Street sweeping program a huge success this spring

By Lethbridge Herald on July 19, 2023.

Alejandra Pulido-Guzman
LETHBRIDGE HERALD

If you noticed the street in front of your house being free of debris, you can thank the City of Lethbridge’s annual neighbourhood Street Sweeping program for that. 

The City announced Monday its program successfully brushed up 788 kilometres of residential roadways and collected 3,000 tonnes of debris. 

Each year during spring, street sweeping crews clean sand, dirt and other debris from roads across the city, with this year’s program taking approximately 11 weeks to finish all residential streets, according to a press release. 

The City says street sweeping crews collected almost double the amount of debris compared to last year. They are able to clean roadways and neighbourhoods most efficiently and thoroughly when all vehicles have been moved from parking lanes, and therefore were thankful to those who cooperated. 

“We thank all those who moved their vehicles off the street on sweeping days, it makes a big difference towards having tidier, cleaner streets. Residents did a great job of signing up for schedule reminders and watching for parking signs in their neighbourhoods,” said Juliane Ruck, transportation operations Manager with the City of Lethbridge, in the release. 

Ruck added that the sweeping schedule can change rapidly due to weather, and therefore having an informed community directly impacted how efficiently they were able to complete the routes this year.

Keeping the roads free of debris reduces dust and improves conditions for cycling, walking and driving, as well as preventing materials from washing into the Oldman River via the storm sewer system. 

Sand and debris picked up by street sweepers is stored and cleaned for reuse. The reconditioned sand is mixed into future sanding operations and other residual waste material is disposed of in the landfill.

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