Sweeping delays

The city’s streets will be cleaned of winter debris, but it’s taking a little longer than expected, says the roads division manager.

Brad Adams laid the blame at Mother Nature’s feet.

“Last year we had a milder winter and we were out sweeping the last week of March. This year was a more typical year and we started the third week of April. It put us three weeks behind roughly, a little bit more than that,” Adams said Monday morning.

A number of complaints have been lodged in the media recently, concerns the city isn’t moving fast enough to clear sand laid down on the streets to combat icy, snowy conditions.

Adams said there’s a couple of factors why his two 10-team crews, one working on the south side of the city, the other in the north, haven’t hit many residential neighbourhoods yet.

“Part of our sweeping process is to do the arterials and collectors first. And every third year, which is this year, we sweep all the boulevards on the arterials and collectors,” he said. “This puts us back a little bit as well. It’s a little slower doing that compared to just doing the sidewalks and the gutters.”

Adams said the cleaning is done not only for aesthetic purposes, but also to keep the material out of the city’s catch basins.