Spring cleaning has wrapped up in Winnipeg and now the city is looking for help finding anything that may have been missed in the annual tidy up.
City spokesperson Ken Allen says crews finished cleaning streets, sidewalks, bike paths and parks Friday, after getting a late start this spring.
“Typically, we start our our annual spring cleanup operation in the middle of April when temperatures are consistently above zero degrees because we use water with sweeping equipment,” Allen told 680 CJOB’s The Start Tuesday.
“But this year, because of all the crazy weather we had this year, with all the back to back blizzards and subzero temperatures right till the end of April, crews weren’t able to start until a couple of weeks later.”
Teams tasked with cleaning boulevards and parks were delayed even longer because of wet conditions and soft ground, Allen says.
The annual six-weeks of cleaning sees more than 500 workers with more than 300 pieces of equipment hit the streets cleaning 7,200 kilometres of roadways, 3,000 kilometres of sidewalks and pathways, and 930 kilometres of bike lanes.
“It’s a big operation,” Allen said.
“We sweep the entire street network, including bridges and sidewalks, and designated active transportation pathways, boulevards, medians and parks.”
Allen says the city budgets roughly $6 million for spring cleaning, and now that it’s done, they’re looking to make sure they got their money’s worth.
The city is asking Winnipeggers to reach out to 311 about anything missed in the clean, including litter left in the street, roadways that weren’t swept properly, and any spots where too much winter sand was left behind.
He says crews will head back to clean up “deficiencies” until June 26.
In the meantime, Allen says the city’s mowing crews are now out hitting the tall grass and dandelions that were able to grow with all the wet weather that delayed clean up efforts.
“We have a regular mowing cycle. So once we get into that routine of regular mowing cycles, we should be able to keep a handle on the grass situation in town,” he said.
“Crews are working very hard to ensure that we get things cleaned up and looking good for the summer months when people are out and about and enjoying the nice weather.”