There’s no sweeping Mother Nature under the rug

t City Public Works readies for what winter weather has in store.

POULSBO — Heading east on Lincoln Road in search of fallen leaves, it doesn’t take long for Rob Perkins to find a few. The senior streets operations and maintenance technician for the city of Poulsbo was wielding a hefty load, maneuvering through traffic with the steering wheel of a steel street sweeping vehicle in his grasp.

Hugging the curb, the machine slurps up leaves and debris from the roadside, keeping clear draining areas that are of high importance during winter months.

“It’s a major deal to get these cleaned up,” Perkins said. He’s been running the city’s street sweeper for more than eight years, hitting the pavement with it three days a week for three-and-a-half hours a day year-round.

Often used to combat litter, the sweeper is employed during the fall to keep the fiery colored foliage from leading to some real disasters. Without their removal, the city’s drainage and storm water systems couldn’t properly function.

Nearly a year ago, when Mother Nature sent a deluge of rainfall to the area that overloaded city streets and sewers, Perkins worked a 24-hour shift. He said he’s not expecting such heavy storms this winter, but all the same, the department has swung into what he called “readiness mode,” gearing up all things from street cleaning to sanders and snow plows.

“When the temperature drops, anything can happen,” he said. “The water’s got to go somewhere.”

Beginning in the summertime, crews cut weeds and seedlings and remove debris in early preparation. Starting usually in September, workers shift focus to extra street sweeping, culvert clearing and the cleaning of catch basins with a vactor truck.

Near the department’s vehicle bay sits a 20-yard bin half full of street clutter and fallen tree debris. This year the bin has already been maxed out three times, Perkins said.

And while many trees now sit bare, he pointed out there are plenty still cloaked in foliage, some even remaining green.

The street sweeper is able to nab leaves before they enter drains; its gutter brooms pull from the road’s sides while main brooms sweep nature’s jettison into the pull of a conveyor belt, which feeds into a four-yard hopper.

The rear-wheeled hydrostatic vehicle spins on the asphalt like a Zamboni, its turning radius surprisingly swift and fluid. Perkins jokes the machine is like a carnival ride, its bumpy curb-hugging contrasting its Tilt-A-Whirlish turns. Constantly adjusting to curb placement, from his seat high up in the sweeper Jenkins has quite a view. In its interior the sweeper holds two steering wheels, and Jenkins sits on the right, closest to the roadway’s edge.

He said crews also pinpoint trouble spots, plagued perhaps by a large amount of trees or design flaws, and keep apprised of the situation.

“We know these areas to look at. It’s all a part of operations and maintenance,” Perkins said. “It’s our job to maintain these places. We can’t always prevent it but we do a pretty good job of limiting the number of incidents we have.”

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