The Bureau of Engineering is comprised of four separate divisions: the Administration Division, Survey Division, Design Division and Construction Inspection Division. These divisions collectively provide engineering design, review and construction inspection services for the County's Capital Improvement Program, as well as private development projects that will ultimately be accepted into the County's infrastructure system.

The Administration Division consists of administrative, technical and office support staff. The Division directs the operations and oversees the Survey, Design and Construction Inspection Divisions. The staff tracks all expenditures for the Capital Improvement Program and manages all expenditures approved in the annual operating budget. Projects in the capital program include: roads, bridges, storm drains, water and sanitary sewer utilities, landfills, and other incidental engineering work.

The Division's technical review staff is responsible for reviewing the engineering design of roads and storm drains for private development projects, in accordance with the County's Road and Storm Drain Design Manual.

The technical staff that assists in developing and implementing the Utilities capital program, oversees the design performed by outside consultants, monitors the construction of the utility projects, and reviews private development utilities also resides in the Administration Division.

The Survey Division consists of surveyors, office support and field staff. The Division is responsible for all survey-related functions performed for the County, including: property surveys of County-owned property, property surveys for land acquisition associated with County projects, and topographic surveys for capital projects. The Division also maintains the County Survey Control Network. This network is a series of geographical survey points that are used as reference points by the County staff and private surveying companies. Many of these points are established using the County's global positioning system (GPS).

The Design Division is comprised of engineers, technical and office support staff. The primary function of the Division is to assist in developing the Capital Improvement Program for roads and bridges, and then implementing the individual projects as they are approved in the budget. The Division staff designs projects and oversees the design performed by outside consultants. The staff uses computer-aided design (CAD) to complete the road and storm drain projects. The Division administers the bidding and contract award phases as projects move from design to construction. The review of traffic impact studies for developments is also provided by this Division.

The Construction Inspection Division's primary function is to ensure that capital and private development projects are constructed according to the approved construction plans and specifications. The field and office support staff work closely with the Administration and Design divisions to clarify the construction plans and to recommend monthly payments and reduction of bonding as construction progresses. Projects inspected by this division consist of: new road construction, capital road maintenance projects, bridges, storm drains, landfills, and other incidental construction.

Links to Other Documents
Prequalification Application (Microsoft Word Document) County Engineers Association of Maryland Survey Control Network