Submitted by City of Castlegar

City of Castlegar crews are now scraping, sweeping and washing streets and sidewalks to remove winter sand and clean up the city.

Sweeping begins on Columbia Avenue, main artery roads and the downtown core as they see the most traffic. Following that, city crews clean residential streets at higher elevations as they normally have higher concentrations of winter sand and work their way down.

“Our sweepers cannot efficiently sweep the bulk sand accumulations so other equipment is deployed first to scrape, pile and dispose of the winter sand,” says Michael Gagnier, operations manager. “Once bulk sand is removed, we sweep and wash the streets to rinse away the fine particles and get the city looking great for spring and summer.”

City-wide street cleaning is a huge job and getting the work done is a collaborative effort. Signs will be placed in neighbourhoods notifying residents of upcoming sweeping.

How you can help

The city asks that you only rake sand from your boulevard or adjacent sidewalk when signs indicate they are working in your area. They also request that you remove your vehicles from the street and sidewalks to help speed up the process and ensure a full clean-up.

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