Blog: City Blog

Public Works Week: Street Sweeping Does More than Clean Knoxville's Roadways

For all but five hours in a 24-hour day, there’s a City street getting cleaned by one of the Public Service Department's 19-ton street sweeper machines.

Sound like a lot of street sweeping? It is! In fact, City crews sweep an estimated 28,500 lane miles a year. To put things in perspective, the circumference of Earth (if you could drive around the planet) is 24,901 miles.

Street sweeping is more than ridding the streets of litter, pollutants, and debris. Collecting these particulates daily prevents them from washing into our stormwater drains and eventually into our water ways.

For roads without curbs, sweeping also helps to prevent plants from growing over the streets and covering traffic lines.

Public Service has ten employees dedicated to street sweeping, two on night shift and eight working day shift. Night shift runs from 8:30 p.m. to 7 a.m., and day shift is 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Service Area 100 (Downtown)
Cynthia Ellison – Equipment Operator 2 Sweeper
Cody Foster – Equipment Operator 2 Sweeper
Raymond Ward – Equipment Operator 2 Sweeper – Night Shift
William Bell – Equipment Operator 2 Sweeper – Night Shift

Service Area 200 (Everything south of the river over to Magnolia Avenue)
Michael Spawn – Equipment Operator 3 Multi-Purpose Sweeper

Service Area 300 (Broadway to Magnolia Avenue to Strawberry Plains)
James Edwards - Equipment Operator 3 Multi-Purpose Sweeper

Service Area 400 (Clinton Highway to Tazwell Pike)
Richard Smith - Equipment Operator 3 Multi-Purpose Sweeper

Service Area 500 (Clinton Highway to Middlebrook Pike)
Larry Spencer - Equipment Operator 3 Multi-Purpose Sweeper

Service Area 600 (Middlebrook Pike to the Tennessee River to Parkside Drive)
Jesse Lawhorn - Equipment Operator 3 Multi-Purpose Sweeper
David Cawood - Equipment Operator 3 Multi-Purpose Sweeper

So, if you happen to be on a road and see a street sweeper, be sure to give them a wave or a “thank you” when possible. Because of their efforts, our roads are safer, our waterways are healthier, and our city overall cleaner!

Posted by On 24 May, 2018 at 10:51 AM