The City has two street sweepers in its fleet and is responsible for cleaning and maintaining urban and rural streets and sidewalks. We sweep more than 900 lane km of roads and 225 km of sidewalks.
Street sweeping takes place from April to early November on both a scheduled and as needed basis. After the initial sweeping pass is completed crews perform routine street sweeping to remove debris from streets and curb lines. Cycle lane sweeping is a priority in the spring and is also scheduled throughout the year.
Spring street sweeping
The Spring Sweep Program helps clean and preserve all our streets by removing winter salt/sand, dust and debris from the roads, sidewalks and boulevards. The sweep begins about April and runs through June, weather dependent. Often, more than one pass is required to sufficiently clean the street.
The City approaches street sweeping as follows:
- Dedicated cycling lanes and main streets are addressed first because the potential for dust on these streets is the greatest due to higher traffic volumes followed by transit routes and collector streets.
- Once the main streets and collectors are complete, the program moves to residential streets. These residential streets typically have curb and gutter, where the winter sand collects.
- Sweeping then moves on to rural roads in areas where there are curb and gutter.
We appreciate your patience during our spring street sweeping program.
Fall street sweeping
The Fall Leaf Sweep Program usually runs mid-October to early-November.
City crews street sweep to keep our roads clean, clear catch basins and reduce any drainage issues. Areas that are swept during the Fall Sweep are chosen based on the history of being problematic for flooding during spring melt and have a number of mature trees.
- We encourage residents to support fall clean up by raking their leaves and keeping nearby catch basins free of debris and leaves