Street Sweeping

Street sweeping in the City of Ramsey is performed on a scheduled basis in early spring and late fall. 

Spring Sweeping

The purpose of spring sweeping is to collect all the sand that was spread on the roads for traction the previous winter and other debris that has collected on the roads over the winter months. Spring sweeping is normally started in late March or early April. This early start hopefully allows crews to pick up the sand spread on the roads over the winter, before it can be washed into the storm sewers or roadside ditches by heavy spring rains. On average, it takes about three weeks of ten-hour days to complete spring sweeping. The sweeping crew consists of two sweepers, a dump truck to haul sweepings, and a water truck to help with dust control.

Maintenance crews normally start on the north end of the city where the lack of curbed streets allows the snowmelt to run into the ditch exposing road edges. As soon as weather and temperatures permit, and the curb line is exposed, the crew moves sweeping operations down to the southern part of the city, which contains most of our underground storm water system. It is important to remove as much sand as possible before it can be washed into the storm water system by spring rains. Once the sand is washed in to the underground storm water system, clean-up costs increase dramatically.

Fall Sweeping

Fall sweeping normally starts sometime in late September or early October. The timeline is not quite as critical as spring sweeping. In fall, leaves are of some concern and areas with heavy foliage are last to be swept in an attempt to sweep up as many leaves as possible. Neighborhoods that have been seal coated earlier in the summer also are re-swept to pick up any rock that may have been loosened.