It’s springtime in Calgary and that means street sweepers will be out soon, removing about 50,000 tonnes of gravel, sand and other material that has built up over the winter.
Chris Hewitt, manager of Mobility Maintenance, told assembled media at a kick off event on Thursday morning that the city has about 30 sweepers to clean about 17,000 km of roads in the city, at a cost of about $7 million.
The work will take place from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday to Friday and is expected to run this year from April 14th until about June 20th, depending on the weather.
The city of Calgary’s 30 sweepers are expected to remove about 50,000 tonnes of gravel, sand and other material from more than 17,000 kilometres of city roads.
Global News
“This program has two main goals. One would be sort of safety for our road users — pedestrians, kids on bikes, motorcycles and cars,” said Hewitt.
“The other thing we’re looking at is the environmental side of this program — we’re keeping sediment and gravel from getting into our waterways and we’re also cutting down on sort of visual pollution around the city and also air pollution, the dust that can get up into the air if we don’t do this program.”
Get weekly health news
Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday.
Signs advising residents of the city’s plans for their neighbourhood — and asking them to move their vehicles off the street — will be put out a minimum of 12 hours ahead of time, but usually two or three days before the sweepers move in.
“We break the city into thirds and each year we will rotate, so if it happens that a community was toward the end of our program one year, they’re likely to be towards the beginning or the middle next year,” said Hewitt.
Some of the material the sweepers collect will be reused next winter. The rest will go into the city landfill.
The city of Calgary said signs, advising residents of the street sweeping plans in their neighbourhood, will be set up at least 12 hours before work begins, and usually 2 to 3 days earlier.
Global News
Before the street sweepers start their work, enforcement officers from Calgary Parking will be sent out to the communities to look for vehicles that haven’t been moved off the street and into driveways, alleyways or a parking lot.
“So we go out and check those signs at the very minimum 12 hours before any enforcement action or any sweeping begins,” said Charles Gray, a supervisor with Calgary Parking.
“Once the day comes for enforcement, we go out with our camera cars, scan the community area, and those cars will return back to the office where those photos are uploaded. Our photo processors will process tickets and mail those out through regular mail to the registered owners.”
Gray said the sweepers will often also make several passes along the same street, so vehicles should be kept off the street for the entire duration of the parking ban.
The cost of those tickets is $120, but they’re reduced to $80 if paid promptly.
Last year, the city issued $27,000 worth of tickets.
Enforcement officers from Calgary Parking will also be out with the sweeping crews, looking for vehicles that haven’t been moved off the street.
Global News
In some of the more dense neighbourhoods — like the downtown core — the vehicles that aren’t moved may also be towed a short distance away to an area that isn’t being swept.
If garbage, recycling or green bin collection day falls on the same day as street sweeping, the city is asking residents to move the bins off the street and onto a lawn or grassy boulevard.
Residents who want to check the schedule or receive email or text notification about when street sweeping day is in their neighbourhood can also sign up by logging onto calgary.ca/sweep.
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.