City of San José
Street Sweeping Overview (d) 5
Street Sweeping Overview
John Ristow
Director of Transportation
Rick Scott
Deputy Director, DOT
Eric Hon
Division Manager, DOT
Jennifer Seguin
Division Manager, DOT
Purpose of Street Sweeping
• National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) established by 1972 Clean Water Act
• Street sweeping is included as a best practice requirement in the stormwater discharge permit issued to San José
• Prevents pollutants from entering storm drains and waterways – Sediment
– Nutrients (fertilizers and animal waste)
– Toxic metals
– Organic material
City of San José
Street Sweeping Overview
2 Program Overview
36,000 31,000
Annual Curb Miles Swept by Program
In-house Contractual
(54%)
Contractor (RSS)
Frequency
• Once per month
• 20 enhanced sweeps/year
• Spot cleaning as needed
Parking restrictions
• 24% of routes (367 miles)
City Crews
Frequency:
• Downtown - nightly
• Business Dist. – 2x/week
• Arterials/Bikeways –
2x/month
Parking Restrictions
• 50% of routes (179 miles)
(46%)
3 City Crews
• Sweeper Operators employed by DOT
• City owns sweepers for streets and bike lanes
• Routine sweeping and DOT sweepers respond
to calls when needed
• Debris in the street
• Police & Fire emergency cleanup
4 Residential Street Sweeping (RSS)
• Sweepers Operators employed by
GreenWaste, contractor owns sweepers
• DOT inspection staff assess effectiveness
of contractual sweeping, respond to
complaints and other sweeping
obstruction issues
• Inspection staff coordinate enhanced
sweeps and debris removal
• Track parking prohibition signage
requests and verify parking impacts
5 Sweeping Barriers & Challenges
• Leaves and landscape debris piles
• Parked cars
• Low-hanging tree branches (14’ clearance needed)
• Waste Containers
6 Core Service Measurement
• Two effectiveness
measures
– City
– Customers*
• Based on 5-point scale
• Good or better rating
based upon
effectiveness and
satisfaction with street
appearance (4 or
greater on a 1-5 scale)
* The Environmental Services Department conducts a resident survey once every two years (Residential Garbage and Recycling Survey). The next Survey is scheduled in winter 2024. 51%
45%
75%
44% 44%
55%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
21-22 Actual 21-22 Estimate 22-23 Target
Street Sweeping Effectiveness
% of swept curb miles rated by City as good or better
% of customers rating street sweeping services good or better* 7 Route Completion Tracking
City Crews
• Route completion tracked
daily via telematics
• Missed areas completed
on Fridays
Contractor (RSS)
• Spot check with inspector
• Contractually obligated
to complete every route
92%
96%
82%
86%
91% 94% 98%
90% 94% 91% 88% 90%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
120%
Route Completion Over Time
8 Street Sweeping Audit
1. Audit Conducted in 2016; 14 Recommendations
• 13/14 recommendations implemented as of 12/5/2022.
2. In Progress: Recommendation #1: DOT’s street sweeping operation should stop emptying street sweepings onto street.
• Equipment procurement delayed as a result of COVID-19 supply chain impacts/ staff member hired 1, 7%
13, 93%
Audit Recommendation
Status as of 12/5
Partly Implemented
Implemented
9 Sweeping Lookup Tool
Residents and businesses can look up their sweep day at:
www.sjenvironment.org/lookup (ESD website)
10 City of San José
Street Sweeping Overview
Street Sweeping Overview
John Ristow
Director of Transportation
Rick Scott
Deputy Director, DOT
Eric Hon
Division Manager, DOT
Jennifer Seguin
Division Manager, DOT