Minneapolis Residents: Get Ready For Street Sweeping

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — With spring approaching, public works crews are gearing up to start the City’s comprehensive street sweeping program to clear away the grime from winter.

The city has scheduled Tuesday, April 11 for the first day of sweeping.

Some sweeping, including a limited amount with parking enforcement will start sooner, but the major efforts begin the second week of April.

Drivers should watch for temporary “No Parking” signs to avoid a ticket and tow.

From April 11 through May 5, sweeping crews will take care of nearly 1,000 miles of city streets.

To make sure the crews can do the most complete job possible, temporary “No Parking” signs will be posted at least 24 hours in advance to make sure streets are clear of parked vehicles.

Drivers need to follow street sweeping parking rules or they may have their cars ticketed and towed to the Minneapolis Impound Lot.

Even though the citywide comprehensive street sweeping program has not yet begun, crews have already started sweeping some commercial corridors at night as weather permits.

They are scheduled to begin sweeping and cleaning parkways Wednesday, March 22, weather permitting, according to a news release.

As is the case with the citywide street sweeping, temporary “No Parking” signs will be posted at least 24 hours before the parkway sweeping.

• Crews are scheduled to start sweeping alleys April 4, or as conditions permit. Crews will also sweep select downtown streets at night, and temporary parking restrictions may be posted between midnight and 5 a.m. with sweeping beginning April 5, or as conditions permit.
• “No Parking” signs – Crews will post “No Parking” signs at least 24 hours before sweeping any streets. Parking will be banned from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on the day a street is swept. The “No Parking” signs will be removed as soon as possible after a street has been completely swept to allow people to resume parking. Drivers should not park along these streets until these temporary “No Parking” signs are removed.
• Phone calls to residents – In addition to the “No Parking” signs that will be posted the day before sweepers come through, the City will make about 3,500 automated phone calls each evening to let residents know their street will be swept the next day.
• Interactive Web tool – Folks can use a tool on the City’s website to find out when the sweeping crews are coming through their neighborhoods. By the Friday before the first week of the sweep, people can go online and click on “street sweeping schedule lookup” to find out which week a street is scheduled to be swept.

The weekend before that week, they can revisit the website to find out which day of the week the street is scheduled to be swept.

Clean streets mean a healthier environment

Minneapolis is known for its sparkling lakes and waterways, and we want to keep it that way. That’s why protecting and enhancing our environment is one of the City’s top priorities. Street sweeping is one way we work to protect our environment because it keeps leaves, trash and other pollutants from clogging our storm drains and polluting our lakes and rivers. It also helps keep our neighborhoods clean and livable.

Minneapolis streets are swept completely curb to curb once in the spring and once in the fall.

Residents should not push leaves, grass clippings, or anything else into City streets – it’s bad for our lakes and waterways and it’s against the law. Anything that goes down a storm drain flows directly into our lakes, creeks and river, and decomposing plant material in the water encourages the growth of harmful aquatic plants and algae.

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