While you may have seen the street sweeper in your neighbourhood, take note that work is still in its preliminary stages.

With the cooperation of Mother Nature, the town has been able to get a jumpstart, states Wally Hume, Town of Cochrane Roads Manager. "We are hoping if the weather holds and we get done our pre-sweep, we can start on the formal sweep Tuesday, April 23rd, just after the long weekend. Our schedule will be released early next week. We are excited to get started so early in the year as last year we didn't start until May 14th."

To ensure they collect as much debris off our roadways as possible, Hume says, a pre-sweep allows them to complete the neighbourhood cleaning process in one sweep. "We are working on the pre-sweep before the formal residential sweeping schedule. Residents don’t need to be concerned with on-street parking at this stage; our goal is to reduce the quantity of material on the road, so our formal sweep goes smoothly and efficiently. When you see our notification and no parking signs, please refrain from parking on the roads."

While this year has been kinder than last year, there is still a great amount of crush that needs to be swept away, shares Hume. "We used approximately 1,000 tonnes of material over the winter to maintain the roads, so we are anticipating the cleanup to be a big undertaking. Although this winter was not as intrusive as last year, we had some really bad cold spells which increased our sanding usage."

If all goes well, Hume anticipates it could take approximately 13 to15 business days after the 23rd for street cleaning to wrap up (pending weather delays/mechanical breakdowns), which could mean Cochrane roadways would be completed by the time we got started in spring of 2018. 

To keep the street sweeping schedule running smoothly, the town will once again issue tickets if residents choose to not obey the rules. While the town has always tried to be pro-active by educating residents, a steady decline in compliance over the years has forced the hand of town staff, shares Hume. "Our Community Peace Officers will be out doing enforcement very similar to last year which we feel is an important aspect to the sweeping program. Without their support, our community doesn’t get the service they deserve."

Besides notifying the public on the town website and social media channels, residents will see notification signs placed in their neighbourhood at least 48 hours in advance of sweeping and no-parking signs placed 24 hours prior. Vehicles should be moved by 8 a.m. on the scheduled sweeping day to either your driveway, parking pads, or in some case alleyways for those who do not have other off-street parking.

When it comes to other maintenance projects such as line painting and pothole repair, Hume says the town gets started as soon as they can. "Once our spring cleaning is complete regular maintenance on the roadways will commence which includes painting, asphalt and concrete repairs, storm sewer cleaning, gravel roadway upgrades, and dust control."

To find out when street sweepers will make an appearance in your neighborhood keep an eye on the town website next week, by going HERE. As a reminder, some new community roads receive road maintenance via the developer rather than the Town of Cochrane.