Millions of Americans will watch patriotic parades on July 4 and, if they stay until the end, will likely see street sweepers gathering up everything from confetti to candy and pasture pellets.
In Jackson, that’s done by a fleet of three sweepers: two $290,000 Elgin Pelicans and a Global air sweeper.
“That’s the hot snot in street sweepers, an army tank,” Jackson Streets Manager Sam Jewison said as he showed off a Pelican in the town shop Wednesday. It has a roll-bar-like branch slider, extra lights, a big engine to handle the town’s hills, AC, good heat and speakers.
“I like it when operators are out of the dirt and dust,” Jewison said.
Outside their annual parade duties, the sweepers cover about 40 miles of paved roads and alleys in town once a week at “a good casual walking speed.” Duties begin at 2:30 a.m.
“We wake the bakers up,” Jewison said.
“We want our guests to come to a clean town,” the 29-year town employee said. “It gets noticed when it’s not done.”
“We wake the bakers up.”
Sam Jewison
More than helping present a pretty public face, street sweeping has environmental benefits. The sweepers collect about 850 tons of debris every year, gravel, rocks, sand and trash that would otherwise flow into the town’s storm sewer system with a heavy rain. That sludge and debris would then build up in the system or flow to waterways and silt up streambeds.
Sweeper driver Sean Taggart was in the shop Wednesday changing gutter brushes on a Pelican that a week’s work had worn down by 4 inches. But it will be ready to perform its duties Saturday.
“This replaces the clown and the wheelbarrow,” he said of the parade cleanup.
