Make sure you pay attention to the road signs, as vehicles will now be in jeopardy of being ticketed if not removed from the street before the City of Calgary’s sweeping process begins.
Starting April 14, the street cleaning residential program will begin with paved roads being swept across the city. The program will run until mid-June and will remove debris and other materials from the roadways left over from the winter months.
“We’re always excited to make this announcement, because we can be cautiously excited that maybe winter is behind us and summer is coming,” said Chris Hewitt, manager of mobility maintenance for the City of Calgary.
There will be 30 sweeping trucks with nine different crews across the city, giving room for all communities to have their streets cleaned within the program period.
“Every day, we’re running nine different community areas with our crews,” said Hewitt.
“We break the program out over about eight or 10 weeks, and that works out to about 400 days of sweeping.”
Daytime crews will sweep neighbourhoods Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Major roads will be swept overnight, from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., to avoid heavy traffic flow. On statutory holidays, roads will not be swept.
Weather is also a factor in the clean-up. In the case of a spring snowfall or heavy rain, there will be no street sweeping done.
“If we have either too much rain or we have snow, that can set us back,” said Hewitt.
To find out when your community’s streets will be swept, you can visit the City of Calgary’s street sweeping website.
Potential fine if your car isn’t removed
With the clean-up beginning, roadways must be cleared so trucks can sweep the streets.
A community-wide parking ban will be put in effect for the areas that will be cleaned. Signs will be distributed on the roads 24 hours before sweeping begins so that vehicles can be moved before the cleaning process begins.
If not moved, fines will be issued to the vehicle owners who don’t comply with the parking ban.
“Ideally, we would like to not issue any tickets, and everyone does get off the street in time,” said Charles Gray, patrol and investigations officer for Calgary parking.
If vehicles are not removed, a street sweeping ticket is issued at varying costs between when the fine was originally distributed to when it is paid. By making the payment within 10 days, the price is $80, and if not paid after 30 days, the ticket can be upwards of $120.
“It is higher because we do want people to get off the road,” said Gray.
Last year, about 27,000 tickets were issued to vehicle owners who did not comply with the parking ban. In 2023, 25,000 tickets were issued.
Gray said that one of the reasons last year’s ticket count declined was better signage posted in communities across the city to warn vehicle owners of street sweeping being conducted.
“We have seen compliance get better,” he said.
“That indicates for us we had a better signage set up for other communities.”
Calgary Parking also plays a key role in enforcing the removal of vehicles during sweeping by having camera-equipped vehicles and ensuring signage is visible and accurate for residents before sweeping.
Alternate locations for parking are recommended during the sweeping period. Driveways, garages and back lanes are another option while the parking ban is in effect, due to street sweepers making multiple passes on the roads.
