EDMONTON – City crews will begin sweeping residential streets on Tuesday, April 22.
“We’ve been running for a couple of weeks now on arterials and collectors, but our full-blown spring sweep starts Tuesday morning,” said Roland Aitchison, superintendent of operations for the City’s Roadway Maintenance.
Crews will sweep sand, dirt and debris from boulevards and along the curb areas of major roadways for street sweepers to pick up. They are still not done with arterial and collector routes, but plan to start tackling residential streets on Tuesday.
While an official parking ban will not be in place, the City is asking for residents’ cooperation.
“We’re asking residents to please go to the website, check their locations, check the schedule of when their area is going to be swept, and please move their cars,” said Aitchison.
To find the neighbourhood schedule for street sweeping, click here.
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“The weather is a big part of what we do,” he said.
“We’re balancing our snow and ice control, our pothole repair, sweeping the streets all at the same time, so we’re asking for cooperation.”
“We normally start this time of year for those various reasons,” Aitchison added. “We can get a foot of snow, and those guys that are on sweepers, we put them on trucks and they’re back putting down traction material to make the roads safe. So, it is a juggling act. It’s a very challenging time of year for the staff.”
“But we’re prepared. If it snows tonight, this weekend, we’re ready to go, or we’ll start sweeping Tuesday morning.”
Earlier this week, one city councillor said he’d like to see the streets cleaned earlier in the season.
“We have such a short time to enjoy the summer and the spring, and the longer it takes for us to clear the streets of dust and debris, I think the less enjoyable our city is,” said Amarjeet Sohi.
“How are we supposed to be proud of our city if our city looks a mess?” asked Edmonton resident Jason Piche.
Every year, the City removes the debris left on roads from the winter season through the Spring Clean-up Program.
Approximately 150,000 to 180,000 tonnes of materials are used to sand Edmonton’s roads each winter, and, in the spring, debris is collected on more than 4,700 kilometres of roadway.
The City says 80 per cent of the sand collected during the spring clean-up is reused.
“At this point in time, we’re stockpiling material and then we’ll be recycling it,” said Aitchison.
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