Agenda Index City of Vancouver

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

TO:

Standing Committee on City Services & Budgets

FROM:

General Manager of Engineering Services

SUBJECT:

Street Cleaning Update

 

INFORMATION

POLICY

PURPOSE

This report is to advise Council of upcoming changes to the street sweeping and street flushing program and to make Council aware of an increase in the parking clearance program to enhance street cleaning effectiveness.

BACKGROUND

Engineering Services is currently undertaking a reengineering of its entire street cleaning program. The purpose of the reengineering is to identify methods of improving the current program to best meet the changing needs of Vancouver's citizens as well as to identify the City's goals in terms of efficiency and environmental impacts. To simplify the reengineering process, the street cleaning program has been separated into two components. The street cleaning component (i.e. sweeping and flushing) was investigated in this first phase. Thesecond phase deals with litter management on which Engineering Services will be reporting
to Council at the end of this year.

As part of our analysis and review, a telephone survey of 500 Vancouver residents was conducted in June 2001 by MarkTrend Research. The purpose of the survey was to determine residents' level of satisfaction with the existing programs and to identify potential areas for improvement.

Engineering Services currently uses both sweeper trucks and flusher trucks on a regular basis for cleaning curbed arterials and commercial areas. Sweeper trucks remove debris and sediments from the street by first loosening the material with brushes and then collecting the material through a vacuum hose. Flusher trucks spray water on street surfaces at pressures high enough to move these materials towards the curb where they either flow into catchbasins or are later removed by sweeper trucks and/or manual cleaning.

In residential areas, sweeper trucks are used for most of the street cleaning. Since most street debris accumulates at the curb, the sweeper truck must have access to the curb lane in order to effectively clean the street. Parked cars, which restrict access to the curb, represent the greatest challenge to the street sweeping program. Temporary parking restrictions are used in some areas; however, staff feel that a more comprehensive program is required.

DISCUSSION

Research indicates that street sediments are associated with poor storm water quality in urban areas. Water that flows into storm sewers usually contains contaminants such as oil, heavy metals, and toxins which are then discharged to the aquatic environment.

By adopting the Regional Liquid Waste Management Plan the City committed to improving stormwater management through practices such as source control. The United States Environmental Protection Agency lists periodic street sweeping as an Urban Storm Water Best Management Practice for pollutant source reduction. The use of high efficiency sweeper trucks has been shown to improve urban storm water quality and vacuum sweepers are now generally accepted as the environmentally preferable alternative for street cleaning equipment. As a result, most municipalities in North America are now using street sweepers instead of flusher trucks for regular cleaning of curbed streets. Flusher trucks are only used in areas or situations where it is not possible or appropriate to use a street sweeper (e.g. lanes, congested areas, emergency cleanups, etc).

Customer Opinion Survey Results
Vancouver residents are generally satisfied with the cleanliness of their streets. Just over 80% of respondents indicated that Vancouver streets and gutters were somewhat or very clean and almost 85% of respondents living on a residential streets consider their street to be somewhat or very clean.

When asked about temporary parking restrictions, the most support was received from residents in areas of the City where parking is heavy during the day. Citywide, approximately half of Vancouver residents feel that parking restrictions are necessary to effectively sweep their street.

What the changes are
Engineering Services will be implementing a new cleaning schedule where streets are cleaned using sweeper trucks that remove debris from the street rather than using flusher trucks that push debris to the curb and ultimately, into the storm water system. Starting later this year, Engineering Services will begin implementing the following changes:

1. Regular flushing of most arterial streets will be discontinued. Flusher trucks will still be used in areas that cannot be access by a sweeper truck and the Downtown East Side (DTES) will continue to be flushed on a regular basis.
2. New sweeping schedules and routes will be developed based on the following goals:

3. Residential signing program will be improved as follows:

These changes will result in an increase of approximately 15% in sweeping time and a reduction in flushing of about 75%. Through active management of day shift and night shift activities, the additional sweeping work can be performed using the existing fleet of street sweepers. The fleet of flusher trucks will be reduced by retiring some of the flusher trucks that are currently due for replacement. The cost of increased parking clearance will be offset by the reduction in flushing.

It should be noted that the annual increase of both curb kilometres and traffic diverters (e.g. traffic circles, pedestrian bulges) is putting a strain on the existing street cleaning budget. These issues will need to be addressed at some point in the future if the frequency of street cleaning is to be maintained. Engineering Service will report back to address these issues once staff have a solid understanding of the effectiveness of the reengineered street cleaning strategy.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS

Reduced flushing will decrease storm water contamination and water consumption. The current flushing program uses an estimated 100 million litres (22 million gallons) of water per year.

Although dust is generally not a concern in Vancouver's wet climate, without regular flushing dust may become an issue in the summer, particularly downtown. Streets in the CBD will be flushed once per month in July and August if necessary to control dust.

SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS

More effective sweeping through parked car removal in residential areas will lead to cleaner and safer streets.

Temporary parking restrictions will represent an inconvenience to some residents. To limit this inconvenience, parking restrictions will be limited to short time intervals and cleaning schedules will be developed such that parking restrictions are kept to a minimum in congested areas.

PERSONNEL IMPLICATIONS

The changes to the street cleaning program outlined in this report are not anticipated to result in any staff layoffs. There will be a small shift in staff resources from the flushing program to the parking restriction program.

A copy of this report has been provide to CUPE local 1004.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

The proposed changes do not impact the overall street cleaning budget. The savings from reduced flushing will offset the cost of increased signage and sweeping.

IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

The transition from the current schedule to the new schedule will occur gradually with an estimated completion date of December 31, 2002.

COMMUNICATIONS PLAN

Education and promotion will be done through the yearly mail out of the collection schedule, the City's website, and newspaper advertisements.

CONCLUSIONS

In order to reduce storm water contamination and deliver more effective service within an existing budget, Engineering Services will be significantly reducing the street flushing program and increasing and improving the street sweeping program. With the exception of the Downtown East Side, almost all Vancouver streets will be cleaned using only street sweepers. Savings associated with the reduction in flushing will also be used to improve the residential signing program. Staff and residents agree that parking restrictions are necessary to effectively clean streets in many residential neighbourhoods.

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