Street Sweeping Operations

2023 Residential Spring Sweeping

Saint Paul's annual Residential Spring Sweeping begins Thursday, April 27. 

Every spring and fall, the City of Saint Paul sweeps all residential streets - to keep them clean, and to keep debris out of our lakes, streams and rivers. It takes approximately four to six weeks to sweep all 530 miles of residential streets and 330 miles of alleys in Saint Paul. Alleys are only swept during the spring sweep. The City sweeps the 340 miles of arterial (main) streets on a regular schedule from April until October depending on weather conditions. Most arterial streets are swept at least 8 times per year. Our goal is to collect as much organic matter as possible preventing it from entering our sewers, and polluting our rivers, lakes and streams.

To help the sweeping efforts on all residential streets, please:

• Follow all “No Parking” signs, which will be posted 24 hours in advance. Please move all vehicles off the streets.
• Do NOT sweep leaves, dirt or additional garbage in the streets. 
• Do NOT put garbage and recycling carts in the streets. Please keep all carts on the boulevard.

What residents should know and do:

Bag and dispose of your leaves, grass clippings and yard waste properly. Do not sweep them into the street.  It is illegal to push any materials, including leaves, grass clippings, dirt or other debris into the street. Property owners will be ticketed. Sweeping up excessive debris in the street slows down the process significantly, as well as the quality of the work. The street sweepers are not there to pick up large piles of leaves and debris.

Properly disposing of your yard waste protects our lakes, rivers and streams. Anything that goes down a storm drain flows directly into nearby lakes and rivers and decomposing plant materials in the water encourages the growth of harmful aquatic plants and algae.

With the Citywide Garbage Service, residents in properties with 1-4 units can opt in for annual yard waste service from their hauler, or put out compostable yard waste bags with their weekly garbage service to be collected for $3 per bag, plus tax. Visit www.co.ramsey.mn.us to find out how and where to drop off your yard waste.

Move your car when your street is posted. City crews will post temporary “no parking” signs at least 24 hours in advance before sweeping any streets, banning parking from 8 a.m.-6 p.m. the day the street is swept. Having cars off the street helps our operation run more smoothly and collecting as much debris as possible. Do not park along these streets until the signs are removed. Vehicles parked in the “no parking” zone could be ticketed and towed.

Make sure all garbage and recycling carts are not in the street. If you have curbside garbage or recycling services, only put your carts on the boulevard. Do not place them in the streets. The City is working with the recycling and garbage haulers to not place empty carts in the street.

Adopt a Drain. You can also do your part and help protect our waterways by adopting a storm drain. By keeping storm drains free of debris you help the environment, keep streets from unnecessary backups, and you will have a cleaner neighborhood. Sign up to adopt a drain at www.stpaul.gov/adoptadrain.

The Art, Science, and Timing of Street Sweeping

Fall Sweeping

We receive input from residents (and even biologists) about our street sweeping operation every year – many noting that it appears that we start the fall sweep operation before a majority of the leaves have fallen. There are many factors that impact why we start our operations when we do, but foremost is that we have a very short window between when leaves begin to fall and when the first snow or freeze may occur.

We are constantly monitoring the trees, but measuring the amount of leaf drop is a very subjective process. We take into account and adjust for the different drop rates for different trees in different corners of the city. Unfortunately, the oaks, maples, aspens and cottonwoods don’t all perfectly align their schedules.

Weather, time and budget permitting, we sometimes circle back to streets swept early in the process to clean up as much of the organic matter as possible. The second pass begins only after we are able to successfully complete the first round of all streets. Crews do not post “no parking” signs for the second pass through.

Unfortunately, there is no perfect science to determine the optimal start time for sweeping, but our experience has shown that starting earlier helps ensure we can sweep all streets in Saint Paul. 

Spring Sweeping

Spring sweeping typically begins in late April to early May, but can vary greatly due to the weather and the amount of snow and ice melt in the spring. 

During the annual residential spring sweep, Public Works crews will sweep both the residential streets and alleys.

Sweeping Schedule 

Both the fall and spring residential sweeping schedules rotate which areas/neighborhood get swept in which order. This is why some years it might seem like your residential sweep is earlier or later than the previous year.

Sweeping Equipment

The City uses two types of sweepers, the Elgin Pelican and the Elgin Crosswind. The Pelicans have capacity to pick up gravel, leaves and debris as well as sand and dirt.

The Pelicans can empty their loads directly into dump trucks so all of the sweepings can be hauled away to be recycled, composted or sent to the landfill. Because of the screening that is done, very little goes to the landfill.