Crews from the Public Works Department’s General Maintenance Division regularly “sweep” Covington’s streets.
Why?
Regular sweeping both keeps Covington looking attractive and represents an important part of infrastructure maintenance. Left alone, debris and litter wash into catch basins and other parts of the storm water system, causing backups and contaminating what eventually becomes the region’s drinking water. Separately, dirt that collects in crevices in gutters create fertile areas for weeds, whose roots cause damage that costs taxpayers to fix.
How?
Two regenerative air sweepers use brushes to “sweep” debris toward the underside middle of the truck, where a vacuum picks it up. Meanwhile, 10 spray nozzles help to keep down dust.
When?
Downtown commercial routes are swept once a week, and residential streets are swept three times a year: During the spring, summer, and autumn, which is combined with the leaf collection schedule.
No parking
On-street parking is prohibited on street-sweeping days, and cars left in the path of the sweeper are subject to ticketing. The City sweeps the two sides of its streets on different days so residents can temporarily move their cars across the street, into their driveways, or onto a side street that isn’t being swept that day. The sweeper operates 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in residential areas and 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. in commercial areas, all on weekdays.
To find out when to move your car:
- Signs: Streets in the commercial district that are swept weekly have permanent signage. On residential streets that are swept seasonally, crews put up temporary “parking restricted” signs on the business day before.
- Emails: Ahead of the seasonal sweeping on residential streets, the City also sends notices to the email in-boxes of residents who sign up for that free service at Email signup. For a recent release, see “Street cleaning starts July 10.”
- Online: To find out in advance what day your street is going to be swept, click on the map below and type in your address. You will see two dates. One date corresponds to the north or east side of your street (depending on which way your street is aligned), and one corresponds to the south or west side of the street.
View Full Map HERE