Goodbye winter grime: Spring street cleaning begins in Winnipeg
Winnipeg's streets and sidewalks are getting a $6-million scrubbing.
City crews have started the annual spring cleaning operation, which will see the entire street network, including back lanes, get swept over the next five to six weeks.
"Our crews will be busy cleaning up sand and debris from more than 7,000 lane kilometres of streets, 1,600 lane kilometres of walkways and over 50 bridges and medians," said Jim Berezowsky, Winnipeg's manager of streets maintenance.
The downtown, major routes, bridges and overpasses will get done first before the focus switches over to residential areas.
Sidewalks, active transportation pathways, boulevards and medians will also be swept on main routes, bus routes and collector streets. As well, crews will clean up litter and debris in city parks.
Cleaning of boulevards in residential areas will be limited only to areas where there is an excessive amount of sand.
The clean-up operation involves more than 300 pieces of equipment and about 500 staff, including both city and contractor personnel.
No parking
Temporary no-parking signs will be set up on some streets but not all. In a news release, the city said it will only put up the signs where parked vehicles present a problem to the operations.
Vehicles parked in areas where the signs are up could be ticketed or towed.
People are also urged not to rake yard waste onto streets because it can plug drains and increase the risk of basement flooding. Compostable yard waste material (grass clippings, leaves) can be set out for yard waste collection in any reusable containers without a lid, cardboard boxes or paper yard waste bags.
The city's curbside yard waste collection program began this week, with pickup once every two weeks, on the same day as recycling and garbage.
Residents can check the city's website to find their yard waste collection day or contact 311 by phone or email: 311@winnipeg.ca.
