What goes down, must come up — city crews begin annual street-sweeping program

KELOWNA – With such a mild winter, city crews put down less sand and salt this winter, but what they put down they still have to pick up.

“We’ve been holding back until this week because we’ve still had some temperatures below freezing,” said roadways supervisor Stephen Bryan. “You can’t sweep and do a good job without water and we didn’t want to create a skating rink."

The annual streetsweeping program will involve four contract and three city-owned sweepers along with five sidewalk sweepers, a pair of flush trucks and an unknown amount of hand-sweeping, Bryans added.

Aside from a whole lot of sand and some salt — he couldn’t confirm how much — Bryans said crews might find “the occassional wallet” left over from the snow’s retreat. “We don’t usually find anything too crazy,” he said.

But the milder weather means crews are getting at the dusty project several weeks ahead of schedule, Bryans added, and will likely finish sooner than normal. “I’m fairly certain we will be done within six weeks, weather permitting,” he added.

Bryans said sweeping will start in the town centres and lower elevation areas of the city before moving to places like Black Mountain and the Upper Mission.

The city is asking residents to assist by keeping vehicles and other potential obstacles off public roads when street-sweepers are working in their neighbourhoods. Signs will be posted 24 hours before sweeping begins.

To contact the reporter for this story, email John McDonald at jmcdonald@infotelnews.ca or call 250-808-0143. To contact the editor, email mjones@infotelnews.ca or call 250-718-2724.