Calgary, AB,
31
March
2016
|
10:00
America/Denver

Spring Clean-up of Calgary roads to officially start Sunday

Our annual street sweeping program will kick-off on April 3, weather permitting.

This roadway maintenance program improves safety and mobility in Calgary by removing sanding materials and other debris that have accumulated on roads and along major sidewalks and boulevards this past winter.

Although Spring Clean-up’s official start date is this weekend, residents may have already seen sweepers in their area as City crews have been taking advantage of the warm, dry weather for pre-sweeping. Pre-sweeping allows crews to get a head start on cleaning over 15,000 lane kilometres of roadway.

Cleaning is scheduled to finish by the beginning of June, nearly a full month ahead of last year’s program.

This year, crews will be sweeping seven days a week, an increase from four days a week in the past.

“The accelerated sweeping schedule will reduce the amount of material that can get washed into our storm sewer system. An early finish for Spring Clean-up also allows crews to focus on other summer activities such as pothole repair and boulevard maintenance,” says Road Maintenance Manager Bill Biensch.

Keeping Calgary clean is a collaborative effort. We are asking all Calgarians to help make the city a beautiful place to live by doing their part― move vehicles or carts from the street when sweeping is scheduled.

This year, vehicles left on the street during sweeping will be subject to ticketing during the dates and times specified on community signs. This is a change that will impact all communities in Calgary.

Additionally, if a "No Parking" sign is present, vehicles will be towed and the owner of the vehicle fined. New parking ticket prices of $120 that were introduced last year will be in effect for all vehicles left on the street during Spring Clean-up.

If gravel, dust and other debris is left behind because a vehicle has not been moved, residents are asked to sweep up the debris by following these steps:

  • When cleaning up gravel, dust, rocks and other debris, put all materials into a garbage bag and double bag it. This will help keep the air free of dust and keep garbage collection vehicles clean as well.
  • Rocks and other material may be heavy and need to be double-bagged to avoid punctures and rips in the bags.
  • For your garbage collector’s safety, make sure your bags are not overweight (less than 20 kg) and place all debris inside your black cart for removal.

To find out when sweeping is scheduled, residents are asked to watch for community signs and visit Calgary.ca/sweep.

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