🚫 Don't get got: Street sweeping starts Wednesday
The twice-yearly chore of sweeping the streets of a half-year's worth of salt, sand, litter, and plant matter reaches Longfellow this week on Wednesday and Thursday, and will continue piecemeal over the next three weeks.
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As far as rites of spring go, getting towed because you missed the signs for street sweeping isn’t one of the happier ones.
The twice-yearly chore of sweeping the roads of a half-year's worth of salt, sand, and litter reaches Longfellow this week on Wednesday and Thursday, and will continue piecemeal over the next three weeks. Sweeping the alleys is already underway.
For this week: East-west streets between Lake Street and 40th Street will be swept on Wednesday, and the east-west streets south of 40th Street will be swept on Thursday. See the bottom of the story for everywhere else.
How it works
The city sweeps streets year-round, but twice a year does a full curb-to-curb cleaning of basically every road and alley in the city.
In the spring, it’s mostly about picking up the salt and sand that has accumulated over the winter. In the fall, it’s about leaves. In all cases, it’s a chance to remove the trash, dirt, and anything else that ideally wouldn't end up in the river, where most of the storm drains in the neighborhood route directly into. (If the thought of all that stuff flowing straight into the river is concerning, the city has an Adopt a Drain program for volunteers to help clean their nearby storm drains year-round.)
It’s a slow-motion five-truck dance over more than a thousand miles of roadway: One to safely lead the way with flashing arrows, one to wet the street with a trickle of water, two more to sweep up, and a dump truck to unload the debris. You don’t need to know any of that to avoid getting towed, but WCCO does have a pretty interesting overview of how it works (filmed in the neighborhood, to boot) if you’re curious:
And obviously, for the dance to work, the streets need to be clear of parked cars. Which means...
Parking restrictions
On your street’s lucky day, it’ll be a no-parking zone from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and violators will often be towed.
The city will post signs announcing the parking restrictions, but they’re only required 24 hours in advance, so it's easy to miss them.
The city provides a map that lists which week each block will be swept, and the daily schedule for the upcoming week. The daily schedule of the upcoming week is updated each Friday.
When your street will be swept (as of now)
Between the Greenway and Lake Street:
- East-west streets: Week of April 29
- North-south avenues: Week of May 6
South of Lake Street:
- ⚠️ East-west streets between Lake Street and 40th Street: Wednesday, April 17
- ⚠️ East-west streets south of 40th Street: Thursday, April 18
- North-south avenues between Minnehaha and 44th Ave: Week of April 29
- North-south avenues east of 44th Avenue: Week of April 22
- Cheatham Ave: Week of April 29
- Snelling Ave: Week of April 22
- Minnehaha Ave: Week of May 6
Check the city’s map for the most up-to-date schedule. You can also sign up for e-mail and phone alerts here.