Street Sweeping
The City of Rochester operates a fleet of six street sweepers that are responsible for cleaning the 500+ mile network of city streets. The fleet sweeps approximately 9,500 miles every year. Sweepers clean the Central Business District nightly and are out in the spring and fall. In the spring, sweepers are out collecting sand and other sediments that accumulated over the winter. In the fall, sweepers collect sediments and leaves. During the fall, it is most efficient for the fleet to sweep leaves once they are all off the trees, so they don’t have to visit each area of town multiple times.
Street sweeping is completed each spring and fall on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood basis. Requests for service may be submitted and will be added to our list; however, sweeping is generally performed once crews are working in the area. Outside of spring and fall, additional requests are prioritized and completed as time and resources allow.
The City’s street sweeping program is not designed to pick up leaves raked into the street from private property. In addition to degrading water quality and being a nuisance, leaves can be a traffic hazard and they can cause flooding if they obstruct drainage ways or plug culverts, storm drains, or inlets and outlets to storm ponds. Rochester Code of Ordinances 6-4 requires property owners to keep all yard waste, including leaves and grass clippings, out of the street. Residents can take their leaves and yard waste, free of charge, to the Olmsted County compost site located at 305 Silver Creek Road NE, just across from the recycling center.