City’s annual spring cleaning initiative begins Sunday

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This article was published 19/04/2018 (2197 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg is about to get a good scrubbing.

City crews are scheduled to start the annual spring cleaning Sunday at 10 p.m.

Over the next five to six weeks, sand and debris will be swept away from more than 7,000 kilometres of streets, 1,600 km of walkways and more than 50 bridges and medians, the city said in a news release.

More than 300 pieces of equipment and close to 500 city workers and private contractors are set to clean Winnipeg’s entire street network, including back lanes. They’ll start with the downtown area, major routes, bridges and overpasses.

The $6-million cleaning spree includes sidewalks, active transportation pathways, boulevards and medians on main routes, bus routes and collector streets. City parks will be tidied, with litter and debris taken away. Cleanup of boulevards in residential areas will be limited to areas where there is excessive sand, the city said.

The city is warning motorists to be on the lookout for temporary “no parking” signs in their neighbourhood and to get out of the way when the street cleaners are around. Motorists should find alternate parking during the posted cleaning times to avoid being ticketed or towed.

The cost of a parking ticket is $150 and the cost of a tow is $118.13.

Signs will be placed on some streets to restrict parking during scheduled cleaning times, but not all streets will have spring cleanup signage. The city says it will only post signs on streets where parked vehicles present a problem to street cleaning.

Residents can help the cleanup by not raking their yard waste onto the street and potentially plugging drains and causing water to pool on the road and flooding the area.

Debris should be put out for regular garbage collection. Compostable yard waste — such as grass clippings and leaves — can be put out in any reusable containers without a lid, cardboard boxes or paper yard waste bags for curbside collection. The curbside yard waste collection program starts the week of April 30 for homes in yard waste collection area A, and will begin the week of May 7 for homes in yard waste collection area B. Residents can also drop off yard waste for free at the Brady, Pacific or Panet 4R Winnipeg depots. Yard waste is collected at the curb once every two weeks, on the same day as recycling and garbage.

See winnipeg.ca/springcleanup for more information.

Residents can find out their yard waste collection day by visiting winnipeg.ca/collectioncalendar.

More information on the curbside yard waste collection program is available at winnipeg.ca/yardwaste.

Residents also can contact 311 by phone or email at 311@winnipeg.ca.