(Washington, DC) The familiar, three-wheel orange street sweepers are lumbering out of hibernation to resume scheduled street cleaning operations beginning on Monday, March 17, 2003. Parking restrictions during street sweeping hours will also be in effect once again. Parking citations ($30 fine) will be issued to vehicles parked during street sweeping hours in areas posted with “No Parking/Street Cleaning” signs.

The majority of the city’s sweepers are diesel-powered 16-foot, 14-ton broom sweepers. These machines remove trash and small debris from the street by sweeping it onto a conveyor system, which transports the material into a debris hopper. Each sweeper has a hopper capacity of approximately one ton of dust, dirt and trash.

Normally, the District cleans 4,000 lane miles of city streets each month. However, scheduled residential street cleaning – and the attendant parking restrictions – is suspended annually during January, February and the first two weeks of March. Department of Public Works (DPW) officials explain that the large street-sweeping machinery spreads a thin layer of water under its rotating brushes to prevent excessive dust from being stirred into the air. The water can create hazardous road conditions during the winter when temperatures typically fall below freezing.

Because of their many moving parts, street sweepers are high-maintenance. DPW uses the winter months to service and repair the heavy-duty sweepers for spring-cleaning season.