ASK ELi: Must the Sweepers Wake Us Up?

Photo, courtesy City of East Lansing.

An ELi reader asked, via Twitter: “It’s six in the morning. Is the street sweeper really necessary right now?”

The answer we have for you comes from Ron Lacasse, Infrastructure Administrator for the City of East Lansing, who explains, “Our sweeper comes in at 5:30 in the morning for two reasons.”

First, “The sweeper must operate at a slow speed in order to effectively remove material from the roadway. This can make it a hazard on some roads if we run it during day when there is higher traffic volumes. Much of our early morning time is spent on major streets and in the downtown where traffic would be a problem.”

Second, “Although we stay out of residential areas as much as possible in the early morning, we must sweep areas that have a high volume of on-street parking. If we do not sweep these areas in the early morning, they fill up with parked cars and we cannot sweep them.”

Lacasse adds, “Our bulk leaf crew operates in the same manner for similar reasons.” So don’t be surprised when you get awakened this fall by the lights and beeping of the leaf-collection trucks.

In this reporter’s experience, East Lansing’s Department of Public Works (DPW) staff members are very responsive to citizens who contact them. You are always welcome to contact us with a DPW-specific question you’d like us to get answered, but you can also directly check out DPW’s website to find out how to call or email someone there for assistance with anything DPW handles.

Note: East Lansing's City Council is on break again this week, so that's why we're providing this extra Ask ELi to Investigate column today instead of giving you our usual Wednesday feature, Council Capsule. Council resumes next Tuesday, which means Capsule returns on Wednesday.