Sweepers have been busy on the streets of Port Townsend over the last few weeks sucking up a deluge of dying foliage from summer. Even during moderate rain, leaves are collected and water redeposited behind the truck with spinning steel brushes.

The city has two sweepers, according to Brian Reid, operations manager for the streets/stormwater/wastewater collection fleet.

“The other sweeper we have is a kickoff broom. We are only able to use this piece of equipment on roads with no (curbs or gutters) since it just kicks debris off of the roadway.”

The street department has six operators and sweeps on most Fridays.

“During leaf season we may send the sweeper out an additional day during the week. We are unable to sweep during freezing temperatures, since water is sprayed on the roadway

during sweeping.”

The sweeper with a vacuum holds  five cubic yards of debris. The “pony motor” which drives the fan is a John Deere 4045T F150 with 115HP. The fan moves 20,000 cubic feet of air per minute according to the manufacturer. 

There are approximately 2,480 strands of wire on each gutter broom made from blue steel wire.

“During leaf season we dump up to three loads a day. They are staged in our street sweeping pile, which is tested annually for heavy metals, volatiles and PCB’s,” said Reid.

“Once the results come back from the lab, a waste designation package is completed to verify the material is non-hazardous before taking (the leaves) to our pit to screen out the garbage at a later date.”

The sweeper can pick up to half-inch gravel, according to Reid. “Anything bigger is questionable.”