wednesday of every month. 

To notify someone about a damaged/down street light, click here. For street sign problems, click here.

Back to top