Street Sweeping

The Public Works Maintenance Division is responsible for maintaining over 1,300 lane miles of streets along with alleys and bike paths. The Stormwater Maintenance Crew uses a fleet of four street sweepers along with one bike path sweeper to remove debris from Eugene streets and paths. Staff members on this crew are continuously busy throughout the year – not only performing routine sweeps, but also playing a crucial role in the leaf collection and snow and ice control sand recovery programs as well as responding to vehicle accident scenes and reports of broken glass or debris in the right-of-way.

Frequently Asked Questions

How often do sweepers clean City of Eugene streets?

Sweeper routes were established with frequencies to optimize effectiveness and efficiency. Staff continually evaluates the sweeping program to ensure the best possible coverage.  In order to meet stormwater permit requirements, sweeping routes were developed so that sweeping takes place in the downtown core twice a week, the University area and the industrial core once a week, arterial streets every two weeks, and residential streets once every six weeks. For the most part, this schedule is followed very closely. If there are numerous special emergency call-outs, residential streets may be swept once every six to eight weeks.  Since the City only has one sweeper small enough for bike paths and alleys, these facilities get swept approximately twice a year. The City has no set sweeping schedule because sweeper routes are complex and daily sweeping may be interrupted to respond to special situations such as vehicle accident clean-ups, winter street sand recovery and leaf collection. Leaf collection and sand recovery months are normally November through February. During leaf collection our sweepers follow the collection team and sweep streets after the leaves have been picked up. 

I live on a collector street. Must you sweep my street at night?

Arterials, collectors and some streets in residential areas such as the University and downtown core need to be swept by our night shift operations staff because the volume of traffic and parking is too heavy during the day. The practice of night shift sweeping has been in effect for many years. Our sweeper operators are very conscious that there are homes on or near arterial and collector streets. Operators move through such areas as quickly as possible in an attempt to minimize noise by limiting idling and avoiding filling the sweepers with water at residential fire hydrants. 

Why does the City schedule street sweeping on the same day as my garbage pick-up day?

Coordinating sweeping activities around garbage and recycling services would be very difficult. There are multiple refuse haulers within the city limits that provide garbage and recycling services on various days throughout the week. Attempting to avoid certain areas within sweeping routes on several collection days would not only be challenging to arrange, but also costly and inefficient. The City of Eugene has no set sweeping schedule because sweeper routes are complex and may be interrupted to respond to emergency situations. With over 2000 city streets, alleys and bike paths to maintain with limited resources, coordinating street sweeping around refuse collection and other commercial activities is not currently feasible.

Why does the sweeper sweep down the middle of the street?

There are times when the sweeper only sweeps down the middle of the street because of parked cars, overhanging tree branches or hedges, and trash containers and asphalt ramps that property owners place in front of their driveways. These types of situations prevent the sweepers from getting to the curb and can cause damage to the sweepers.

Why is my street being swept when the street appears to be clean and has no litter?

During the summer months there is less visible debris on the streets. It is still important, however, to keep cleaning the street on a consistent basis. Sweeping reduces stormwater contaminants, such as grit, sediment and heavy metals, which are difficult to see. Reducing this debris is significant in order to prevent such contaminants from entering the stormwater system which discharges directly into our local water ways. 

For more information please visit the Street Sweeping page or call (541)682-4800.