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WATCH: The race is on to clean the streets

Crews want to sweep up sediment even faster than you want them to

  • How much road does the city sweep?
  • How sand and gravel is collected
  • What challenges crews face

On average, the city drops 12,000 to 16,000 tons of sand and gravel on roads and walkways for winter traction.

Now the goal is to collect as much of it as they can and complete the arduous task as quickly and safely as possible.

Due to the shorter snowy season, crews got a quick jump on sweeping which is good news for many.

“I’m a car enthusiast and I’m chomping at the bit to get my car on the road and get going,” roadway supervisor Andrew Schwerdtfeger told Kelowna10.

“And I know cyclists out there are very, very eager to see their bike path swept. Hopefully we’ll have it all done soon.”

The longer it sits on the road, the more of an impact it could have on cyclist safety, storm systems, tributaries, and water quality in creeks and streams.

Crews work 20 hours a day from 4 a.m. to midnight, seven days a week. It usually takes about six weeks and costs $800,000 to get to 1,690 lane kms of roadways, 390 of bike lanes, and 440 of sidewalks.

These are the same workers who maintain roads during winter, so they know their neighbourhood routes well.

To limit the amount of dust kicked up by collection efforts, they pre-wet the sediment with water trucks.

Sweepers push the muddy mix onto the road for the larger mechanical sweepers to collect. Lastly, a final flush comes through to eliminate any fine particles left behind.

“We’re very cautious about creating too much dust,” Schwerdtfeger said. “Obviously, the last thing we want to have is our staff and residents exposed to silica.”

Weather dictates when crews can begin collection. It needs to be consistently above zero. Starting the process too early and the pre-wetting could just freeze.

While working, crews watch for traffic; not all of which is very patient when their commute is slowed down.

“When a sweeper is working through an area, they move quite slowly and people can be quite aggressive and cut around them,” Schwerdtfeger said.

Residents can help the effort by moving vehicles off the road as well as any other items that could impede street sweepers such as basketball hoops.

Signage will be in place at least 24 hours before an area is scheduled to be swept. Signs may be up longer depending on weather and available sweepers.

“This is an enormous task. We’re picking up a ton of material: 25 staff, 15 pieces of equipment, seven days a week. I just would ask for patience. It takes quite a bit of time to get this done.”

Check out more details from the city.

Published 2022-03-18 by David Hanson

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