Its a welcome sign of spring to see the snow beginning to melt on city streets but not so welcome is the dirty residue left behind. City crews embark on the annual spring street cleaning today.
The City of Edmonton will start citywide street sweeping on Monday, April 11, weather permitting.
“Spring sweep is something everybody can play a part in to help clean our city for spring,” said Philip Herritt, Director of Infrastructure Operations. “Signs will be set up in neighbourhoods to inform you when crews will be on your street. We ask residents to be ready to move their vehicles and provide room for our crews to work as we clear sand and debris from streets and boulevards. This cooperation helps our crews deliver a high level of service to clear streets quickly and efficiently.”
Street sweeping will run Monday to Friday, 24 hours a day. The City has a process to make sweeping as efficient and non-disruptive as possible. Crews will sweep boulevards and push debris on roads where sweeping equipment will pick it up. They will sweep residential roads during the day and high-volume roads at night. Drivers can expect to see Peace Officers, flashing lights and blocked lanes on high-volume and high-speed roads.
Residents can help the spring sweep by moving their vehicles when crews are in their neighbourhood. Vehicles left on neighbourhood roads may receive a courtesy tow to a nearby road, but will not be ticketed. In areas where there are too many vehicles parked on the road, crews will bypass that area.
Residents and business owners can help crews by removing driveway ramps from the curb when cleaning crews are in their area. Workers will avoid driving over ramps that are left out to avoid damage, but it will mean missing their area for cleaning and impacting the overall completion of their neighborhood.
Temporary signage will be placed in neighbourhoods for residents to know when to move their vehicles. Schedules for cleaning are available at edmonton.ca/streetsweeping and will be updated regularly throughout the next eight weeks. While each neighbourhood has a designated week for residential sweeping, residents may see crews early if they are ahead of schedule.