Saskatoon spring street sweeping, repairs on schedule

Sweeping on high-traffic Saskatoon streets is officially underway.

The City of Saskatoon has released its street sweeping plan for the spring.

According to the city, the “great April tug-of-war” between spring and winter didn’t stop some of the city’s busiest streets from being swept, though cold weather and snow did prevent sweeping from happening on some days.

Those slight delays haven’t created any significant delays, with a release stating the city is “no further behind this time of year than most.”

In an email, the city said street sweeping is “ongoing as weather allows,” and a residential street sweeping program is scheduled to start in early May.

“Sweeping continues day and night until we get to them all,” the release said.

For street repair work, like potholes, the city reported that cold mix asphalt is used for temporary repairs while the weather is still cold. Hot mix asphalt for permanent repairs will be used once temperatures rise above freezing.

Currently, pothole repairs are focused on the highest-priority streets and city crews were to begin using hot mix as of Sunday.

The city asked that motorists slow down and give crews space to work safely during this season.

Yellow “no parking” signs will appear on nine neighbourhood priority streets between May 2 and 8 — Avalon, Dundonald, Evergreen, Greystone Heights, Grosvenor Park, Hudson Bay, Massey Place, North Park and Westview.

“We want people to have a street nearby to park on when they move cars for sweep day. We do this by scheduling the neighbourhood over a couple of days or sweeping the main streets first, so they are completed and open for parking on sweep day,” the city release read.

Drivers parked in “no parking” areas during that time risk being ticketed.

Neighbourhood residential stress will be swept over a period of seven weeks, weather permitting, beginning May 9.

Those streets will be swept once cars are moved or towed to a nearby street. The city says many roads are split into sections, being too large to sweep in one day and to provide options for alternative on-street parking.